Karma Offerings: Charities
Part of being a groovy yogi is practicing karma yoga, service to the community. While we make a practice of doing physical service as we see the opportunity to help, Groovy Yogi also donates 10% of proceeds on yoga retreats, workshops, jewelry and other goods to charity. Groovy Yogi rotates charities based on your suggestions, causes that we are passionate about, and the needs of countries or regions we lead retreats to. If you know of a charity you think we should support, please email us at info (at) groovyyogi.com or fill out the form on the Contact page.
As our list of present and past charities grows, we plan to let you know how to reach them directly. That way you can easily donate your valuable time or money if you choose, even if you are not purchasing anything through Groovy Yogi. We believe that if you choose to donate and found the charity through groovyyogi.com, it is good for the world and we are honored to have played a part.
» Featured Charity
» Information on Other Charities We Follow
» Why Karma Yoga?
» Simple Ways to Incorporate Karma Yoga Into Your Life
Featured Charity: Project Compassion
Project Compassion creates community and provides support for people living with serious illness, care-giving, end of life and grief. Through a gift to Project Compassion, you will make sure that the people you care about will have the resources, support, encouragement, and hope they need when they need it the most.
Volunteer Support Teams provide practical, emotional, and spiritual support for people who need help with care-giving so individuals and families will not have to cope alone. Teams are created in partnership with more than 75 community groups and organizations. Since 2002, over 225 volunteer Support Teams with 1,500 volunteers have provided 52,000 hours of volunteer support for 600 individuals. In addition, Project Compassion offers workshops, events, tools, health care decision planning, information and referrals to help people with the physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical aspects of serious illness, caregiving, end of life, and grief.
www.project-compassion.org
Project Compassion
180 Providence Road, Suite 1-C
Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
+1 919-402-1844 phone
+1 919-402-1843 fax
Information on Other Charities We Follow
Groovy Yogi has just launched this program and plans to continue supporting our featured charity, Project Compassion through March 1, 2010. However, we will use this space to mention other charitable organizations whose commitment to the bettering the world amazes us.
Yoga for Vets:
This nonprofit organization is dedicated to finding studios and teachers willing to offer veterans 4 free yoga classes in an effort to heal physical and mental injuries from their service.Yoga Bear:
Yoga Bear is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing cancer survivors with more opportunities for wellness and healing through the practice of yoga.
Groovy Yogi strongly believes that doing for others is a gift to oneself, although ideally we do not give in order to get back - even if what you got was just a happy, self-contented feeling. So why do we do good deeds? That one is for greater philosophers than Groovy Yogi. But we do know what the yoga texts and a bit of life experience have taught us.
The teachings of Karma Yoga are derived from ancient Hindu texts, the "Bhagavad Gita." In the Bhagavad Gita, Karma Yoga is described by a chariot driver for Prince Arjuna called "Krishna". The prince speaks of a distressing family quarrel and Krishna relates Yoga practices to his feelings, one of which is Karma Yoga. Krishna emphasizes that the prince should do what is right, and not expect a benefit in return.
The story boils down to this: the happiness we seek can only be fully realized when we seek it for others. Karma is not merely the idea that every action a person performs will cause another action to happen to them that reflects the nature of the first. It is about intentionality, too. Karma is not about actions only, but also the thoughts and intentions behind those actions. Karma Yoga allows people to reflect on their motivations and develop a deeper sense of self that can lead to unadulturated happiness.
Simple Ways to Incorporate Karma Yoga Into Your Life
Sometimes the philosophy and ideals of service can be intimidating. We feel somehow inadequate to make a grand enough gesture to move the world forward. Groovy Yogi has experienced those feelings from time to time and believes one thing very strongly:
The greatest service you can do for the world is to be kind to yourself.
We are not talking about self-indulgence here - no wailing, flailing, shopping or other drama-manifesting activities. Instead (and perhaps with the help of a trained therapist), gently crack open the floodgates of your subconscious enough to listen in on the nagging thoughts that you continually stuff away. There may be an inner child that is still seeking approval; an adult self that feels you have failed to measure up to some set of expectations you embraced in the past; a mourning self that never dealt with grief and guilt. Now comes the difficult step, that of forgiving yourself and forgiving the ghosts of your past. This process may take diligent meditation and heart-opening practice for the remainder of your life.
If you cannot be kind to yourself, you may find it difficult to be kind to others. This is precisely why Groovy Yogi believes that the first step in karma yoga is to become comfortable inside your own skin. If you are happy, at peace, and physically strong, then surely you have more energy to make a positive impact on the external world.
Now, if you are happy, at peace and physically strong, you may find the following ways to do service in the community engaging:
• Smile for no reason to strangers: Mother Teresa said that “Peace begins with a smile.”
• Be patient and kind to your spouse and children
• Let others talk: listen without interrupting
• Volunteer for an organization you believe in
If you are a yoga teacher, here are some more ideas:
• Offer free yoga to returning troops and prior war vets through Yoga for Vets
• Give free yoga classes to cancer survivors through Yoga Bear
"It's one of your many gifts, to show the way.” – R.H., Cary, NC