Yoga District (YD) launched a series of by-donation, all-levels yoga classes that will donate all proceeds to nonprofits fighting for causes we believe in. Yoga District arranges the classes and compensates the presiding teacher so that every single penny donated by students goes to the featured nonprofit organization.
This initiative correlates with the very mission that YD is based on: yoga by the community, for the community. It also is a great compliment to YD’s nonprofit counterpart Yoga Activist, which helps partner yoga teachers interested in yoga outreach with social service organizations interested in offering yoga programming.
The inaugural class in this series was held on January 10, 2015. We had a great turnout with a nearly full class! All proceeds benefited Casa Ruby, a local drop-in community center serving as a safe space for the LGBT multicultural community in DC. In our interview with Casa Ruby’s founder Ruby Corado we learned that most of the Casa Ruby staff are transgender women who have experienced discrimination and poverty, been homeless at some point in their lives and, as Ruby exclaimed, “ALL OF US HAD LIFE CHALLENGES THAT WE OVERCAME. The clients that come and get services by us are looking at individuals that are not strangers to their situation.”
The next Yoga for a Cause class will be held on February 28, 2015 benefiting Embracing the World Humanitarian Initiatives. Embracing the World, led by the internationally celebrated “Amma” known as the hugging saint, has engaged in a wide array of charitable services including providing green energy, housing, clothing, education, scholarships, and even running orphanages and donating emergency funds to governments after natural disasters.
Other nonprofits we will feature and raise funds for in our Yoga for a Cause class series include Planned Parenthood, African Wildlife Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Electronic Freedom Foundation. If you know of a nonprofit you want to see featured please let us know!
We will continue to post about upcoming Yoga for a Cause classes here so please continue to join us in this new way to give back to our community and fight for causes we believe in!
