CLE Yoga Teacher’s Kula for Hunger Awareness
A Collective Social Media Campaign: 21 days of Yoga asana, pranayama & mudras to promote hunger awareness in Cleveland
When I created this Kula, I envisioned that, as a collective, we could provide huge support to each other, our teaching community as a whole, and perhaps create awareness and effect change through social activism. I know many of you are wonderful social activists and applaud you for your efforts! I know it takes lots courage to stand up for what you believe in. I’ve been mustering up the courage to create this campaign for the last few weeks.
Hunger is a cause close to my heart. I come from a middle class family and have raised my own family barely within the same diminishing class. Over the last 6 years my own family has at times struggled to juggle rent/mortgage, food and bills. We’ve made some tough choices to continue to provide shelter and food for our family. I’m grateful for these struggles as they’ve opened my eyes to something I wasn’t paying attention to before. Hunger is real and prevalent in the United States and especially CLEVELAND! With the holidays fast approaching, this struggle becomes even more intense for many good people.
When I’m able, I donate to the Cleveland Food Bank. Currently I’m not, so I’d like to invite this collective community of yoga teachers to help me spread awareness of this very real situation in our beautiful city.
I propose this 21 day social media campaign to promote hunger awareness with Yoga November 1st – 21st. Each of the 21 days I’ll post a picture of a pose, mudra or pranayama practice with a hunger fact, an affirmation and link to the Cleveland Food Bank on our Kula Facebook group page. This campaign is meant to inspire awareness and maybe even donations to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, who are doing amazing work here at home. Then I invite all of you to take pictures of yourselves or your classes participating in the daily suggested practice and post on the Kula Facebook group page AND ON YOUR OWN SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES. When posting, you can share the hunger fact I’ve presented that day, a link to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and perhaps some personal reflection about hunger or the featured daily practice. You can use the hash tag #YogaTeachersforHungerAwareness if you’d like. See the poses and affirmations listed below for each of the 21 days.
We are now almost 400 strong in this group. Consider the impact if even a few of us participate. Please feel free to participate for the entire campaign or only part of it. NO PRESSURE AT ALL!!
November 1st – 21st 2015
Day 1 – Lotus Mudra – to inspire this collective campaign by calling upon Lakshmi to promote abundance. Abundance surrounds us and there IS ENOUGH food and money for everyone. Inspire those who can to give and those in need to seek out and accept help.
Day 2 – Camel Pose – Open your heart to giving and receiving and fire up your center.
Day 3 – Plank Pose – Build strength and heat in your core and motivate yourself to be a Yogi with purpose.
Day 4 – Chair Pose – Sometimes we need to have the strength to hold ourselves up without support. Dig deep to find the strength to persevere during tough times.
Day 5 – Warrior 1 – Prepare to strike down upon injustice and end hunger for good in Cleveland.
Day 6 – Triangle – Expand into action from your center.
Day 7 – Alternate Nostril Breathing – create balance of energy within the major nadis ida & pingala for clarity and grounding.
Day 8 – Fearless Heart Mudra – to inspire this collective campaign by calling upon Durga to destroy the concepts of greed and hoarding, and eliminate suffering.
Day 9 – Warrior 2 – Invoke the spirit of the warrior within and defend what is good and right in our city, with help of your brothers and sisters in this Kula.
Day 10 – Reverse Warrior – Deeply lunge and prepare to defend, support and serve those in need.
Day 11 – Half Moon – Expand into balance and trust the universe provides enough of what is needed for yourself, your family and all of humanity.
Day 12 – Tree Pose – Stand steady and rooted when the storm comes. You will bend, but not break.
Day 13 – Mountain Pose – Steady and immoveable, rise to your peak potential.
Day 14 – Agni Sara – cleanse your guts of toxins and stoke your inner fire. You have the potential and are motivated and open to transformation.
Day 15 – Anjali Mudra – acknowledge and trust the greater wisdom of your heart.
Day 16 – Head Stand – Go upside down and reverse your point of view. Train yourself to seek out new perspectives.
Day 17 – Child’s pose – Surrender and bow to the Earth and all her abundance. She will provide, but we must protect her.
Day 18 – Head to knee forward fold – Fold unto yourself, become quiet and listen for the guidance of cosmic wisdom.
Day 19 – Seated Twist – wring out toxins from your organs and self doubt from your guts. Fresh, oxygenated blood cleanses and heals.
Day 20 – Supported wide leg forward fold – Open and surrender at the same time. Both will set you free.
Day 21 – Seated meditation – Metta Meditation: compassion, protection and loving kindness for yourself and all beings.
