It’s our holiday giveaway series! For the past week we’ve been posting new giveaways for awesome and yogadorky goodies. We have a few more up our sleeves. Be sure to check back each day!
It may feel cold and frigid now, but we’re hoping this next giveaway will warm you right up, like a steamy cup of hot yoga, or the warming sunshine peeking through some of the most beautiful natural scenery the west has to offer, like say the staggering rock formations and rust-colored canyons of Sedona, Arizona? It’s the Sedona Yoga Festival and we’re giving away a free pass, ladies and gents.
WIN: Here’s your chance to score yourself ONE All Access Pass to the Sedona Yoga Festival February 5-8, 2015 in Sedona, Arizona ($397 value). Yoga festivals are all the rage lately, but what makes SYF stand out is not just what they do, it’s how they do it. With attention to yoga as a whole, the Sedona Yoga Festival presents itself as “a conscious evolution conference.”
Their over 108 presenters are chosen “not purely for their marquis-friendly names, but for the richly layered credentials, commitment to consciousness and unfailing authenticity that resonate in Sedona’s spiritually charged environment.” Read more about the presenters and schedule here.
TO ENTER: It’s a festive season and we’re giving away a free pass to a festival so we’re feeling pretty…jolly! It’s also the giving season and there are so many worthy organizations, yoga and non, in need of our donations. You probably have a few in mind you’ve already given to, or would like to. So to enter in this giveaway we’d like to know what organization(s) you already have or will donate to this holiday season and why. Once we have a winner, we will make a donation of $100 to that person’s suggested charity or organization.
Small print: This giveaway is for one All Access Pass to the Sedona Yoga Festival. Winner is responsible for travel and accommodations. Check out the getting there page for more info.
All Access Pass Includes Opening Experience on Thursday night; 1 evening kirtan, performance, music, or yoga experience Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night; unlimited gatherings (meditations, performance artists); and 3 of any other class type for each day that you hold a ticket.
Giveaway closes 11:59pm Monday, December 29th. One winner will be chosen at random and announced soon after. Good luck!
Update: Congrats to Christine Moore! We will be donating $100 to Arabesque Yoga in your name. Thank you to all who entered! It’s truly wonderful to know so many of you are contributing, either financially or with your time and efforts, to such wonderful causes and organizations. Cheers to you. Namaste.
I donate to the MS society each year in memory of my dad who suffered and lost his battle with the terrible disease.
Hi! In the coming year I will continue to volunteer for and donate to organizations that empower youth in Rochester, NY (my home town) and nurture their creativity and foster a sense of community. My two favorite organizations are Girls Rock! Rochester (http://girlsrockrochester.org) and Cyclopedia (http://www.cyclopedia.us/rochester/) a program of the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester (http://www.bgcrochester.org)
Every organization is important. However, this are the ones we donate.
primary immune.org/, Susan G Komen, and St. Jude’s hospital.
St. Jude’s Hospital. These children are so beautiful and full of spirit!
Luekemia and Lymphoma Society in memory of my older brother.
Every year, I donate to the world wildlife fund (WWF) http://www.worldwildlife.org to remember the gifts we are given through nature and to join the fight to save endangered species. I sponsor the animal that speaks to me the most that year and honors Mother Earth. As well, I give to Doctors without Borders (MSF) http://www.msf.org/ which is a phenomenal light in the most dire conflict-affected, emergency and natual disaster settings. Without this humanitarian organization, health care would not reach some of the most vulnerable and impoverished communites when they are in most need. In particular, with the ebola crisis in West Africa, MSF has led the way in exhibiting compassion and humanity.
http://www.shatterproof.org gives a voice to those people silenced by shame and stigma due to addiction. My son is struggling with this demon, and Shatterproof helps spread the word that addiction is a disease, not a choice or poor moral character.
Help families afford the cost of high quality early childhood education by supporting the Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center scholarship program.
I work for a local non-profit called “Share Your Care” in Albuquerque which offers day care for the elderly and adults with developmental disabilities. I’ve been here almost 15 years, and all my spare change gets put back into the organization!
All year I donate to my local food bank for my local connection. Globally, I donate to Children’s International for a young girl I support in Ecuador.
We usually donate to the “Make a Wish” Foundation. Lately we have also been donating to the Farm Sanctuary. There are so many great charities out there that it is hard to choose just one!
We donate monthly to Doctors Without Borders because these professionals are selflessly giving their time and skills to populations that would otherwise lack some of the most basic care.
I volunteer with Yoga for Vets because of the work they do with trauma in general and the load of mixed messages we live with in our culture about war, peace, trauma and being a warrior. I donate to Planned Parenthood because my medical decisions should be between me and my doctor. I donate to Public Radio in SF, ABQ and Columbia,MO, because culture – including news, literature, the art of interview and conversation, drama, comedy and reflection – is so basic to being human (and KOPN in CoMo is the oldest public radio station in the US and where I got my start and is just the coolest station ever), a couple of Zendos in NM because they are integral to my and the world’s well-being,. YfV would be my choice for an extra donation because YOGA!
We donate to Give Kids The World. We stayed at this amazing place when we went to Disney for my son’s Make A Wish. We were daily greeted by so many wonderful volunteers who filled GKTW with such hopeful and loving energy. We had not a care in the world for one week, except for making my son (and our other children) happy. It was easily one of the most moving experiences of my life. We donate as much as we can at all times throughout the year. What they do for children who suffer from debilitating conditions is extraordinary.
I donated to Me2 orchestra which is an orchestra for individuals who live with mental illness or those with loved ones that live with mental illness. It’s an orchestra that anyone can join. I have loved being a part of it for the last 6 months and the conductor and his wife are amazing people. Unfortunately it just lost some of its funding from the state so its future is a bit iffy.
http://me2orchestra.org/
I regularly donate to these two organizations:
Schools for Salone (http://schoolsforsalone.org/) was started by returned Peace Corps volunteers to Sierra Leone, for the purpose of rebuilding schools, providing teacher training and restoring curriculum following the civil war there. Due to the Ebola outbreak, recent donations have been use for health & safety supplies and food.
Missouri River Relief (http://www.riverrelief.org/) provides education about our waters and holds community clean-up events on our River. My yoga helps me reach for the best trash when I volunteer on a clean-up.
I teach a weekly donation based class that benefits Jardin de Los Ninos, a pre-school program for homeless & near-homeless children. http://www.jardinlc.org
I donate to the American Heart Association, because of the people in my family with heart disease, the Diabetes Association, as that runs in my husband’s family, and towards Ovarian cancer, since my mom is fighting it.
I donate to two organizations each year. The first is http://faces.med.nyu.edu because this is a non profit started by my neurologist to find a cure for people like me who suffer from epilepsy and because there are people out there who suffer far worse than me from epilepsy.
I also participate in the NYC Walk to End Alzheimer’s and donate to http://www.alz.org in honor of my Grandmother who we lost many years before she actually died from this terrible disease.
“Skin in the game” is more than money. Karmic yoga is service not just spend.
Sure, Kripalu, the local violence prevention center and Siteman Cancer in STL all have personal meaning…. but giving of ourselves to local BODs and healthcare entities that need a body for support……That is skin in the game that deserves a real us, not a check with one stamp. Namaste.
The Ellie Fund, an amazing Massachusetts-based organization that provides immediate PRACTICAL and substantial help to women with breast cancer. When I went through treatment for Stage 3 BC, they gave us grocery cards, money for childcare and housecleaning– all things which helped my young family and I get through treatment with a little less stress. http://elliefund.org/
This year I’m donating my local animal shelter! http://www.upaws.org
My cause is the American Diabetes Association. I support this cause for my 11 year old son who is living with Type 1 diabetes, and all others affected by this disease. He gives himself multiple injections of insulin every day just to stay alive. He needs a cure! Not only have I donated personally to the ADA, but I am also running a half marathon in January and have earned over $1100 for my team.
I donate to the Pachamama Alliance (http://www.pachamama.org) who are working ‘on the ground’ with the indigenous people of Ecuador to preserve the rights of the forest and those who live in it. Ecuador and our rainforests are under seige right now with the hugely significant threat of mining in Yasuni Nat’l Park.
I also donate to the American Friends Service Committee (http://afsc.org) who have historically been ‘on the ground’ to aid and assist those in need….from clean drinking water to education…They do it because it is there right thing to do and don’t ask for any acclaim. The donations for both organizations go to those who need the help. Thanks for asking…
I give my TIME, teaching yoga to inmates at Boulder County Jail, and adaptive yoga at a group Imagine home for disabled people. I have no monetary gift this year. I was let go from my job of 15 years the day after Thanksgiving. My belief is that giving time to people is more valuable than money and more of a heart felt contribution that goes directly to the source. Giving in this way is a gift to me in the great value I hold in deeper appreciation of my human experience. I would wish for the $100.00 to go to Arabesque Yoga, supporting yoga for inner city children. Change begins with our children.
Our local Nepalese restauranter, Karma, is helping eradicate poverty and improve education in his home town he left 25 years ago to come to america and start a successful restaurant in Durango Colorado. Karma & Jyamu Foundation https://www.facebook.com/bhotiafoundation?fref=nf
I donate to Easter Seals because they do a fabulous job helping children. They also helped me when my child was born with physical disabilities. They loaned me a ‘lay down’ car seat because she was in a full body cast. I donate there every year.
I donate to the Yuma Community Foid Bank to help less fortunate people have food on the table.
I have donated time and money to the Seattle Humane Society http://www.seattlehumane.org/ and Seattle Tilth http://seattletilth.org/. The Seattle Humane Society does such amazing work here in the PNW to give animals a second chance. They also have a fantastic animal food bank that delivers food to the elderly and people with disabilities or low incomes so they can care for their furry friends. Seattle Tilth focuses on education about gardening, farming, eating local and supporting local farmers. They have lots of great programs to build and support community gardens and events!
I donate to and support Yoga Behind Bars because their devoted hard work and organiztion trains and coordinates yoga teachers to teach yoga and meditation to incarcerated people. These valuable classes offer hope, healing, strength and personal tools for growth to people who are cut off from society while behind bars. As a previous public school teacher in low income schools I know how poverty impacts a person’s choices. I’ve had young children tell me about their parent in jail. Yoga Behind Bars’ work supports people while incarcerated to hold hope and grow and then to return to society with inner strength to create a successful, peaceful life.
The Yoga Prison Project is a great nonprofit to donate to.
Women’s health, reproductive rights, and safety are very important to me. This year I donated to NARAL Pro-Choice, Planned Parenthood, CLIMB Wyoming, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Feminist Job Board.
I donate to Children’s Advocacy Center for Child Abuse Assessment and Treatment. (Pomona, California – cacpomona.org ). As an Emergency Response Nurse for Child Protective Services and a Sexual Assault Nurse Examinor I get to see first hand the work of the CAC with the families and victims of abuse, they are ANGELS!