A recent article in the Christian Science Monitor lead me to Yoga for Food, a non-profit yogic effort spearheaded by Kimberly Smith, founder of Riverdog Yoga in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.
Smith started Yoga for Food in 2001 after 9/11. According to the CSM article, Smith got 30 students to bring a bag of groceries to a special sunrise class (according to the Yoga for Food website the number was 20, but who's counting). They collected more than 200 pounds of food.
Now more than 30 yoga centers in 13 states run their own version of Yoga for Food, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds of food.
"It was a natural fit: Yoga is food for the spirit," says Ms. Smith [in the CSM article]. "It's become a win, win, win: The students who get involved feel good, so do the studios that participate. And then, of course, the food banks are grateful."
Smith hopes that in 2009 yoga centers in 50 states will host a Yoga for Food event. No time like the present! A lot of people in our new crash-n-burn world order need seva, the selfless service of others.
While Riverdog Yoga organizes their food-drive event around the winter solstice, anytime this year will be a good time for donations like this.
Register a Yoga for Food event on yogaforfood.org or click HERE.