What makes me most sad about yoga is how people see it as a hobby for the rich. Here in the Philippines, studio rates can get pricey and for the general population, that’s all they know.
Randomly and through doing my barter classes, I’ve met people who tried yoga once using a beginner’s trial and never got to go back to it because of a lack of funds – I was one of these people up until over a year ago. Some people don’t even want to go near it, writing it off as “expensive stretching.”
Yoga is much more than that and ultimately, for me, it’s such a life-giving practice. Once they get off the mat, I see yogis who are all about striving to be kind in whatever way they can – be it in a small personal way, or a huge service to people they don’t even know.
To share this beautiful people-oriented side of yoga, my fellow White Space Yoga teacher training graduates and I are starting Oms Giving. It’s our way of reconciling our love of yoga, our desire to teach and spread the practice, and to just be helpful human beings.
Oms Giving is a collaborative effort by yogi friends who wish to share their love of yoga with people from all walks of life, while giving back to the broader community. Each yoga class acts a fund-raising event for specific advocacies. We believe that yoga is not only a wonderful way to gain strength and peace of mind, but it also creates positive energy we can use to help others. With your help, we hope to bring greater meaning to our yoga practice and bring the practice off the mat and into the world.
Who are we exactly? My fellow teachers are Chris Benedicto, Mariel de Jesus, Jan Cerezo, Paola Cardenas-Factoran, and Kim Espiritu. To know more about us, please watch out for our page on Facebook 🙂
Our first class will be at the MUNI Market Day on March 28, Saturday 10am. We will be part of a whole group of merchants, performers, and social enterprises who advocate for conscious consumption and mindful living. It will be a 75-minute beginner-friendly Hatha yoga class accessible for beginners and enough of a workout for regular practitioners.
The class is at P100 if you sign up early and P150 if you walk-in. The proceeds will go to Fairplay For All foundation – a drop-in center in Payatas, Quezon City where kids from the community go to learn, play and just be children.
To learn more about them and how to volunteer for them, click here.
Aside from the sign-up fee, if you feel up to donating more, or donating in kind (example: clothes for girls and boys, sports equipment, games, books, food) – please feel free to do so. You can either contact me about it or bring it to the yoga class.
We’d love to have you on board. Join us and register here 🙂
And if you know of any other causes we can support, please let us know and leave a comment below.
Namaste everyone!
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Good job guys! I’d love to join in 🙂 i have a set of mats, all donated from when i did seva as well, that id be glad to lend you guys when you need it 🙂 have kim coordinate it with me 🙂
Thank you Ria, mats would be super helpful 😀 I’ll tell her.