Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer and staff experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Anahata Grace collaborator, HawaH, and founder of the non-profit, One Common Unity, will discuss their upcoming Rejuvenation Retreat.
In the year 2008, One Common Unity organized our first large scale retreat and called it “The Restoration Retreat.” The following year we teamed up with two tremendous community partners in Flow Yoga Center and Java Green Eco Café. By this second year, with the help of Ian and Debra Mishalove (the owners of Flow Yoga Center) and our miracle working event coordinator Carolyn Butcher, we had doubled the size of the retreat to 80 people… and decided to rename it “Rejuvenation.” This second name seems to have stuck and what we offer today is a no holds barred opportunity for creativity, freedom, nature and fun.
Continue reading '2010 Rejuvenation Retreat'»
Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer and staff experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Finding Grace volunteer and acupuncturist Nicole Mires will discuss a recent New York Times article about the financial burdens of wellness, specifically acupuncture. Remember to check back weekly, as our journey of compassionate action has just begun.
In these times of instant gratification and tightened budgets, it can seem overwhelming to invest a chunk of money into something which you may not immediately notice the results. The results from receiving acupuncture for pain or stress relief can certainly be noticed immediately, but if the patient is not willing to follow through with consistent sessions, those effects wear off over time.
Continue reading 'To Put a Price on Health'»
Teacher Guest Blog
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"Acupuncture Is Popular, Acupuncture, but You’ll Need to Pay", Chinese Herbs and Medicine, Cosmetic Acupuncture, Fertility Treatments, Hormones, New York Times, Nicole Mires, Pekoe, Wellness
If you’ve recently become health conscious due to a bun in the oven, or even if you were already concerned with exercise and diet, you may be wondering how to stay healthy during your pregnancy. While there are several approved forms of exercise for those in the family way, none seem to have more overall appeal than yoga. There are many reasons to choose yoga as the ultimate form of exercise when you’re expecting, but keep in mind that you should always check with your doctor before beginning any type of exercise regimen. That said, the generally accepted rule during pregnancy is approximately 30 minutes of low-impact exercise (no jumping) 3-4 times per week. So what makes yoga better than other alternatives like swimming or dance?
Continue reading 'Pregnant Moms Choose Yoga'»
General, Teacher Guest Blog
| Breath Awareness, Childbirth, Exercise, Expectant Mothers, Health and Diet, Labor, Nursing Programs, Pregnancy, Sarah Harris, When You're Expecting, yoga
Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer and staff teacher experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Jamie Boese, co-founder of WelcomeOmDC, will chat about the importance of a website dedicated to yogis and other wellness-minded folks in the District in establishing networks among these inspiring communities.
Back in the Fall, during my teacher training at Flow Yoga Center, I had a random conversation with a friend over brightly colored hoodies at lululemon athletica Logan Circle. The gist of this conversation was “why is there no central place to go for yoga information in DC?” and “OMG, there are so many amazing local business owners and role models in our fitness community – why don’t we talk about them more?” And WelcomeOmDC was born in that moment.
Continue reading 'WelcomeOmDC – Your yoga, fitness, and wellness hub in the District'»
DC Local Projects, Fundraising & Outreach, Teacher Guest Blog
| Eating Right, Fitness and Wellness, flow yoga center, Indoor Sports, jamie boese, Logan Circle, Lululemon Athletica, Outdoor Sports, Volunteer Opportunities, Washington DC, WelcomeOmDc, Yoga for Runners, Yoga for Swimmers, Yoga Philosophy
Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer and staff teacher experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Finding Grace staff member Alexis Mitchell will talk to the importance of wellness related to what we feed our bodies. Remember to check back weekly, as our journey of compassionate action has just begun.
General, Teacher Guest Blog
| Animal Welfare, Beryl Bender Birch, Bring The Power Of Plants Into Your Body, Eric Schlosser, Factory Farming, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, Health-Conscious, King Corn, Michael Pollan, Natural and Processed Foods, Netflix, Omnivore's Dilemma, Organic, Real Food, Yoga of Food
Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer teacher experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Finding Grace volunteer yoga instructor Scott Carson will talk a bit about his experience with teaching elementary school students from the group Kid Power, an organization that provided educational programming for 275 youth from underserved communities in DC. Remember to check back weekly, as our journey of compassionate action has just begun.
“Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position, and turn your palms down to feel grounded.”
“Grounded! What did I do?”
“Grounded, like connected to the earth, not grounded, like in big trouble. Communicating with, let alone teaching yoga to elementary school kids can be an adventure.”
One thing is for sure, you can’t just walk into a big city elementary school and put 12 or so 8 year olds into their sacred space. Alexis and I arrive at Harriet Tubman Elementary, and the first thing we encounter is massive clamoring for yoga mats. Each kid wants to choose their own, and while we start to mutter the words “equanimity” and “non-attachment”, they grab the mats right out of our hands. So we take them back and have everybody sit down. The theory is that the quietest gets to choose first. This usually works, except that once in a while someone is so quiet that they are overlooked. Then we get to come back to the idea of non-attachment.
Continue reading 'Yoga of Service and Humility'»
Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer teacher experiences through a weekly blog. To start off, Finding Grace Executive Director Caitlin Uzzell will tell her story of last week’s class with homeless teen moms. Remember to check back weekly, as our journey of compassionate action has just begun.
Last week I taught my first class with a new service partner, Borromeo Housing, an organization that provides housing for new moms that have a few more challenges to add to first-time parenthood – they’re young and homeless. After teaching a number of classes to middle school and high school aged kids in low-income neighborhoods throughout D.C., I was ready for the type of class where a great sense of accomplishment is achieved simply by helping my students feel calm enough to hold silence for just a few moments. When I walked in the front door the moms were holding a house meeting, one of two times a week child care is provided so that they’re able to come together and discuss issues pertaining to their current living situation. Their energy was focused but low, and I recognized that the energy would need be ramped up instead of quieted. It’s a fine line to walk – encouraging movement for those that don’t stretch often for the physical health, while recognizing that initially that movement can detract from achieving peace of mind.
Continue reading 'A New Beginning for Homeless Moms'»
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Every week, Anahata Grace will honor our volunteer and staff experiences through a weekly blog. This week, Anahata Grace collaborator, HawaH, and founder of the non-profit, One Common Unity, will discuss their upcoming Rejuvenation Retreat.
Themocracy