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New Yoga Classes at Arthur Christopher Community Center!

Natasha Alexandra Akery — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:34:49 +0000

The City of Charleston recently opened a new facility in downtown Charleston. Arthur Christopher Community Center is located at 265 Fishburne Street, across from the Citadel Stadium and Burke High School.

Yoga classes are offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:15 PM and 4:00 PM. Drop-In rate is $5 per person and $30 for a monthly pass! Come on out and check out this new and eco-friendly center!

LOUIE’S KIDS ANNOUNCES YOGA MARATHON IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA’S HISTORIC FORSYTH PARK

Megan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 04:52:38 +0000

CHARLESTON, SC – Want to join hundreds of other devoted yogi’s for an afternoon of
down dogs, headstands and mountain poses to raise money for a children’s charity?
Louie’s Kids and COPE are readying for the first Yoga Marathon in historic Forsyth Park
in Savannah, Georgia, the 9th yoga marathon for Louie’s Kids.

On Saturday, April 9, 2011, participants will fill the park from 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
as some of Savannah’s most popular yoga instructors lead the way in Forsyth Park, rain
or shine.

“This is so amazing for us as an organization and for me personally,” explains Louis
Yuhasz, founder of The Yoga Marathon and Louie’s Kids. “To date, Louie’s Kids has
raised over $75,000.00 for programs that benefit overweight and obese children in
Charleston, SC, our home base; to take this event on the road to benefit other areas
with our programs is such a blessing. We recorded donations from 37 states in the 8th
annual Yoga Marathon this past October in Charleston, SC. I am so indebted to the
yoga community and am certain this inaugural Savannah marathon will be an
extraordinary event for the Savannah community as it has been in Charleston for the
past eight years.”

This Louie’s Kids’ yoga marathon in Savannah will benefit Savannah-based COPE
(Childhood Obesity Prevention and Education). COPE will be funding a Louie’s Kids’ Fit
Club for 25 kids through a Title 1 school in Savannah this fall.

Participants can register a personal fundraising page by logging on to
www.louieskids.org/yoga. Friends and family can support efforts to complete 108 Sun
Salutations, a yoga sequence combining 12 postures. Sponsors also can donate money
for each Sun Salutation or minute of yoga completed.

To find out more about participating or becoming a sponsor of the Savannah Yoga
Marathon visit www.louieskids.org/yoga or call Ashley Gunnin at 843-901-0431.

About Louie’s Kids:

Louie’s Kids is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that raises funds to help treat
childhood obesity, which afflicts 25 million American children today. Louie’s Kids works
to find the best treatment options to meet the needs of each child. We find the fix that
fits, one kid at a time. Founded in 2001 in Alexandria, VA and now operating from
Charleston, SC, Louie’s Kids serves economically disadvantaged kids nationwide. To
learn more, visit www.louieskids.org.

About COPE:

COPE is a local non-profit devoted to combating childhood obesity with a threefold
approach – fitness, nutrition, and behavioral health. COPE, a qualified 501 (c) 3
organization, brings already existing successful programs to Savannah to benefit our
children struggling with overweight and obesity. For more information, contact
sbaker@copeforchange.org.

Prayer Pose of Thanks

Rae — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:43:11 +0000

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).

We come to our mat over and over again with expectations, striving for poses, looking for a feeling of peace, swimming around in our thoughts, to find that those natural feelings are part of the practice. That is why we continue to show up, observe the breath, and offer thanks for the present moment. For me, my yoga practice is a physical expression of body prayer. Prayer is a practice, but it does not have to be separate from the body. The body, mind, heart, and soul are a unified whole. When we bring our hands to heart center in prayer (Anjali Mudra) it’s a symbolic hand gesture that reflects reverence and union with the Divine.

With our fast pace culture during the holiday season, our stress levels are on the rise with an increase of depression, anxiety, missing past loved ones, arguing with loved ones, who is not talking to who….we all can identify with the chaos that happens within our bodies and our surroundings. The paradox is we are celebrating Thankfulness and often times get swept away into the spirit of ungratefulness.

So like brushing your teeth is a daily practice, so can prayer!

Stand in mountain pose (Tadasana) with hands at heart center in prayer

Ground your feet steadfastly into the earth

Watch the breath fill your heart with thankfulness

Breathe in from your toes, shins, thighs, hips, belly, ribs expand, chest lifts, throat, nose, third eye to the crown of the head

Breathe out from the back of your crown, neck, shoulder blades, lower back, backs of thighs, knees, ankles, and heels

Continue to the cycle of the breath ebbing and flowing from the front side of the body and feeling the breath roll off the back of the body. Whatever is causing stress in your life, allow that to roll off with the breath of Peace. And inhale whatever you are grateful for.

May your holiday season be filled with Love, and as you pass the salt at your Thanksgiving feast, may your conversations with loved ones be seasoned with salt and light.

I seal all my prayers through my Master Guru, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Sat Nam).

LOUIESKIDS.ORG ANNUAL YOGA MARATHON SET TO HOST 7TH YEAR!

Megan — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:41:30 +0000

CHARLESTON, SC – Want to join hundreds of other devoted yogi’s for an afternoon of down dogs, headstands or mountain poses in one of Charleston, South Carolina’s most historic parks all the while raising money for a children’s charity? The Yoga Marathon benefitting Louie’s Kids is readying for their 7^th year as the region’s most popular yoga event.

Simply log on at www.louieskids.org/yoga and register for your personal fundraising page. Invite friends and family to support your efforts to complete 108 Sun Salutations, a yoga sequence combining 12 postures. Your specific website address will link to your email signature, Facebook, on MySpace and LinkedIn allowing for paperless donations. Tweeting and texting will increase your exposure and direct your followers to where they can donate. Many sponsors donate money for each Sun Salutation or minute of yoga completed.

“This is a particularly emotional and moving year for me personally,” explains Louis Yuhasz, founder of The Yoga Marathon and Louie’s Kids. “Last year the day before the event a 17-pound steel post shot through my windshield while I was driving on I-26 with equipment for the event, the results were a broken jaw and serious slash that ended at my neck artery. The next day while I was in a 6-hour surgery at MUSC Trauma center, the yoga marathon went on and not only did the yoga community come out in record numbers from the hundreds of studio’s across the region, this event went on to raise $25,000.00 –another 7-year record. We recorded donations from 37-states. I am indebted to the yoga community and am just as certain this year will be another extraordinary event for our community” Yuhasz went on to say.

With participants coming from as far as Asheville, NC and Jacksonville, FL to participate, many of the region’s most popular yoga instructors will lead the way in this 7th Annual Yoga Marathon on Saturday, October 9th from 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m., rain or shine in Marion Square.

This year Louie’s Kids will share a portion of the proceeds with Yoga Benefits Schools, a non-profit devoted to helping children in Title I schools benefit behaviorally and academically from regular yoga practice. In addition this will serve as a new funding source for a new Louieskids.org initiative RUNBUDDIES.ORG. Runbuddies will bring athletic mentors to the doors of children who need them most. To find out more about The Yoga Marathon and to create your personal fundraising website, visit www.louieskids.org/yoga or call 843-343-5746

About Louie’s Kids:

Louie’s Kids is a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization that raises funds to help treat childhood obesity, which afflicts 25 million American children today. Louie’s Kids works to find the best treatment options to meet the needs of each child. We find the fix that fits, one kid at a time. Founded in 2001 in Alexandria, VA and now operates from Charleston, SC, Louie’s Kids serves economically disadvantaged kids nationwide. To learn more, visit www.louieskids.org.

I Am the Lover: (for Walt Whitman and Rumi)

Matthew Foley — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:05:27 +0000

I am the Lover,
of all that spreads before my vision.
To each blade of grass
that lounges gorgeous upon the dark earth;
to each tree that summits forth,
rising like a sentinel to guard its Source;
to each mountain that has its abode
in the heavenly clouds of Light;
to each animal that crawls or swims or flies,
that lives out each day following their primordial call,
to live, to be, to expand, to feel, to wither, to die,
passing like the days in the eons of eternity;
to you, I am the Lover,
who lounges back against a rock,
one leg propped against the other,
shirt open, smile spreading to the corners of my mouth,
breathing in the gorgeous perfume of your essence,
feeling the touch of your windy fingers caressing my arms
and blowing through my hair, it is me, the Lover.
It is I who asks you all my daring questions,
who comes to you for visions and signs and ecstasies,
who throws up my hands for guidance,
and you respond,
answering with rolling thunder and glistening rain
falling upon my shoulders.
It is I who asks for bold, life-giving dreams.
It is I whom you give wings to soar
to distant lands unknown.
It is I who sings your songs and dances
to your oceanic rhythms.
It is I,
your instrument, your flute,
full of your breath and playing your notes
of Love and Wisdom.
It is I,
the heart that holds the woman that shares my soul,
kissing her eyelids and breathing in the scent of her hair.
It is I,
who loves the people and all their beautiful follies,
their waves of emotions and their daring moments of generosity.
It is I,
who will tell the tales of your beauty
who will sing poetry from the tops of your hills
who will bring your light to eyes covered in scars
It is I, and it is You,
Lover and Beloved.

~ Matthew Foley

Written at Eagle Creek Campground, just outside Yellowstone National Park. These were moments of reverie experienced in the natural world, written with the occasional help of a bottle of red wine and the company of Divine-drunk mystic poets.