Serve Others

I love it when something happens that reinforces a previous theme but in a more potent way. This time it was the energy of our most recent Summer Solstice Kirtan, with our small but mighty band - Jayne & The Om Boys. We gather to play music and support a local charity on each of the turning points of the year-two Solstice and two Equinox celebrations. This past weekend, for the Summer Solstice we raised over $1,700 for a local grassroots charity-The Girlfriend Factor. They support women, 25+ to complete their college education at our local universities and community college. And one of the cool things about The Girlfriend Factor is that 100% of the monies raised goes to the scholarship recipients to use as they need, for books, uniforms, childcare...whatever!

The energy of the weekend once again affirmed how powerful it is to serve others. My journey of service, called Seva in the yoga world, began to unfold when my husband and I took our first trip to India. We spent our time visiting sacred sites and well-known monuments, inhaling the complete experience of sensory overload...smells, vibrant and confronting sights, poverty, extreme wealth, honking horns and rumbling trucks. India had reawakened my desire to expand my yoga practice in the form of service, but on my return home, I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. I knew the calling to be of service felt as though it would expand and further extend my intention to live a yogic lifestyle. Known as Bhakti Yoga, a branch of yoga focusing on service and devotion had been calling me. And then...only a few months after returning from India, I came across the Global Seva Challenge with Off The Mat, Into The World. They were raising money and awareness around the issue of sex trafficking in India...my answer had appeared.

So in 2012, I began and as I didn't really know how to begin raising money to reach the $20,000 goal, I turned to my local community and asked for help. Eventually, I raised over $25,000 and took a bear witness tour to India in 2013 with a contingent of others who had reached the same goal. 

My thought for the week is that sometimes we need to place our focus outside of ourselves...as though we need to move our all-consuming personal agenda aside and bring our energy and time to something else, something larger than ourselves. My focus shifted away from me to raising money for people and organizations doing incredibly challenging work in India and I began to become invested in finding and giving voice to young girls who had been silenced. And as I went to India the second time around, I felt as though my entire local community was with me as they too, had invested an incredible amount of energy in helping me reach the goal.

From that time, Seva has continued to be part of my practice and when I opened the Desert Yoga Therapy Studio in December 2016, I realized I could offer whatever I felt would be supportive of our intention to serve as well as offer a safe and sacred place for people to attend. What evolved are four gatherings each year to support our local community and its charities.

I have deep gratitude to the Om Boys who donate their time, musicality, and energy to bringing Kirtan to DYT. Thank you, Ken, Shawn, James, and Oggi. I am grateful to my husband who walks this path with me. And what's more, I am not only stunned and humbled but deeply grateful to our community of generous supporters who step up each and every time donating money, bringing food, and helping set up and break down the event. You inspire me and my heart is full! 

Thank you, Namaste', and Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi!