Yoga Bear

Yes, I created this blog for the sole purpose of shouting out Yoga Bear (Full disclosure, I'm on the Board of Advisors). Yoga Bear is an incredible non-profit that matches up cancer survivors with free yoga in their community. It grew from humble beginnings in San Francsico and has spread like wildfire across the country. There are now over twenty chapters nationwide. Yoga is great for anybody searching for a mind-body workout, but it's also been found to be important in cancer survivorship. The fact that Yoga Bear provides survivors with free yoga is one of the most important aspects of the program. Survivors often cite huge medical bills as stopping them from doing lots of activities, and yoga is a luxury that many cannot afford. Yoga Bear solves that problem!

I started taking yoga classes so that I could have a different kind of workout outside of the gym. It's a great workout, but there is so much more to it--mindfulness, meditation, spirituality, a sense of community and connecting with people, and most of all, fun. As a three-time cancer survivor, I have a fear of recurrence and worry about the future. Yoga has taught me to be in the moment and not worry about the future or the past. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm definitely working on it. It's an important part of survivorship for me.

Yogapalooza is coming up on June 27th in Atlanta, Austin, Cleveland, and San Francisco. It's a day of yoga to benefit charity and celebrate healthy living. For more information, check out http://www.yogabear.org/page/yogapalooza-1.

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