In the winter of 2001, my friend and fellow yogi, Maxine Druker, the founder of Camp Moomba (a camp for children impacted by HIV-AIDS in Canada), approached me about exploring ways that the yoga community could come together to help raise money for their camp. That afternoon after brainstorming over tasty chai we came up with the idea of the Yogathon.
The idea was to connect yoga and the practice of yoga (something that is normally quite introverted and solitary) to helping the community at large in a very tangible and powerful way. The number 108 in yoga philosophy is a significant and symbolic number, and we connected the practice of a 108 Surya Namaskars as an offering from the yoga community to benefit Camp Moomba.
While many other yogathons have sprung up around the globe in support for various causes, we evolved our format to the present one of a 108 minutes of yoga, connecting teachers in our local community to create a beautiful and festive flow, safe for yoga practitioners of all levels.
The enthusiasm of the yoga community has been incredible. Every year the event has doubled in size. We have had incredible chemistry in the committee and great leadership from the event directors.
Even though yoga and especially Karma Yoga is the heart and soul of the event, this year we are really expanding our horizons beyond yoga and including music, kids events, sustainability trade fair and great food.
More than anything, the Yogathon and Blissfest illustrates to me the power of human connection. We all long for it and all it takes is one spark to ignite that flame that burns deep inside of us.
