Hope lives here because of a compassionate community with the drive to make a difference in the lives of those facing homelessness. Thank you Salima A. for your compassion and generosity. We are better when we come together!
Hi friends, I am very excited to share about this. Last Wednesday was my biggest Mindful Yoga class ever at Atlanta Mission’s Homeless Shelter for Women and Children. 💛 When they let me create this class 2 years ago, the first run was 5 participants in a classroom. It’s an optional class, so my goal was to make it impactful enough that we’d need to expand into a bigger space. Last Wednesday, we took up the whole courtyard. 🙏🏽 ——— What you’re seeing in this photo is 20 women and 6 children currently experiencing homelessness, in a #yoga pose where we “surrender and let go of all that is not in our control.” During class, we also breathe, meditate, and share our gratitudes and affirmations. I have heard gratitudes such as, "I'm grateful I woke up this morning," "I'm grateful for hot showers," "I'm grateful for breath." I’ve taught this class at least 50 times now, and I still get overwhelmed by the resilience that I witness. I am so grateful the ladies let me share this photo so you could witness it, too. ------- Whenever I share about this part of my life, people usually say, "I need to volunteer more." If you’re thinking the same, try out this 2-min experiment: 1) Pull up #ChatGPT (this is LinkedIn, after all - we can't *not* mention #AI) 😂 2) Answer these 2 questions in your head: - What’s the hobby/activity that you already enjoy - the one that's a treat to do whenever you get time? (ex: playing piano, making homemade pizza, gardening, running) - What underserved population pulls at your heartstrings most? (ex: veterans experiencing homelessness) 3) Plug your responses into this ChatGPT prompt: "Imagine you're a resident of <Atlanta, Georgia> in your <mid-30s> who loves <playing piano, making homemade pizza, gardening, and running>. You want to do hands-on volunteer work aligned with your interests that serves <veterans experiencing homelessness>. What can you do, and for which organizations? Provide the organization's website and the Volunteer Coordinator's contact information wherever possible." If you do this experiment, please let me know how it goes!! I'm curious to see what it puts out for you. ------ One last thought on #service: Please don’t undermine it if people (including yourself) "just" donate money. Money keeps the lights on. I like to think of service as a team effort, and that we all give of ourselves based on our resources (time, money, talent) at the time.