ken atchity door to door: Yoga Gives Back May Newsletter

Yoga Gives Back May Newsletter

For the cost of one yoga class, you can change a life.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Great mothers build bridges instead of walls.

- By Reed Markham

Your Donation's Impact!!

YGB's direct funding program, "Sister Aid," is currently funding programs for 237 mothers and children in India, providing micro loans and education funds. In West Bengal, 109 mothers have been lent microloans to start their own businesses. 110 daughters are able to remain in school through education funds. Read the latest report about their exciting progress from NISHTHA YGB's local partner NGO.

In 2010, YGB first funded microloans for this group of 22 mothers in Tripuranagar village. Three years later, their average income has risen 600%, from 135 to 815 rupees per month. Women are making a profit through various businesses ventures, including: making mud ornaments, basket making, saree trading, opening tea shops, raising chickens and goats and farming. The group's experience has set a great precedent for eight more groups to follow.

Below are just a few examples of these mothers' proud accomplishments:

Anjali Naskar

Trade: Paper Bag Making
Notable Accomplishment(s): Opened an individual bank account and was able to obtain computer literacy training for her oldest daughter. Thanks to her new business ventures and skills, Anjali is empowered to speak up in family matters.

Mamata Hazari

Trade: Raising cows
Notable Accomplishment(s): Successfully constructed a toilet using her own money, in addition to the saving for future.

Shampa Mondal

Trade: Ornament sales
Notable Accomplishments: Takes all responsibilities for the family, as husband's contribution does not exist.

Pratima Sardar

Trade: Clothing sales
Notable Accomplishments: Is now able to pay for her daughter's medical care to treat a liver infection.

Like any mother, Rita's dream is to provide her two daughters with a solid education so that they will have a better chance at a successful future. However, a few years ago, Rita did not have enough money to send her daughters to school. In an effort to earn a better living and become financially self-sufficient, she took out her first microloan to start her own business. Rita decided to buy sarees in the Kolkotta market to resell them in her village for a profit. Her income skyrocketed from 50 ruppees per month to 500 per month. She has opened a personal bank account to track and maintain total control over her earnings. Rita has not only made enough money to send her daughters to school, but she can also afford a tutor to help them maintain their grades. Recognizing her success, Rita's husband now helps support the business, carrying sarees from Kolkotta to their village for her to sell.

"I could not do anything in my life as I was a victim of child marriage," said Rita. "My parents did not know the importance of education and ill-effects of child marriage. I will do everything I can to enable my daughters to earn their own livelihood and become self-sufficient."

Watch this 7-minute video to learn more about the determined, inspiring and hard working mothers who live in the remote villages of West Bengal!

Thank you for these sponsors for YGB Film!!

Ashtanga Yoga Confluence, bluShiva.com, Evolution Asia Yoga Conference, David Schick, Jala Clothing, Jorgen Christiansson, Kino MacGregor, Storymerhant.com, Yoga Fit, Yoga Magazine
There will be two more films this year. If you would like to sponsor either or both of the films, or for more information on sponsorship, please contact YGB at: info@yogagivesback.org

Exciting News:

A yogi Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post) invites YGB for "The Raise for Women Challenge" !

Take action on this Mother's Day!!!!
Click here to donate!

The purpose of the event is to provide resources and awareness for nonprofits run by and for women. Between now and June 6, we invite you to donate any amount to help YGB to grow its programs and campaign...read more: click here.

Welcome new Ambassadors

Devorah Sacks, Mission Ashtanga
Devorah has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga since 1993 and teaches at her Mission Ashtanga, qualified by Sri K Pattabhi Jois. "I love this organization. Yoga Gives Back is truly special. Read more click here.

Genieve Burley,
Vancouver, Canada
Dr. Genieve Burley is a Vancouver based chiropractor and yoga instructor.

"Yoga has been a potent source of growth and healing in my life. After the birth of both of my daughters I experienced post-partum depression. Read more click here.

The Asia Yoga Conference chooses YGB as the Charity Partner!
Hong Kong, June 6-9

Sunday, June 9, a special charity class by nine popular teachers, including YGB Ambassador Samantha Chan, will be held, along with a YGB video presentation. Visit the YGB booth if you are in Hong Kong!

PRESS

"Yoga and Filmmaking Combine to Change Lives of Women in India"
By: Kino MacGregor, The Huffington Post, April 29, 2013
Read the story here.

Events

Saturday, May 11, 2-9 pm
"Fab 40 Fundraiser & Fun"
by Tanya Mickwitz
@The Tanneries, London, U.K.
Tanya is donating 100% of the proceeds from her birthday celebration yoga class and party. Happy Birthday, and Thanks Tanja!

Wednesday, May 29, 6:30-8 pm
"Guided Meditation"
by Barbara Vollstedt
@Take 15, Brussels, Belgium Hosted by YGB Ambassador Ramona Rouhdoust.

Saturday, June 1, 6:15-8 pm
"Teacher Training Graduation Celebration"
@Goda Yoga, Los Angeles, CA
Special class assisted by Kate Cariati and YGB Ambassador Claudia Fucigna, hosted by Cheryl Moss. Zico Coconut Water and Organic India will also be donating items!

Sep 1st - Dec 31st
"Thank You Mother India " Global Campaign
Registration will start early June on our brand new website!!

New Partners
Sophie Herbert and kids

TweenYogini, an organization launched by a dedicated Ashtanga practitioner, Liza Chapman, of Mill Valley, Ca., to inspire tween girls to develop confidence, inner strength and self-love through yoga. 10% of the proceeds from the classes are donated to YGB.

Thank you for all the past events, making a real difference one class at a time!!

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Yoga Gives Back

Written by Kayoko Mitsumatsu

From Posture To Power: Microcredit Changes Lives On Both Sides of the Ocean

We can talk about making change. But affecting real change in the world comes from impacting the lives of individuals. It comes from empowering people to be independent and able to make a living on their own while at the same time being fully integrated in our interdependent global community. Sometimes it takes something that seems to be radical to make this change, but these shifts can be deceptively small. They can be even as small (or as large) as the cost of a Los Angeles Yoga class.

How could this be? In the practice of microcredit, lending seemingly small amounts of money to small-scale entrepreneurs allows them to succeed and change their circumstances. This is the fundamental basis of microcredit’s transformative power; it’s a revolutionary concept in finance. This practice shifts the emphasis from financial transactions being focused only about large loans and large scale businesses, which are out of reach of many one-person operations, institutions and organizations – to lending practices that actually make a positive difference in a person’s life. Microcredit practices based on social justice and empowerment operate through a combination of small-scale loans based on trust and community support, with structured repayment plans and programs that encourage savings. In these situations, people actually have the opportunity to solidify long-term change in their lives.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Yoga Gives Back Team: Joel Bender, Leslie Hendry, Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Kayoko Mitsumatsu (left-right)

In 2006, economist Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the institution he founded, the Grameen Bank, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This award was in recognition of their revolutionary efforts to create this micro-credit model, support sustainable economic practices, and provide an alternative to what were exploitive norms. When a person is caught in a cycle of poverty, they may become trapped in the system, particularly since large banking institutions have historically ignored people without assets or credit histories, who are just starting out and who may not have already proven themselves. Most banks prefer to lend large sums of money that represent a greater profit margin and are set up only for large loans in order to make a profit themselves. And even making it more challenging, people at the bottom of the economic scale worldwide have had to rely on moneylenders charging usurious terms and interest rates to obtain funds to plant the next crop, buy inventory of new equipment, or upgrade a business in any way. Institutions such as the Grameen Bank and their affiliates are offering another approach. It’s one that has significantly impacted millions of people.

As Dr. Yunus described in an exclusive interview with Yoga Gives Back in May, 2009, “We started in 1976, and today within Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, eight million people borrow micro loans, ninety-seven percent of them women.” This represents an enormous potential for change and empowerment that just did not exist on a large scale in this form prior to 1976.

There is a social cycle in economics, and Dr. Yunus explained this: “Poverty is not inside the person. Poverty is forced from outside. Poor people are as capable [a] human being as anybody else. They have the same power and energy, same potential. But they are denied such facilities. They cannot express themselves. Money is one of the most important items missing in their lives. You need a dollar to catch a dollar. You cannot catch a dollar with an empty hand. So, that first dollar, nobody has given to her. So she remains dependent on someone else. She has to be hired, to slave; she has to work to make food available on the table. What we have done, we have put that first dollar into her hands as a banking proposition. Conventional banks never come to the poor people. They go to rich people to make more money. The person who does not have a dollar – she cannot get it. So we did it. We did it in a way that is affordable to her. Because we do not insist on collateral. There is no collateral.”

While that may seem like a radical concept, the Grameen Bank has proven that their success is much more than ideological. Dr Yunus cited statistics for us, “The repayment rate is almost 100%, without collateral or anything. This is the strength of microcredit which is now spread all over the world. There are by now at least 150 million borrowers in the world today. Bu it is still very small comparing to the need. We need more microcredit organizations in the world so that more people can be reached.”

Yoga Gives Back is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization begun in LA, with the goal to provide a way for Western Yoga practitioners to give back to India, the birthplace of Yoga, which has given us so much. We’re heeding Dr. Yunus’ call to reach more people through expanded opportunities for and awareness of microcredit and have targeted India and Indian families, women, and would-be entrepreneurs, who would be otherwise stuck in the cycle of poverty that Dr. Yunus described. Yoga Gives Back supports microfinancing operations in India, through the Grameen Foundation, headquartered in Washington, DC. Donations go directly to Grameen Koota, Bangalore, South India and our YGB awareness campaign focuses on the real stories of how poor women are changing their lives with small loans from Grameen Koota.

Ms. Vinatha M Reddy

Grameen Koota was started by visionary teacher and philanthropist, Ms. Vinatha M Reddy (pictured, above) in 1999, who learned about Nobel Peace Recipient Dr Muhammad Yunus’ microfinancing and immediately began exploring ways of replicating his work in her hometown. In 2000, she started providing small microcredit loans, averaging $25.00 a month, to fifty local women. Today, Grameen Koota’s work is reaching out to over 280,000 women in Bangalore, Mysore and many areas of Karnataka state, in South India, making real impact on these women’s lives as well as on the local economy.

Yoga Gives Back

The Los Angeles-based Yoga Gives Back has a worldwide reach and began out of the inspiration and dedication of my Yoga mentor Joel Bender and me. Our group has suddenly started growing almost daily and our mission is shared by a quickly expanding and loving Yoga community.

When I was growing up in Japan, which is a very middle-class society, I had never experienced or seen any real poverty, especially growing up in Tokyo in 1960s and 1970s, when Japan's post-war economic miracle was taking place. Then, I had a chance to live in Brazil in the late 1970s for two years, where as a teenager, I saw the divide between poverty and wealth, the reality of the real slums, kids on the streets begging every time you stopped the car at the traffic light, all very much like India. Social injustice hit me hard.

Once I started Yoga practice and feeling my life being so enriched by it , I felt a need to use my resources to help others. I was producing a documentary on Social Entrepreneurship and learned about microfinancing. I shared this information with Joel [featured in the teacher profile in this month’s issue of LA YOGA] who had been looking for the way he could give back to India since his first visit there – so we teamed up.

When I think about the growth of Yoga Gives Back thus far, I give a lot of credit to the entrepreneurship and volunteer spirit of Americans, willing to embrace and support a new grass roots campaign like ours.

Kayoko Mitsumatsu, co-founder of Yoga Gives Back, is a documentary filmmaker whose films deal with social justice issues, including First They Killed My Father a memoir of a Cambodia’s Killing Fields’ survivor.

A Life Changing Story of Microcredit: Jayashree

Jayashree

Jayashree lives in the suburbs of Bangalore and is married and the mother of two children. We visited her at her humble dirt floor one room home for the first time in 2007. We were touched by her warm smile and most generous hospitality, serving us hot tea and cookies.

Jayashree was born into a very poor family in Bangalore. When she was a child, her family’s financial situation became so severe that she had to drop out of school and work at a garment factory. She toiled throughout her childhood and after she got married at fifteen, her meager earnings had to support her ailing in-laws. She had two children. Her husband’s rickshaw business was not enough to pay her sons’ education or secure food for the family.

In 2007, Jayashree learned from her neighbors about Grameen Koota’s microcredit program and applied for her first loan. She was granted a first loan of 7,000 rupees ($175), and immediately bought her husband’s auto rickshaw. Owning their own rickshaw business increased their income significantly.

Jayashree was able to pay back her entire loan in one year and became eligible for her second loan in 2008. Having proven her diligence, her second loan amount doubled to 15,000 rupees ($375). This time, she bought a sewing machine and started stitching bags. The family’s earnings have now tripled and she is earning 150 rupees ($3.75) a day. In addition, she opened a small shop next to her house to sell her products which is earning her an additional 100 rupees ($2.50) a day.

She is sending her elder son to a medical school. Her son dreams of becoming a doctor and thanks his mother’s business for providing his education, their own home and daily food.

To participate in a Yoga practice where the proceeds support Yoga Gives Back and directly impact the transformation of not only your own life, but that of someone in India, start your Thanksgiving week at Yogaglo, Sunday, November 22, 10:00 A.M. - 12 noon. Some of the teachers include John Sahakian, Felicia Tomasko, Alexandra Aiken and Ally Hamilton; more to be announced. Yogaglo.com; yogagivesback.com.

For more information on Yoga Gives Back or to host a Yoga Gives Back class at your own studio or location, visit: yogagivesback.org or contact yogagivesback@earthlink.net.