So during this Corona Virus quarantine – I think a lot of us have been finding fun ways to celebrate the week-END and keep ourselves learning, e
ngaging, and living during the midst of a crisis -at least that is my hope. Sometimes it is hard not to get stuck in the “When it is over with?” – I will do x,y, and z again but I think it is important to live in the now and make the most of this time together with our loved ones. I also remember those days of living in the mindset “when” and “if” and they often took me out of the present, that thing we are guaranteed and that thing that we have NOW.
I like to keep the structure during the week and have those days of less structure the weekend. So Friday night has become “Take out Night” where we get take out from a different restaurant downtown and we all look forward to it but last Friday we decided to do something different. I had been contacted on Instagram by Paige Elenson about a global healthy happy hour and I was immediately intrigued. I remember whilst living in Switzerland – I had attended a couple events that really felt so amazing to have experienced. One in particular was a charity event with women from all over the world. It was hosted by a lady that had a purse company and she planned an annual event to help raise money for women in less fortunate countries. One year the money went to women in Greece to buy laundry machines so that they didn’t have to do their laundry by hand. Not only did it raise money for those in need – it got those of us women living as an expat in a foreign land to come together, get dressed up, support female entrepreneurs amongst us, and it was purposeful. I remember sitting in the room looking around me at such a display of empowering love. It was using collective global energy to heal parts of the world that needed it and it felt amazing. It felt right. It was also intimidating at times because I didn’t know all of them, I was “new”, and sometimes amongst women there can be some exposure to the dark side of us – gossip, judgement, and caddy-ness. Let’s be real. It exists. But when we put that aside in the name of a higher purpose – it feels damn good.
So I got online and read about the cause. The money was going to purchase wellness kits for the yoga teachers in Africa. The Africa Yoga Project helps bring Yoga to Africa to unite the community and heal some of the trauma endured in countries where basic needs are not provided from birth. You can pick how many wellness kits you donate starting with 1 kit at 10 dollars and leading upward. So I made my purchase and we rolled out our mats at 8pm that Friday evening. Kira, Stan, and me side by side. Paige came on screen with her daughter all the way from Kenya and I watched as person after person signed online and said hello from different parts of the world. The joy in their faces and their hearts was apparent and I felt happy to be one fraction in the midst of this beautiful whole. She guided us through a flow and there was an african DJ providing the tunes by artists from Africa. The music, the vibe, the people, the purpose – it lit me up. As I periodically glanced at my uber tall somewhat stiff hubs busting out to African beats or Kira deciding she wanted to venture onto my mat and I tickled her – we all made an awesome memory doing something good for our bodies and our minds and our souls and each other. It was a win win. Highly recommend if you are looking for something to do on a Friday night and you have the open mind and heart to try something new – that in the midst of this tragedy where it is so easy to get swept up in what we don’t have right now or what we can’t do. We have more time and the ability to connect to countries that lists of “don’t have” is and has been incredibly longer than ours for quite some time. The corona virus opened our eyes to the fact that it doesn’t matter where you come from – illness strikes all places and all people but that WE have the POWER to impact all people in a positive way and to help all places heal. When our funds and our hearts and our focus in on the light that burns inside each and every one of us – beautiful connection happens.
This Global Healthy Happy Hour will be continuing every Friday so don’t worry about the date on the post below as that was the first. Next one is this Friday, April 24th!
