I have a wonderful opportunity to bring the practice of yoga to incarcerated women in the very near future. This is a dream come true for me, and I am humbly overjoyed to be able to serve an underserved population.

This shirt and this fundraiser has been created to help to cover the cost of purchasing the necessary supplies to offer the safest and most comfortable possible practice to my incarcerated students when our class begins in January, as well as enrolling in additional training to teach my classes with a greater understanding and sensitivity to trauma.

These shirts themselves are designed with many things in mind. “Open-Handed” is a phrase I use often in my yoga classes. I invite my students to consider their open hands as their palms face the sky. This posture communicates three things: a willingness to receive, a willingness to release, and a willingness to give. When we have a need, we outstretch our hands to receive that need. When we let things go, we loosen our grasp and release. And when we have something we can offer to another, we open our hand, giving it away. When we master these things, we move into detachment from desperation, dependency, and selfishness, and we move into a place of freedom, even if just in our innermost beings. This is my primary hope: to affirm these women in their value and worth, but also encourage them to this inner freedom of the heart, spirit, and mind through a yoga practice. Lastly, the moon has long been hailed as the sign of the cool, feminine energy, contrasting with the warm, masculine energy of the sun. This is to honor and represent the female students this practice will be offered to.

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