Instagram picture of Roland Dela Cruz and Cassandra Hoo at Gratitude Yoga
My sister is the one responsible for encouraging me to practice yoga seriously. Yoga has become a special shared activity that we love to talk about together when we are far apart and do together when we visit one another. We have taken so many wonderful and meaningful yoga classes together over the years and it is always a blessing to be able to practice yoga next to my big sister/best friend.
Luckily, during my visit to New Jersey last week, we were able to attend a benefit yoga class together to help raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc and ICanServe Foundation Inc. The event was hosted at a beautiful yoga studio in Princeton, NJ called Gratitude Yoga. Gratitude Yoga is a donation-based yoga studio that operates on an honor system. Although the suggested donation amount is $12, yogis can anonymously pay what they can afford for every class. The sustainable business model has served the owner, Gemma Farrell, very well. Her classes are always packed with limber and eager learners week after week. My sister had been telling me about this yoga studio for a while and I’m so happy that I finally got a chance to practice there. I will definitely be back the next time that I’m in the area.
The yoga class that we attended was taught by Roland Dela Cruz. He is the co-owner and yoga teacher of Bliss Yoga, which is located in the Philippines. Yes, that’s right — the Philippines. Roland left his country on September 17th, 2012 to embark on a 50 day journey around the world. Traveling lightly with only a backpack of the essentials, a camera, and a yoga mat, he is on a mission to raise money for Breast Cancer victims, increase cancer awareness, and spread love and peace through his gift of teaching yoga. To further educate and spread cancer awareness, Roland is documenting his journey on his blog, My Global Mandala. I highly encourage you to subscribe to his blog so that you can live vicariously through his amazing trip.
I really enjoyed Roland’s class a lot. His class was playful, challenging, and dynamic. I was able to work up a sweat and also find moments of calm and stillness. I’m thankful that I was able to attend his class and support his wonderful cause. His 50 day excursion was motivated by his sister’s fight and survival (yay!) of Breast Cancer. Since my own company was also inspired by a loved one’s fight and survival of cancer, I felt that Roland was a kindred spirit that I could relate to and root for.
I attended another cancer charity fundraiser last week as well. Stay tuned to read more about it!
