We started brainstorming with the idea of a flash-mob style yoga, and the concept for our volunteer trip was born. We were going to take yoga and use it as a tool to talk about health; looking at it holistically and using the spontaneous yoga classes we taught as a vehicle to explore the subject and leave as a skill, making the experience sustainable. And we were going to connect groups of people together, through physical and virtual communities and get a conversation started. We were going to try and touch people, and have them pay the experience forward. That was the idea.
A month and a half later and we've tackled video-editing, photo-shoots, fundraising, workshops, social media set-up, advertising, sponsorships, partnerships, concept development, webpages, cold-calls, and I'm sure other bits I'm forgetting.
There were definitely a lot of ups and downs; it's been a huge learning curve. There was so much media that neither one of us had ever used, and things to learn about garnering support and fundraising that we stumbled a lot. I think that because we knew in our guts that we had an idea that was more then cool, that it was something special, it helped us plug-on during some of the more challenging and frustrating parts.
What we have learned has been both surprising and inspiring; that you absolutely have no way of controlling the outcome of an idea that takes on a life of its own. That not everyone is going to get it, or want to participate and it's not personal. That people will surprise you, and that creativity really is what happens when people have the freedom to create and be part of something that is bigger then themselves. And to have courage and perseverance, and keep believing that things are unfolding exactly as they should be.
We came up with this idea, to share yoga. It started off as doing yoga, and then we broke it down and realized this project had the potential of becoming something huge, and talking about an issue that’s become really prevalent in the last decade; health. And it’s not just physical health; it’s the fact that people have trouble valuing and don’t know how vital it is to be emotionally, spiritually and mentally healthy in order to be happy.
We've had the blessing of working with people and getting support that's been very motivating. Never in our dreams could we have imagined a local company making a soap to add to their line that would support and fundraise for this project. That's the equivalent to having a scent or perfume made for this, it's a rockstar feeling. And people keep getting involved; we have a team that's going to be walking around downtown Montreal getting people in on our contests. We've got other artists doing specific pieces to raise awareness and funds for Spiritfeet. We've got local and not-so-local coffee shops helping us get the word out, and blogs doing posts hoping to inspire.
The first chapter of our project is quickly moving towards the second chapter; traveling and teaching spontaneous yoga, and sharing the wealth. We're excited to be bringing this beauty to life, and to be updating whoever's reading about our progress. We've got hopes on how it's going to turn out; if we've learned anything though, it's that life has a funny way of unfolding exactly as it should.