Rainier Beach Yoga is coming in 2014!

Dear Satmato Yoga Therapy supporter,

February 2nd was Satmato’s 2nd birthday, and her third year is proving to be a big one! January was Satmato’s busiest month so far, and the biggest news for 2014 is the opening of Satmato’s studio in Rainier Beach. Keep reading to see how you can get involved!

Share the Love! Rainier Beach Crowdfund!
Go to our Indidgogo Site to learn more!

We are excited to share that we will be opening up a yoga studio at our home in Rainier Beach in 2014! Just this morning we were downtown submitting our drawings for permits. Our goal is to open the first week of October, 2014, and we need your help! The build-out for the studio will cost about $26,000, and we are hoping to build the studio from the ground up in community. Satmato Yoga Therapy has saved $6,000 for the project and we are looking to raise another $20,000 in community.

We are so excited and want to share the news with everyone we know and love. We are also looking for community support to get the studio off the ground, and in return, we are happy to support the community (you!).

Why would you want to support Satmato Yoga Therapy’s Rainier Beach studio?
This studio will allow us to continue our mission of helping people foster compassion towards themselves and others in order to alleviate suffering within themselves and the world.
This space will be the only yoga studio in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. We believe yoga will be a wonderful addition to an already wonderful neighborhood.
The studio will allow us to offer even more group classes, as well as more specialized classes (i.e. yoga for trauma recovery, yoga and our relationship with food, yoga for depression and anxiety, and more).
There will be more space for workshops.
There will be more space for trainings designed for yoga teachers and yoga teachers in the making.
You will get presents from us!
So, how can you help?

Satmato Yoga Therapy is accepting checks, cash and on-line donations in any amount until March 31, 2014 in order to help with the building of the space. To make this project even more enticing, you will receive great gifts when you support us! Any amount helps!

$10-25: One group class and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$25-49: Satmato Yoga Therapy Sticker, one group class and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$50-107: 3 class passes, a sticker and a personal shout out on Facebook and Twitter

$108-250: One hour private yoga session,* one group class, sticker and a personal shout out on Facebook and Twitter

$251-499: One hour private yoga session,* 5 class pass, sticker and a personal shout out on Facebook and Twitter

$500-1007: 90 minute Thai Yoga session,* 5 class pass, sticker and a personal shout out on Facebook and Twitter

$1008-2000: 2 one hour private yoga sessions,* 5 class pass, sticker and a personal shout out on Facebook and Twitter

$2001-3000: 6 month unlimited membership to the studio, one hour private yoga session,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$3001-4000: 6 month unlimited membership to the studio, and the ability to bring friends who are first time students for free during the 6 month membership, 3 one hour private yoga sessions,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$4001-$5000: 1 year unlimited membership to the studio, one hour private yoga session,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$5001-$8000: One year unlimited membership to the studio, and the ability to bring friends who are first time students for free during the year membership, 3 one hour private yoga sessions,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$8001-10000: One year unlimited membership to the studio, and the ability to bring friends who are first time students for free during the year membership, 3 one hour private yoga sessions, 90 minute Thai Yoga session,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

$10001+: Lifetime unlimited membership to the studio, bring friends who are first time students for free, 3 one hour private yoga sessions, one 120 minute Thai Yoga Session,* sticker and a personal shout-out on Facebook and Twitter

*You can receive these sessions now in Satmato Yoga Therapy’s office in Pioneer Square.

Can’t contribute financially, but still want to help?
*Share our Indiegogo site on your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts!
*Tell your friends and family why you are passionate about bringing yoga to Rainier Beach!
*Like us on Facebook and Twitter in order to receive updates about progress!
*Forward this newsletter to friends and family!

Questions? Email laura@satmato.com or call Satmato Yoga Therapy at (206) 478-5357.

Ready to give and receive? You can send checks to:
Satmato Yoga Therapy
600 1st Ave. Ste. 214A
Seattle, WA 98104

Or go to our Indidgogo Site to make an easy on-line contribution.

We look forward to fostering community with you.

In deep gratitude,
Laura Humpf and Satmato Yoga Therapy

Here is a free gift just for being part of the Satmato Yoga Therapy community. This month is a meditation focusing on the solar plexus chakra. This chakra is the 3rd energy center associated with the core of the body, as well as one’s sense of power, determination and will. Enjoy!

Solar Plexus Chakra Meditation

Last month we had the unfortunate adventure of losing our beloved puggle, Buddy. We were visiting friends on Whidbey Island, walking through the woods; one minute he was there, the next minute he was gone. The following 36 hours without Buddy proved to be some of the most difficult times I had experienced in quite some time, maybe ever.

I’ll start by letting you know that this story has a happy ending, but in the midst of the searching, yoga (the Big yoga), meditation and the support of family, friends and my partner were my saving graces.

Yoga was such a key ingredient to this experience, not because of down dog or up dog (although being physically in shape helped us to keep up with Kelsy, the search and rescue dog we hired), but because yoga has taught me how to be with what is. When my mind would go off into very dark places (i.e. Buddy has been killed by a coyote. I am never going to see him again. I am a terrible dog momma.), my yoga practice helped me see that these stories I was making up were just stories. One of my beloved teachers and friends, Stephanie Sisson, has said, “If you are going to make up a story, why not make up a good one?” I remembered this over and over when my mind would create stories that fed my desperation, my sense of powerlessness and my dread. I replaced those stories with, “We are going to find him. He is going to come home soon.”

Meditation was pivotal in our search because meditation has taught me to stay present. My mind kept bringing me to the past and the future (and the stories that went along with the past and future). At times I would create new stories, and at other times I would encourage myself to come back to my body, my breath.

On the second morning without Buddy I did a walking meditation and I intentionally felt my legs as they moved back and forth. I looked around and took in my surroundings. I allowed myself to get out of my head and into my body. I also chanted to myself since I learned that you are not supposed to call out a lost dog’s name (if he or she is scared and your voice sounds scared as well, the dog may not come to you even if they hear you). Buddy has heard me chant lots of time, and so my chanting soothed me as I let him know I was around and calm. When I was in this place of center, I could actually get more done. When I got into the present moment I could finish the flyers, create the Facebook posts and drive strategically around the island to poster and flyer. When I was lost in my head, I was crumpled into a ball crying. This happened several times, but when it did I remembered that allowing the grief, sadness and fear to be a part of my experience was also a part of being present.

Finally, we were completely supported in so many ways. We were fed and housed. Over 500 people shared Buddy’s picture on Facebook, while prayers and texts constantly came our way. People on the island helped search and post flyers. Buddy’s best friend, Muffet, came out to start a scent track, and a couple called us whenever they spotted Buddy. The search and rescue team, 3 Retrievers, helped us track and eventually trap our missing puggle. This experience reminded me that we can not do these things in isolation. We need community and support to deal with life’s difficulties when they arise.

In many ways, this experience also reminded me of the power of yoga and yoga therapy. People come into Satmato Yoga Therapy during life’s difficulties, and together we work toward becoming aware of the stories that are causing more pain, replacing them with new ones. We work toward being present and kind with ourselves and living in an embodied and grounded way. We learn to ask for support when we can not do it alone. These are some of the tools I use in my private practice and in my personal life because they work, and they can change our lives. These might sound like simple practices, and in some ways they are. Yet they are not easy, and they have to be continually practiced in order to become a part of us.

Buddy was spotted around 5pm, yet he was still not coming to our voice. We set a trap for him with salmon and some of our clothes, and by 3am he was inside the trap. Aside from a few scrapes on his belly from barbed wire fences, he came out of his adventure unscathed. We could not have asked for a better outcome, and he is an on-leash dog forever now.