Come to Kirtan Jam on December 1 at 7:30, Grace Church

This Thursday at 7:30 Comfort Station will again perform Kirtan at Grace Church. They are inviting everyone to bring acoustic instruments if they wish to make it a "Kirtan Jam" - so bring them if you've got them - even if it's just your voice!

This picture is from last month's Celebration of Light.

November Karma Yoga Meeting

Being a part of the Karma Yoga project has helped me to see the “karma yoga” that happens naturally pretty much everywhere. This last month, especially around Halloween, I noticed so many people doing things to make the connections within our community stronger – here are a few:

• Ann, Clay, Jon and Misty performing Kirtan at Grace Church and donating all the proceeds to Island families in need;

• My friend Deb’s pumpkin party resulting in all those beautiful pumpkins on the corner of New Sweden and Eagle Harbor Drive;

• Receiving $100 from a woman in Chicago who heard about the November Kirtan to benefit the Island family struggling with illness;

• Families in the Fort Ward neighborhood who put so much time and energy into giving trick-or-treaters a real scare – think chain-saws, strobe lights and the Gimp from Pulp Fiction;

• Seeing a friendship blossom between my daughter and a student new to the Island;

• Witnessing the amazing community support surrounding our friends Steve and Martha and the way they have so beautifully shared their experiences with us all.

These ways that we support each other keep us all connected. Perhaps our needs are big or perhaps they are small. Maybe we just need a good scare or a fence-full of beautiful lit-up pumpkins. Maybe we need to know that our friends and our community are there to help us when we face incredible challenges. I am noticing that karma yoga is all around me if I just open my eyes and pay attention.

We have a few things coming up that you may want to be part of – more specifics will follow soon:

• We will collect gifts (homemade or store-bought) and monetary donations for families in need over the holidays. You will see specific needs in the studio.

• Write a note to one of Jen’s high school yoga students about what yoga means to you – she will share them at their last session before winter break on December 12. Look for the note-paper in the studio.

• On December 22 at 5:30 pm we will hold a MedMob (think Flashmob with meditation instead of dancing) at the ferry terminal. Check out this link for more information about MedMobs http://www.medmob.org/

• After the holidays we will have a Mala Making Party with help from Amy Margaret Kapphan. Join us if you’d like to learn what malas are and how you can make them.

Karma Yoga Meeting Thursday

A friendly reminder that our next Karma Yoga meeting is this Thursday, November 17 at BYH after yoga. If you can't be at yoga but are coming to the meeting, we usually start between 10:45 and 11:00. Hope to see you there!

This is a picture from Mt. Zion out near Quilcene taken today.

A Neighbor to Neighbor Thanksgiving

Most of you likely know that Helpline House collects Thanksgiving meals and distributes them to Island families through Project Wishbone each year. Last year Helpline served over 750 families. For me, the deadline for getting the donations to Helpline always sneaks up sooner than I expect. This year Helpline House is accepting donations on Friday, November 18 (10 - 4) and Saturday, November 19 (10 - 2).

If you would like to donate to Project Wishbone but can't get to Helpline on Friday or Saturday, you can bring donations to BYH and we will get them to Helpline. Here is a link to let you know what they need for donations - http://helplinehouse.org/thanksgiving.shtml . There is a basket in the studio where you can put donations - there are also printed lists of the items they need. Neighbor to neighbor we can all make a difference.