Paying it Forward

As I pass the midway mark on this month's $12 a day experiment, I realize a couple things. One, although my average spending has been hovering between $13-14 a day (a tad over $12) I have been operating in a deficit since Day 3 and the 'debt' continues to grow unchecked. Two, I haven't felt like I'm missing much.

The biggest compromise I have made so far along this journey was to not attend a special yoga workshop last weekend by a visiting instructor whose practice I enjoy immensely and was looking forward to for quite awhile. When it came down to it, the cost for the one hour class was $35 and right up until that weekend, in the back of my mind, I was planning to go...then I actually started to question the expense and my commitment to this experiment and decided it wouldn't be right. And, so I didn't.

Oddly, the decision seemed to fit with the teachings of this admired yogi, Eoin Finn, who founded the "Bliss Army", enthusiastically encouraging people from all walks of life, "to take the time to become aware of the impact of the choices we make" and recognize the relationship between love and selfishness. Finn defines his approach as Blissology:    

Blissology (TM) (blis-ol-uh-jee) the art of consciously finding the balance between one’s personal desires and our impact on the web of life. It is not just a brand but a way of being.  It is a path of interconnectedness and love.

What came out of my decision to not attend his workshop was a renewed interest in pursuing yoga (and meditation) from a different perspective and seek out teachers and classes that are open and welcoming to all, in a free or pay-what-you-can (pwyc) fashion. Yoga by nature is rooted in "selfless service" and in an effort to "give back" studios will offer what they call "karma" classes where you pay by donation and the monies are then given to charity, which is an amazing win-win. So, after doing an exhaustive online search, I compiled a comprehensive schedule of studios in my community that offer such weekly classes and now when I want to practice I can choose one that will be flexible in price and the money will actually be going to a good cause. I'm happy to say when I walked out of my first "karma" yoga class this afternoon knowing my money was helping support our local Out of the Cold program, I felt pretty darn blissful.

Wednesday Spent: $18.70 (groceries) 
Thursday Spent: $40.00 ($20 yoga & gift, $20 outing with kids)