(Chelsea Update would like to thank Joan Wolf for the information in this story.)
Local teachers Janine Bennett, Andrea Jennings, Nicole Tweedie, Sue Whitmarsh and Joan Wolf will be joining Michelle Massey-Barnes in her studio inside the Chelsea Clocktower to offer a special yoga class on Friday, June 20 from 6-7:30 p.m.
Everyone is invited to the special class, which is part of a national event called “Yoga for Sight” that benefits the Seva Foundation, an international public health non-profit that began 35 years ago in a small cabin on Spring Lake in Chelsea.
Now based in California, Seva programs have helped 3.5 million people to see again.
Here’s the history. In 1978, after working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to end smallpox in India, Dr. Larry Brilliant (currently president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund) and his wife, Girija Brilliant, a public health specialist, published an article entitled “Death of a Killer Disease.”
It was a personal account of their decade in Asia, first as youthful travelers, then as spiritual seekers, and eventually as part of WHO’s successful smallpox eradication team. They concluded the article with an appeal to readers to find the compassion and understanding to support international health programs to benefit those struggling with poverty.
Readers were moved and soon $20,000 in donations arrived in the couple’s mailbox, with the first $5,000 coming from (not-yet-famous) Steve Jobs.
Inspired by the supportive response, the Brilliants invited an eclectic group that included WHO’s Dr. Nicole Grasset, spiritual teacher Ram Dass, and activist Wavy Gravy among others to a meeting in Chelsea. Through this meeting, a model international organization was formed. For more information, please click here.
Everyone is invited to take part in the June 20 event – regardless of their yoga experience. Former employees and volunteers from Seva Foundation will be at the event to welcome participants for their support.For more information, please click here.
