The last month has been chock full of some big ole changes. I started this organization in 2012 with a goal to bring yoga to as many people as possible. I ran into adversity, difficulty working with some facilities, and being underfunded and overworked, as well as wicked crazy support from so many people – mostly people I knew, but also insane kindness from complete strangers. I loved teaching yoga in correctional facilities. I learned and benefitted more from those classes than I thought was possible. When I had Chelsea Patton join me last year in taking over my OKC classes, I thought this little org might be shifting towards something bigger, and it was. We now have Terra Butler teaching for us at a women’s shelter in Northwest Arkansas. Chelsea is at Kate Barnard Correctional facility and an addiction/recovery home for women and children in OKC. And, I’m in talks with an instructor to take over my classes at David L. Moss Correctional in Tulsa.

I’ve taken a position working for the federal government, and by the end of this year, I’ll be living in NYC. So many people asked me what will happen to RtR. Well, only good things, my friends. I will not have a work schedule that allows me to keep a class going or teach anywhere. My role with the org will become more like a CEO, which is great because I was trying to do everything before, overextending myself, and failing miserably. Now, I will have the ability to take the org in the direction I intended to from the beginning, make a bigger impact, and spread our work as far as we can.

We would love to have more trauma-sensitive yoga instructors in Oklahoma and across the country. We would love to have someone in charge of marketing to get us more funding to hire these instructors and spread the healing. If you know anyone like the folks listed, let us know.

The only way we stay afloat is tax deductible donations from our community. Our first fundraiser on March 25 at Cherry Street Yoga was amazingly successful, and I’m so grateful to everyone who reached out with their support. Let’s keep the momentum going. You can buy an RtR shirt – just email me at roottoriseinc@gmail.com with your size. You can donate via PayPal – either a one time gift or a monthly donation – just go to the right side of our home page and click on the “donate” buttons. Any way you are able to help us goes directly to serving the diverse students in our classes. We are grassroots with big dreams, and this move forward is just the beginning.