Friday, January 27, 2012

Free to Breathe

I'm am excited to report that I will be participating in a fundraiser on March 25th. This will be the first fundraiser I have done that involves being physical since Jump Rope for Heart in elementary school. They gave us some rad t-shirts, y'all

The event is a Yogathon to benefit Free To Breathe, funding lung cancer support and research.

We will be doing 108 sun salutations. (Any Yogis out there?)

This is ONE full sun salutation:

To be repeated One Hundred and Eight times. Oof!

108 is a sacred number in Yoga, associated with luck and wellness. Coincidentally, the event falls EXACTLY 108 weeks after that fated ski trip in February 2010 that kick started this whole journey.

I have yet to do a single sun salutation in my life, before now. In fact, the only yoga I have done is what my physical therapists recommend.

However:
-Most people who have Aspergillosis die within 6 months (80%) or 12 months (15%), so the fact that I will (God-willing *knock on wood*) have seen 108 weeks of sun risings shouldn't go unnoticed.
-My illness attacks the lungs, so I know what it means to not be able to breathe, and lung failure is usually how Aspergillius kills people.
-I've known way too many people who have died of cancer, and lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer.
-I have a newly reconstructed foot that a)could use yoga to get stronger, and b)can actually DO yoga!

So far, I can do the first three poses and I'm going to really push myself to be able to do all of them.

If you would like to contribute my fundraising efforts, you may do so here.

I will be sure to post updates on my progress!



"I have the right to breathe; everything else is a bonus." -Anonymous

2 comments:

  1. You are amazing Bren. I'm so happy to get to call you my friend. Good luck!!!!

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