June 2006 Newsletter

June 5, 2006

Hello Friends:

Don’t worry – the Air Conditioning is On!

Some of you may remember me in my younger days when I was adamant about not turning the A/C on until August 1. I swore that sweating profusely and overheating was very cleansing and detoxifying for us, at the same time saving the environment by keeping the A/C off. As I am rapidly approaching the age of 30, I have settled down a little bit and am open to turning the A/C on as required (if for no other reason than to keep our members throughout the summer months!) I have been receiving several phone calls about this the past week, so please rest assured that the temperature in the room will be comfortable for you and you will have a pleasant stay at YBS.

Handmade Eye pillows

One of our Bellydancing members, Trish Wright, has handcrafted some beautiful eye pillows filled with flax seed and lavender. They are for sale in the studio, with all different sorts of fun fabrics, for only $10. Be sure to pick one up on your next visit in!

Class Cancelled this Friday, June 9

This weekend I will be attending a course through Landmark Education (www.landmarkeducation.ca) in Toronto for three days. Some of you may remember I went to do another course with them in April. Therefore, I will not be able to teach this Friday’s Drop-In Hatha Class @ 9:45am. Unfortunately, we are unable to find a fill-in instructor for that day (trying to find someone to replace on a Friday is very challenging!). This will be the only class that is affected; all other classes are running as scheduled this weekend. We have placed a notice on the bulletin board, and have contacted our regular Friday morning attendees to let them know. Everyone has been so understanding… thank you for recognizing the importance of my self-development and introspective work.

Tony Murdock’s Workshops

We have run two of Tony’s meditation workshops these past couple Saturdays, and we’ve had two full houses! It is wonderful to see the interest in these topics! Coming up, Tony is teaching “Meditations to Balance and Heal the Chakras” this Saturday, June 10 and “Intro to Yoga Philosophy” (I am really looking forward to that one!) on Saturday, June 17. Each workshop is $45 + gst and run from 2p-5p. You can visit our website www.yogabysarah.com for more information on these. To register, call us, e-mail us or stop by the front desk! We will be announcing a summer list of his workshops that we will be running throughout July and August in the coming couple weeks.

The departure of Tara Heersping, our receptionist

Our Monday night receptionist, Tara Heersping, will be leaving YBS to return to her full time career (she has been off on maternity leave the past year) in July. The good news is that we will then only have one receptionist called Tara (up until now, both of our receptionists are named Tara!). We have way too many Sarah’s and Tara’s working at YBS! And it’s even more challenging that they rhyme with each other! Tara will still be around Monday evenings for the month of June, so be sure to bid her farewell when you are around this month. Tara has offered to help out and fill-in as needed, so she won’t be a stranger.

Spring/Summer Drop-In Membership

We are still selling our spring/summer promo - $150 + gst for unlimited classes to the Drop-In Schedule until September 1. If you are only around for the summer or you need to renew, it’s the best way to go right now. Stop by the front desk on your next time in to register for this!

Aaahhh…. The Return of the Flower Pot

The City of St. Catharines teams up with Niagara College every summer and offers very large outdoor flower pots with beautiful flowers in them to businesses (for a nominal fee) throughout the city as part of their beautification of the city. This will be the third year YBS has taken part in this program. We can expect the flower pot to arrive sometime this week and I am looking forward to it! Many of us will remember the flower pot scandal from the Summer of 2004. A couple people have reminded me of it lately, and I can’t help but chuckle when I think of it. Below, I have posted an excerpt from my newsletter in July of 2004. Enjoy!

YBS Gossip - The Flower Pot Incident – July 2004

The latest excitement at the studio has been the theft of our beloved and very large flower pot, which housed some very pretty pink flowers amongst some other greenery. (You can tell that I am an avid gardener and know the names of my plants very well ;) This flower pot was ordered from the City of St. Catharines as part of their beautification of downtown program. As well as paying for the lovely display of flowers at our entrance, the city will come looking for it in October to take it back. So you can imagine my horror last week when I came to open the studio one morning and the precious flowers were gone! After an initial display of foul language on my part (witnessed by only one of our members, Andrea - my apologies) I came to the conclusion that it was gone for good and would have to deal with the consequences from the city myself, not to mention the loss of enjoyment when I looked at these pink flowers everyday. However, a kind neighbour on Page St. next to our parking lot, (who would like to remain anonymous, so I'll only use his first name of Rick hehe) had witnessed the theft in broad daylight. Being the Good Samaritan that he is, Rick got into his vehicle and followed this thief who had put the flower pot in a shopping cart and was wheeling away faster than Rick could keep up. Rick eventually caught up to him and noted the address a few streets over where the flower pot had been dropped off. After a midnight drive-by of this seedy part of town, I decided it was not a matter that I wanted to take into my own hands. With this address and a description of the thief, I hesitantly contacted the police. They promptly came down and took my statement, as well as Rick's statement. They then went to the house and located my flower pot. (It must have been my very detailed description of the flower pot that helped him locate it - when the officer was taking my statement he wanted to know what kind of flowers they were, and I told him that they were pink). Due to the largeness of the pot, the police officer didn't feel that it would fit in the back of his cruiser, so he struck a deal with culprits. If they put the pot in their minivan and drove it back to where it came from, he wouldn't press charges. Case solved. After a little TLC, my flowers are back to normal and are prettier than ever! Thanks to Officer Rob Richardson for attending to this small case and assuring me that I wasn't wasting the tax payer’s dollar!

Fundraising to Build School in Africa

One of our members, Christine Nimeth, is taking on a big fundraising project to build a school in Tanzania, East Africa. You may have read an article in the St. Catharines Standard about this. At the front desk, we are selling bracelets in the colours of the Tanzanian flag for $5, of which all proceeds will go to Christine’s project. Christine is also organizing a Live/Silent Auction immersed in an African experience on October 19 from 6p-9p at the Quality Inn. She is just in the process of organizing a committee to help organize this auction. Anyone who is interested in helping out with the committee, donations or with this project please contact her at 905 988-1618 or hearttoheartafrica@yahoo.com Thank you for supporting this worthwhile (and necessary) cause by purchasing one of the bracelets from the front desk!

In love and light… many blessings….