Our Sierra Rose Appeal (November 2009)

The month of November, for the second year now, is this little girl's special month at Bikram Yoga Fitzroy. Karen is one of our teachers and Sierra Rose is Karen and husband Shane's beautiful young daughter. Sierra Rose has severe cerebral palsy and medical expenses run very high for this family.

Last year, with the help of many Bikram students and other individuals, as well as other Bikram studios, both in Australia and overseas, Bikram Yoga Fitzroy ran a November Yoga Challenge that raised over $18,000 which helped the family fund a trip to Germany for ground-breaking stem cell therapy.

This treatment has achieved remarkable results for Sierra Rose, with improved eyesight, less muscle spasm and increased muscle control as just some of the benefits.

This year's appeal is based upon the understanding that Sierra Rose may never be able to create normal speech. However, with the assistance of a remarkable computer called a MyTobii she can learn to use her eyes to control a computer program that can produce synthetic speech.

Since she does not have the use of her hands and the small muscle control needed to use a computer mouse, she can instead use her eyes to move a cursor around a computer screen and create sentences to have a conversation with others.

The cost is high, $25,000, and our goal is to fund raise as much as we can during the month of November for this purchase.

How you can participate

We are asking students, who are taking part in the November Challenge, to seek sponsorship from family, friends and workmates to raise funds.

There are MANY ways that you can participate in this year's challenge.

We are running our normal 30-day challenge, which is to set a goal of practicing 30 classes in 30 days. If you miss a day, easy, just do a double on another day to keep up!

Most students in this challenge will begin on November 1st, but due to work and other commitments, some have begun earlier and some will begin later than Nov 1st. For those students who complete their 30-day challenge, the studio will give them a HALF PRICE MONTHLY UNLIMITED PASS, as a little reward for their efforts!

But there are other students who may not be able to commit to the full month challenge. They may then create ANY PERSONAL CHALLENGE, that extends their own practice. This might mean practicing 3 classes a week for a month, instead of just one or two. As long as you step out of your "comfort zone" and create a goal that challenges you, you can help with fund raising.

In fact there is a small group of determined students who are going to practice ALL 5 classes in one day on Sunday November 15th!

If, however, your time is limited in November, you can still help by sponsoring someone else in their challenge.

In fact, Sierra's mum, Karen, is not only doing the 30-day challenge but is also one of those select few who will do up to 5 classes on one day and you are invited to sponsor Karen herself! Her sponsorship sheet is in reception.