Your Opportunity to Change Starts Now

Where in your life are you waiting? Anticipating? Hopeful for change? To invite change you must be willing to dig deep & look at your life unfiltered to see the places where you may need to take stock & clean house.

​From that fresh slate, change is possible and we can become new. ​

This week is your opportunity for change! Wednesday is Yom Kippur on the Jewish calendar, their highest holy day of the year. It is the culmination of the 10 days of awe beginning with Rosh Hashana. Yom Kippur is a time dedicated to forgiveness, to atone for past wrong doings. and to become new. Our very own Jaron Art Sigel is going to co-teach with me to bring forth an experience that will help you navigate your personal journey of change. Through yoga, meditation, learning, praying/contemplating, singing, dancing, and celebrating, you will have an opportunity to embrace change and become renewed. This will be a gift not only for your body, mind, and spirit but also for the relationships in your days. 

Though this personal work of change is deeply, powerfully challenging, it is a beautiful opportunity to heal and renew. Unfortunately, many in our world do not have access to these practices, teachings, and experiences we receive freely each and every Wednesday at EmbodyGR. Many of these individuals are our brothers and sisters right here in Grand Rapids living on and around Division Avenue. Due to trauma, chronic mental health & substance abuse issues, tragedy, and unfortunate life circumstances just to name a few, many live life on the street. They often want to change but they feel helpless and alone in their struggle. My personal mission and life's work is to bring yoga & meditation to those who may not have access or the ability to access these healing tools and practices. That is why our outreach programs at Heartside Ministry and HQ are so important in helping those who feel powerless to create positive change and become new.  

An amazing human who is also dedicated to this work of walking with the homeless is Tom Gunnels, a local GR man who created "Waiting On Division." Waiting on Division is a long-term documentary project documenting the life and stories of those who have once called, currently call, or will forever call a street named Division home. It is about the friendship and community that abounds within the Heartside district, a community most often overlooked by those that choose to walk by, often choosing to walk on the "other side" of Division.

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Please join Tom, Jaron & myself on Wednesday to wrestle with & invite change, to cultivate a renewed sense of spirit through forgiveness, and to connect more deeply within ourselves & thus with others.  

See you on the mat!

Big love,
dana

P.S.!!!
Please sign up on Eventbrite for our free community event with iUnderstand on Wednesday, October 26. Signing up will ensure you a place for you and your yoga mat, an i understand t-shirt and healthy refreshments! Click here to sign up.

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Upcoming Events

October 12, 2016

***IMPORTANT: WE DO HAVE CHILDCARE. We will gather in the "SOCIAL HALL."

Who: YOU and friends
What: EmbodyGR free weekly gathering with special guest speaker Tom Gunnels, Waiting on Division  
Where: Social Hall - Fountain Street Church 
When: Wed Oct 12, 2016- 6:30-8:00
Why: To raise awareness, education, & action. To feel better do good.
Bring: You + one!

 October 19, 2016
***IMPORTANT: WE DO HAVE CHILDCARE. We will gather in the "SOCIAL HALL."

Who: YOU and friends
What: EmbodyGR free weekly gathering with Peri Jill Phillips leading our tribe.  
Where: Social Hall - Fountain Street Church 
When: Wed Oct 19, 2016- 6:30-8:00
Why:  To feel better do good.
Bring: You and yo pal! 

October


October 5- 6:30 EmbodyGR weekly gathering w/ Special Guest
What: Tom Gunnels, of Waiting on Division, will share his experiences on Division Ave with the homeless in our city and ways we can become involved to help our brothers & sisters who live in this struggle. Also, our very own Jaron Art Siegel will join us to celebrate Teshuvah through live performance, meditation, and music. 

October 19- Guest teacher!
Peri will lead our weekly gathering while Dana is off learning more skills to lead our community.

October 23- GR Feminist Film Festival- FREE
Where: Wealthy Theater 
When: 12:00 pm
What:

• 43 Local and international short films
• 12 Panels, speakers, and workshops
• 4 Film blocks with 2 kid-friendly blocks

October 26- EmbodyGR & iUnderstand Special Event
Where: Fountain Street social hall 
When: 6:30-8:00pm FREE
Please sign up on eventbrite! Signing up will ensure you a place for you and your yoga mat, an i understand t-shirt and healthy refreshments! Sign up today at....
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/yoga-feel-better-do-good-with-i-understand-tickets-28345592430

October 27- Yoga & Sacred Song Event to benefit EmbodyGR 
Where: Fountain Street social hall;
When: 6:30-8:30pm
Tickets: Early bird tickets $15 until Oct 14

Looking ahead to November

November 16- Housing First talk by Dr. Sam Tsemberis
What: EmbodyGR is encouraged to attend the talk to learn more about housing as a basic right.
When: 6-7:00pm Our regular weekly gathering will begin immediately following the talk in the social hall ending at 8:00pm

November 18- Waiting On Division Art Exhibition
What: Photography by Tom Gunnels @
Where: The Collective Artspace, 40 Division Ave S. Grand Rapids, MI 49506

"I'm brand new
So are you
New Everyday
Put your hands together and pray"
~ Jaron Art Siegel