Los Angeles, March 1, 2009 – In observation of National Yoga Month (September 2009), the Yoga Health Foundation calls for all yoga studios, teachers and students to go online at www.yogamonth.org and get involved to create one Yoga Month event in every city across the United States.

The Yoga Health Foundation, a nonprofit 501 c(3) organization based in Los Angeles, CA, was founded by Johannes Fisslinger with the intent of delivering yoga and other preventative health care practices to underserved communities.  To achieve this goal, Fisslinger created National Yoga Month, a national awareness campaign to inspire an informed and healthy lifestyle.  In October 2008, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion deemed September (followed by Breast Cancer Awareness in October) to be National Yoga Awareness Month and listed it as an official health observance at www.healthfinder.gov.

National Yoga Month is a campaign to educate and inspire youth and adults to take responsibility for their health by focusing on prevention and living a healthy lifestyle. Yoga Month is the perfect opportunity to begin to create small lifestyle changes for yourself and your family.

HOW OLD SHOULD ONE BE TO START YOGA?

• You can start yoga at any age.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF PRACTICING YOGA?

• Some of the benefits of practicing yoga are increased flexibility, stronger muscles and connective tissue, alignment of the vertebrae, toned and rejuvenated internal organs.
• In addition, the epidermal, digestive, lymphatic, cardiovascular, and pulmonary systems are purified of toxins and waste matter; the nervous and endocrine systems are balanced and toned; brain cells are nourished and stimulated.
• Results of a regular yoga practice include increased mental clarity, emotional stability, and a greater sense of overall wellbeing.
• Yoga is one of the 10 most utilized Complementary Medicine methods in US.
• Because Yoga operates on so many different levels, it can be an effective therapy for chronic diseases and conditions that do not respond well to conventional treatment methods.
• Additionally, a regular yoga practice will sharpen concentration, balance, and composure.

WHO BENEFITS FROM YOGA MONTH?

• You benefit the most. Start practicing yoga (at home or with a teacher) and feel the difference it will make in your life.
• Yoga Month educational programs were created to offer solutions to diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and other chronic illnesses that have cast a pall over the health of our youth. 
• Yoga Month proceeds fund the national awareness campaign and health education programs like mind body fitness education for children in pre-schools, kindergarten, elementary schools and after-school programs. 

The Yoga Health Foundation’s 2009 goal is simple: One Yoga Month event in every city.

Get involved. Visit www.yogamonth.org and add your event today!

Denver, CO – July 4, 2008 – Yoga Month 09.2008, a national awareness campaign to inspire a healthy and informed lifestyle, kicks off the Democratic National Convention in Denver with a nonpartisan yoga health festival and benefit concert.  Yoga master Seane Corn and music sensation Justin Nozuka will headline events.

The Yoga Health Foundation, a 501 c (3) nonprofit organization, will officially launch Yoga Month, a national awareness campaign to inspire a healthy and informed lifestyle, in Denver on the eve of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).  On August 24 and 25, the Yoga Health Foundation and OmPass, a yoga and health resource company, will produce the Yoga Month Denver Health Festival at the City Park in the Minsuk Cho Architectural Pavilion for Public Discourse.   The festival is nonpartisan and will be presented by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee and the City of Denver Office of Cultural Affairs.    

The floating, futuristic Pavilion will house world renowned yoga experts, green and holistic vendors, celebrated medical practitioners and health-conscious politicians during a yoga festival geared toward cultivating awareness, inspiration and an action plan for conquering the health care crisis engulfing the country.   Yoga masters Seane Corn, Hemalayaa and Hala Khouri will team up with music sensation Justin Nozuka to raise national consciousness about health care and the inexpensive and holistic options available to prevent and treat a myriad of illnesses.

The Yoga Month Denver Health Festival will be the first of ten festivals implemented in celebration of Yoga Month by the Yoga Health Foundation.  Additional yoga health festivals will take place in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Austin, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Vancouver.  Proceeds generated by Yoga Month activities will benefit Youth Health Alliance, a charity that provides free yoga inspired enrichment classes to underserved youth and the families that support them.

The Yoga Health Foundation is a 501 c (3) nonprofit located in Los Angeles, CA.  The Yoga Month 09.2008 health initiative is the first of its kind and seeks to bring the benefits of yoga to underserved communities.   The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion designated September as National Yoga Month and lists Yoga Month as an official health observance on Healthfinder.gov.  For more information, please visit www.yogamonth.org or contact Vera at 818-762-4767.

Los Angeles –June 24, 2008 – Yoga Health Foundation has has teamed up with VibeHolistic to promote healthy living to people of color during Yoga Month 09.2008, an awareness campaign to inspire a healthy and informed lifestyle. A Spa Soiree on June 25th catering to black and Hispanic leaders will launch the partnership.

The Yoga Health Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, has partnered with VibeHolistic in an effort to promote holistic living to people of color during Yoga Month 09.2008. The Yoga Health Foundation stresses health prevention and holistic practices that complement traditional medicine. With this in mind, VibeHolistic, an empowerment company co-founded by two women of color, is taking the message of preventative and holistic living to ethnic communities throughout Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and New York.

Founded by Kourtney Ketterhagen and Subhadra Bowmen, VibeHolistic’s mission is to provide people of color with knowledge in the areas of yoga and holistic health. Through empowerment events that take place at beauty salons, barber shops, churches, and community centers, VibeHolistic arms attendees with information that can reform eating habits, sedentary behavior, and negative states of mind. Highlighting inexpensive and ubiquitous items and techniques, VibeHolistic demonstrates to people of color simple ways to transform their health and, consequently, their lives.

In celebration of Yoga Month and its 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour in September, VibeHolistic will set up booths at each of the ten festivals. These booths will highlight healthy and holistic choices widely available within ethnic communities.

In addition, a series of community building events will be hosted by VibeHolistic and the Yoga Health Foundation in an attempt to mobilize people of color to reap the benefits of upcoming Yoga Month activities. A Spa Soiree on June 25th in Marina Del Ray, CA, will be the first event in this series. Held at the Creative Chakra Spa, the Spa Soiree will be hosted by hip hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy and will cater to celebrated leaders within black and Hispanic communities. Guests will be pampered from head to toe with the latest holistic products, foods, and fitness techniques. Leaders in attendance will be charged with motivating members of their communities to use these natural products and techniques in preparation for Yoga Month.

According to Johannes R. Fisslinger, President of the Yoga Health Foundation, “The Spa Soiree and other community building events are wonderful tools to empower leaders to go back to their communities and become agents of change for healthy and informed living."

Yoga Journal, Omega Institute, and Yogaworks are just a few of the supporters on board to honor VibeHolistic’s community outreach efforts.
“There is ample scientific evidence that yoga helps lower blood pressure, increases cardiovascular health, and helps people lose weight,” says Kaitlin Quistgaard, Yoga Journal’s editor in chief. “We are proud to partner with VibeHolistic to spread the power of yoga to the black and Hispanic communities.” Fab 5 Freddy also stands behind VibeHolistic and views it as, “A new movement that will change the game for those like myself who live the modern urban lifestyle. VibeHolistic and Yoga Month will show us how to enter the world of healthy, green, and holistic living.”

For more information on the Yoga Health Foundation and Yoga Month 09.2008, please visit www.yogamonth.org or contact Vera Alexander at 818-762-4767.

Los Angeles, June 17, 2008 – Leaders within the yoga community throw their support and knowledge of holistic health behind Yoga Month to end the national health care crisis.  Toyota, Equinox Fitness, Luna, Health Magazine, and Vibeholistic have also enlisted in the Yoga Month health revolution.

For decades, the 18 million plus Americans practicing yoga have reaped the rewards of a healthy and vibrant life.  Due to the health care epidemic engulfing the nation, the yoga community is aligning proven holistic techniques with traditional medical practices as it marches toward Yoga Month 09.2008, a national awareness campaign to inspire a healthy and informed lifestyle. 

Spearheaded by the Yoga Health Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, Yoga Month 09.2008 will gather yoga industry and health care giants together to take their knowledge of holistic living and its health benefits to mainstream society.  The Yoga Health Foundation stresses health prevention and holistic practices that complement traditional medicine.  Yoga Month 09.2008 is the first initiative of its kind to mobilize the yoga and traditional medical communities to ban together to fight the health care crisis in this country.  

During the month of September, yoga experts, homeopathic specialists, traditional health practitioners and green merchants will participate in Yoga Month’s 10 City Yoga Health Festival Tour.  Hillary Rubin, one of Yoga Month’s featured instructors, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 12 years ago.  Rubin believes she owes her drug and symptom-free existence to yoga and holistic living.  She will highlight her natural regime during the tour.  The festivals will benefit those interested in a lifestyle enhanced by various schools of yoga, informed eating habits, and natural medical remedies often found in household gardens.   These preventative and cost efficient alternatives provide a welcome counterpart to traditional health care.  The festival tour is scheduled for Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami, Denver, San Diego, Austin, and Vancouver.

To fully realize the potential of Yoga Month 09.2008, the Yoga Health Foundation formed strategic alliances with corporate sponsors to assist in putting an end to the health care crisis.  Toyota, Equinox Fitness, Luna, and Health Magazine are just a few of the many sponsors on board in support of Yoga Month. 

In addition, the Yoga Health Foundation aligned with community outreach partner Vibeholistic to spread the message of Yoga Month in underserved communities.  An empowerment company founded and managed by women, Vibeholistic’s purpose is to serve people of color by providing knowledge in the areas of yoga and holistic health.  In preparation for Yoga Month, Vibeholistic will host a Spa Soiree on June 25th at the Creative Chakra Spa in Marina Del Rey, CA.  The event will bring together celebrated leaders within black and Hispanic communities to organize efforts for Yoga Month in September.   

Johannes Fisslinger, founder of the Yoga Health Foundation, believes the answers to many of the illnesses that maim, weaken, and destroy are found in nature and within the body’s natural ability to heal itself.  According to Johannes, “Nature has given us inexpensive, easy to find, and simple tools to assist traditional medicine in addressing our health needs. Yoga Month health festivals will offer holistic alternatives that work and don’t cost a lot of money.” 

Dr. Carrie Demers, an M.D. who specializes in internal medicine while practicing Ayurveda and homeopathy, agrees with Fisslinger.  “Most diseases are preventable and curable with natural medicines and a healthy lifestyle.  That is the simple truth.  The general population needs access to this information and support for making changes in how to eat, exercise and manage stress.”