1 June 2020, Philippines. By Joyce Raboca, Latest FEED Partner in Planting Your Living Legacy

Yoga for Forests

The more you practice yoga and the more you progress, the bigger the forest, and the more carbon you’re able to help sequester. -Joyce Raboca, Yoga Instructor

About Joyce Raboca

I started my yoga journey in 2013, and the more I practiced, the more I saw a strong connection between yoga and the environment. After some very stressful four years in law school, I finally took my yoga teacher training in February 2019 in Costa Rica, with a daily dose of forests, animals, surfable waves, and the most serene sunsets.

I didn’t intend on teaching yoga, but during the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Manila, I started teaching friends online. It turned into a regular weekly class, with more and more joining. I was willing to teach for free, because I knew how much people need yoga now.

People started offering to pay, but I didn’t want to accept money — I believed this would negatively reinforce my willingness to teach. After much thought, I realized I wanted all my students to plant a forest. By donating trees, they’ll also feel a sense of accomplishment from their yoga practice. As natural carbon sinks, forests and mangroves are some of our strongest defenses against climate change.

Yoga can lead to carbon sequestration — who knew?

Vision/Mission

To create an awareness of the environment with each yogi recruited, and with that a whole forest planted by sponsorship from yogis.

All donations go directly to FEED for community-based reforestation efforts, either in mangrove forests of Bulacan, Pampanga, La Union or Sorsogon for coastal protection in our most critical coastlines (Philippines having the 5th longest in the world); or upland forest trees in the Sierra Madre mountain range, the longest range in the Philippines.

Contact Joyce Raboca / Yoga for Forests

Classes are one-hour Vinyasa classes on Wednesdays 8:00AM (GMT+8). Join my yoga class by emailing me with your donation receipt to Fostering Education & Environment for Development, Inc. at https://www.facebook.com/yogaforforests and I’ll send you a calendar invite with the Zoom link to class. (Any amount is accepted!)

For More Details, Contact: joyceanneraboca@gmail.com

Contact FEED

In 2015, the Philippine government submitted to the United Nations the country’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030. The carbon dioxide reductions will come from the sectors of energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry. Join us!

Tree-Planting with FEED

Contact us at FEED for more details, to join our regular activities or to design your own tree-nurturing event: info@feed.org.ph or call/text +63 (0)917 552 4722.