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<strong>January</strong> <strong>2018</strong> <strong>Medway</strong> & <strong>Millis</strong> Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com Page 9<br />
Melt Habits <strong>and</strong> Empower Happiness<br />
Yoga at the Ashram Offers New 7-Week Kundalini Yoga Series<br />
Join Yoga at the Ashram<br />
in <strong>Millis</strong> for an empowering<br />
7-week series entitled, “Kundalini<br />
Yoga to Melt Habits <strong>and</strong><br />
Empower Happiness.” This<br />
transformational series will<br />
guide attendees on a path to<br />
break unwanted habits using<br />
natural tools that can be practiced<br />
at home. Topics explored<br />
in the series include increasing<br />
awareness of mental <strong>and</strong> emotional<br />
patterns, healing mental<br />
trauma through the practices of<br />
movement, breath <strong>and</strong> meditation<br />
<strong>and</strong> accessing inner wisdom<br />
to embrace a healthy lifestyle.<br />
The series will be held Thursdays<br />
from 6 – 8 p.m. beginning<br />
on <strong>January</strong> 11, <strong>2018</strong> <strong>and</strong> running<br />
through February 22, <strong>2018</strong>.<br />
Preregistration is required.<br />
Kundalini Yoga to Melt Habits<br />
<strong>and</strong> Empower Happiness<br />
will be taught by M<strong>and</strong>eep<br />
Kaur Khalsa, a certified<br />
Kundalini Yoga teacher whose<br />
background includes studying<br />
yogic science for addictive<br />
behavior. M<strong>and</strong>eep’s<br />
creative approach to teaching<br />
is uplifting, inspiring <strong>and</strong> fun.<br />
“The practices of Kundalini<br />
<strong>Millis</strong> Fund to Launch Annual<br />
Fund Drive<br />
By J.D. O’Gara<br />
What does it mean to help<br />
your neighbor?<br />
Organizers of the <strong>Millis</strong> Fund<br />
know it as being there to help<br />
your neighbors in their time of<br />
need. In fact, that’s just why the<br />
<strong>Millis</strong> Fund was created. The<br />
small nonprofit has helped over<br />
400 families out of critical financial<br />
crises, due to such issues as illness,<br />
accidents, <strong>and</strong> family issues,<br />
since it was begun 23 years ago,<br />
says Brooks Corl, who is entering<br />
his 19th year as treasurer for the<br />
organization.<br />
Established in 1994, the <strong>Millis</strong><br />
Fund was created by volunteers<br />
from four houses of worship in<br />
<strong>Millis</strong> –St. Thomas the Apostle<br />
Parish, Ael Chunon Congregation,<br />
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church<br />
(which is now closed) <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Church of Christ, Congregational.<br />
The fund is supported through<br />
private donations to provide<br />
emergency financial aid to <strong>Millis</strong><br />
residents, for such items as rent,<br />
utilities, medical costs, fuel, clothing<br />
<strong>and</strong> other emergency needs.<br />
“The <strong>Millis</strong> Fund helps <strong>Millis</strong><br />
families with financial emergencies<br />
- usually arising from<br />
something unexpected <strong>and</strong> shortterm,”<br />
says Corl.” It’s everything;<br />
it’s rent, it’s medical, it’s utilities<br />
– when utilities become futilities.”<br />
Corl adds that many events<br />
can contribute to a sudden emergency<br />
need.<br />
“It’s not hard for an illness,<br />
an accident, or some other sort<br />
of financial emergency or family<br />
problem, things that are generally<br />
very much unforeseeable, to<br />
tip the scales,” he says.<br />
Corl points out that some<br />
founding principles of the <strong>Millis</strong><br />
Fund are complete confidentiality<br />
for the family needing help,<br />
that the fund pays the creditor<br />
owed, that it does not help any<br />
family more than once per year,<br />
(<strong>and</strong> rarely would it support any<br />
one family more than three times<br />
overall,) <strong>and</strong> that The <strong>Millis</strong> Fund<br />
is designed to relieve temporary<br />
financial emergencies only, not<br />
chronic needs.<br />
The nine members of the<br />
Board of Directors meet about<br />
four or five times a year to plan<br />
the fund drive, create the materials<br />
<strong>and</strong> review the applications.<br />
The annual mailing is also<br />
donated, so just about all of the<br />
funds donated to The <strong>Millis</strong> Fund<br />
benefit <strong>Millis</strong> residents. Board<br />
members take care to personally<br />
contact each applicant.<br />
Corl says the fund helped<br />
about 16 families in town last<br />
year, always by paying the<br />
creditor(s) directly rather than<br />
giving money to the applicant. At<br />
its onset, the <strong>Millis</strong> Fund helped<br />
about 8-10 families a year, but the<br />
number of families, in the teens,<br />
has remained steady in the past<br />
few years.<br />
“The average need has continued<br />
to rise a bit year to year. Living<br />
in general has gotten more<br />
expensive, even for a small town<br />
like <strong>Millis</strong>,” says Corl.<br />
This month, the <strong>Millis</strong> Fund<br />
holds its annual drive, <strong>and</strong> then<br />
on the second Sunday in February,<br />
“Souper Sunday,” a soup<br />
bowl is literally passed through<br />
places of worship to gather contributions<br />
for the fund.<br />
<strong>Millis</strong> residents can apply for<br />
assistance with a simple, one-page<br />
application, up to once a year.<br />
These are available at the <strong>Millis</strong><br />
Senior Center or the Church of<br />
Christ (Congregational) at 142<br />
Exchange St., says Corl, neither<br />
of which is affiliated with the organization.<br />
If you would like to help your<br />
fellow residents in need, you can<br />
send your donation to:<br />
The <strong>Millis</strong> Fund, 142 Exchange<br />
Street, <strong>Millis</strong>, MA 02054.<br />
The fund is a 501 (c3) organization<br />
<strong>and</strong> will provide a letter<br />
of thanks, which could serve as a<br />
receipt.<br />
Yoga are powerful yet regulated<br />
from within, individually.<br />
A person grows at their own<br />
pace. That’s what makes it so effective.<br />
Whether you or a loved<br />
one need to break a persistent<br />
behavior pattern, or you would<br />
like to support a friend or loved<br />
one, this course is for you,” explained<br />
Dr. Hari Kirin Kaur<br />
Khalsa, MD, Director of Yoga<br />
at the Ashram.<br />
For more information<br />
or to register for Kundalini<br />
Yoga to Melt Habits <strong>and</strong> Empower<br />
Happiness, visit www.<br />
YogaAtTheAshram.org, call<br />
(508) 376-4525 or email info@<br />
YogaAtTheAshram.org.<br />
Yoga at the Ashram is a nonprofit<br />
organization founded in<br />
<strong>Millis</strong>, MA in 1970. The yoga<br />
center is committed to providing<br />
affordable yoga <strong>and</strong> meditation<br />
via daily classes, workshops,<br />
<strong>and</strong> retreats in yoga, meditation,<br />
healing <strong>and</strong> humanology. It also<br />
offers innovative educational<br />
practices & programs, including<br />
world-class trainings, courses,<br />
workshops, <strong>and</strong> healing modalities,<br />
supported with Ayurvedicinspired<br />
nutrition. It is located<br />
in the spiritually uplifting environment<br />
of the yoga center’s<br />
host, Guru Ram Das Ashram, a<br />
place of peaceful meditation for<br />
over 45 years.<br />
Yoga at the Ashram<br />
First Class Free!<br />
New Student Special: 30 days for $30<br />
Relax-Breathe-Feel Happy<br />
Check it out Today:<br />
www.YogaAtTheAshram.org<br />
info@YogaAtTheAshram.org<br />
368 Village St, <strong>Millis</strong>, MA<br />
508-376-4525