JET alums involved in yoga benefit for Japan quake victims (NY)
Article/Journalism, Earthquake Tsunami, Fundraising, JETs in the News, Notable JET Alums, Writers 
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The below article mentions JETAA U.S.A. Country Rep and former JETAANY President Megan Miller-Yoo (Hyogo-ken). And the reporter, Seana Magee (Okayama-ken, Niimi-shi, 1988-90) also happens to be a JET alum.
FEATURE: New Yorkers turn on heat, use yoga to benefit Japan quake victims
By Seana K. Magee
NEW YORK, June 28, Kyodo
Drenched in sweat, Megan Miller Yoo and about a dozen other students were pushing themselves to new limits during a special Sunday yoga session held at a Manhattan studio.
Stretching their muscles and testing their flexibility, they intently followed the instructor moving through 26 prescribed poses at Bikram Yoga Grand Central in a humid, 40 C room.
From the outside it looked like an ordinary 90-minute Bikram class, but it was not.
The hot yoga devotees were part of a so-called donation class specifically designed to raise money to help victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
Yoo explained to Kyodo News how taking part in the special class took her practice to a new level, particularly because of her close ties to the country, where she lived for two years.
”One instructor always says, ‘If you breathe through Bikram, you can breathe through anything,’ so I often think of that when I am in a tough situation, and it makes me realize I can get through anything if I just hang in there and don’t give up,” said the 33-year-old former Japan Exchange and Teaching Program participant who taught English in Hyogo Prefecture.
”I think that is the perfect message for the people in the affected regions of Japan.”
Before the March disaster wreaked havoc in her country, Kyoko Katsura, one of the two studio owners, and her business partner were mulling over ways to motivate students. So they hit upon the idea of offering the weekly donation class to highlight various charities.
But by the time the deadly waves swept away entire towns killing some 15,000 people, the businesswoman had already committed to another cause.
After plans to help a local dance theater company were finalized, the Osaka native then turned to her student, Shinko Tana, for input.
The Tokyoite, because of her work with an international aid organization that provided relief for Japanese victims, became indispensable.
”We had the idea to do the donation class well before the earthquake, but once we decided to do something for Japan, we decided on the International Rescue Committee because it was Shinko’s idea,” Katsura said at her studio.
She also emphasized how Tana had spent two weeks in the hardest hit disaster zones as the organization’s Japan adviser.
Traveling through the most damaged areas in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures she witnessed the shocking scope of destruction. The 30-year-old recalled how once thriving coastal areas were flattened in ways ”far greater than pictures can convey.”
She also spoke with victims in areas of the hard-hit Ishinomaki city. There in Miyagi Prefecture she heard many stories.
Among them was a woman whose family made it to the second floor of their home only to helplessly watch neighbors become engulfed in water.
While Tana was directly connected to the crisis through her work on the ground, Katsura, having spent 17 years away from her country, was removed from it.
”Honestly I was so far away so it was difficult to connect,” she said, yet she felt driven to do something.
After completing graduate studies in dance at New York University, the former gymnast who competed nationally landed a variety of jobs, including as a performer in ”Aladdin” at Disney’s California Adventure Park, but later shifted gears.
In 2005, she received her Bikram instructor’s certificate and then began working in various New York studios. Five years later she opened her own business with Denise Nann.
Despite carving out a life in the United States, the New York yoga champion did not let distance or time away from home deter her from lending a hand.
”It makes me happy to be a part of it (the donation class) because I am Japanese and I am able to do something,” the 40-year-old said. ”Even though our individual efforts must be small compared to others we are part of it and that is beautiful.”
Because of the positive feedback they have received so far, Katsura and Nann decided to continue the IRC sessions throughout June. Katsura is now aiming to keep offering the Sunday classes into July. ”We want to keep going until we reach at least $1,000,” she added.
Since the first session began April 17, they have netted about $700 from the participants who have given what they could for the cause.
The inception for her donation class came long before the crisis. Inspired by Americans who readily gave money or volunteered for causes, she decided it was time to ”give back” herself.
Donation classes are carried out as regular Bikram yoga classes. The form of yoga was developed by the founder, Bikram Choudhury and has become increasingly popular since first being introduced in the United States in the early 1970s.
The founder also has links to Japan having set up his first studio there in Shinjuku in 1970.
At Katsura’s studio, Chris Johnston, another donation class participant, attended with his wife. Having given to relief efforts through other channels, he nonetheless felt the yoga gave him a ”double benefit.”
”It is painful, but good to know that you are doing something that has an extra benefit,” the Australian architect, who now lives in New York and has traveled to Japan, added.
==Kyodo
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