Finding Inner Beauty & Peace
BY YANNA LANTZ
Cultivate self-love and mindfulness practices at “Because You’re Beautiful Live A Moment,” a four-hour workshop presented by Toni Childs and Deborah Greene. Childs, Emmy winner and three-time Grammy nominated recording artist and yoga teacher, has joined forces with Greene, CEO and founder of LiveaMoment.com, to construct an incredibly powerful event aimed at embracing and growing the beauty of humanity. The workshop will take place from 6-10 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at Carol’s Dollar Mountain Lodge in Sun Valley.
“This workshop is a celebration of life,” Childs said. “It’s a very different kind of yoga experience because I’m singing and we’re dancing and celebrating to heat up our bodies. The session was created around the song ‘Because You’re Beautiful’ that won an Emmy in 2004. The song is really powerful.”
In 2003, playwright Eve Ensler (renowned author of “The Vagina Monologues”) asked Childs to write an anthem that would inspire people to end violence against women and girls for her documentary, “Until the Violence Stops.” The song is central to this unique yoga offering.
“When I started touring with this song, I noticed many of the audience members looked checked out, so I felt I really needed to bring them onto the stage and sing directly to them,” Childs explained. “In that vulnerable moment of being onstage with me I could see how deep the song penetrated into them. So, I wanted to create a safe place where we could be together and people could feel safe in connecting to who they are. That’s how this workshop manifested.”
Greene has joined Childs on the “Because You’re Beautiful” tour to share her “Three Feet of Peace” initiative and give participants an opportunity to express what peace means to them on camera.
“Deborah’s piece is about how we can create three feet of peace inside ourselves,” Childs said. “If you can create three feet of peace, and I can create three feet of peace, and someone else can do it, together we can change the tonality of the world. She gives people a chance, on camera, to say what their experience is with regards to connecting in with this aspect of themselves. It’s right on message with what I’m sensing and feeling, so I wanted to join forces with her.”
The two women have visited 20 countries and 40-plus cities so far, connecting with the people there and spreading the message of “loving up.”
“We have a beauty wound,” Childs articulated. “Humanity needs to be loved up, and what I’m doing is loving people up – singing to them about how beautiful we are and giving a chance to connect to this song. By the end of this ‘play date,’ everyone is usually hugging and kissing each other and feeling relaxed, safe and connected. From that place, we can start to make a beautiful life for ourselves and let go of the things holding us back.”
The cost to attend this celebration of life is $40 and participation numbers are strictly limited. Book tickets through Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum by calling (208) 726-5425 or emailing chapterone@q.com. Learn more about the event at www.becauseyourebeautiful.yoga.