Our dear friend, Jason, (aka Bearded Yogi), held his birthday #BigLoveBDay fundraiser, benefiting God’s Love just two days after Valentine’s Day. With a huge outpouring of love from his friends and supporters, Jason was able to raise more than $5000 for God’s Love, helping us cook and deliver more than 500 meals to our clients, their children and caregivers. Below is Jason’s letter of thanks to his community who supported him. It is so beautifully written that we wanted to share it with you. You can find Jason teaching yoga at Moksha Yoga and you can find him serving coffee (and drinking it, of course!) at La Colombe on Lafayette in NoHo.

My Dear Friends,

I must share my deepest gratitude with you all.

Because of your love, support and donations we raised over $5k for God’s Love We Deliver. There are no words to describe what this means to me … Having friends across the world donate money to help those in need in my city, our city, touches my heart. There are now over 500 meals being delivered because of YOU!  My gratitude is immeasurable. And my sincerest hope is that you’re all feeling the joy of giving. You have now touched many wonderful souls by providing them with food and love. We all need to be in a place where we can receive. It’s the only way we can truly give.

I know many of you don’t live in the city or weren’t able to attend; but, the party was truly magical. I intended to create a tangible environment of love. I wanted everyone to understand that we’re all connected, that life can be a celebration. We’re here for a purpose and we all have the power to create beauty, to create change, to help one another.

Maybe this is where my yoga teaching comes in… There are four paths of yoga. In my case, I’m on the path of Karma Yoga: Selfless Service. This can be best described as altruistically being in the service of others – resulting in pure love. Transcendent joy fills our bodies.

Our party was beyond beautiful. The night was full of warmth, ebullience and infectious laughter. I could not have done this without the help of many wonderful angels. I first want to thank La Colombe for hosting the event. As most of you all know, when I’m not teaching a sweaty yoga class at Moksha Yoga NYC, I’m serving up coffee (or just drinking it) at one of the most beautiful cafés in the city. It was a privilege to have my party at La Colombe and to share my favorite spot with my dearest friends. Yes, the space is beautiful; but, at night it was truly stunning.

It all began with this crazy little idea of having a *small* party at La Colombe and making it a little fundraiser for God’s Love We Deliver. I had no idea how big it would become. I also had no idea that so many wonderful people would get involved in creating something so special. (Some tears of joy are flowing right now). I want to give a big shout out to all of my generous friends who donated the wonderful gifts for the raffles & silent auction items:

La Colombe, (my yoga studio) Moksha Yoga NYC, Electric Love NYC, Ursa Major Collection, D’émploi, Liz Clayman, Max Schieble, Jamie Rudnick, Natalie & Freeman’s Alley, Christine & Bond St, Lynda & Bond Chocolates, Martha & Bedford Cheese Shop, Anny & Foods of NY Tours, Noah & Barry’s Bootcamp, Gabby & Soul Cycle, Chris & Kiehl’s… These beautiful donations raised a lot of money for God’s Love.

Unsurprisingly, I have some super talented friends. In the spirit of asking others to give and be a part of something special, I asked several of them if they would be willing to sing a few songs. What resulted was an evening full of music and cheer. I know that there were hours spent rehearsing, creating special surprises and even writing songs just for the occasion. Again, I’m left with scant words to describe the warmth in my heart. The night was nothing shy of magical. I thank you all for sharing your love of music, your love for me and your love for God’s Love. Special thanks to Anny Finnestad, Erika Wolf, Natalie Hinds, Allison Robinson, Lindsay Davis, Morgan Lynch, Lannon Killea, Max Schieble, Robert Locke and all the super talented accompanists!!!

It was an honor to have Matt Jones DJing. Jones is very dear to me; our friendship has allowed for growth throughout the years. Infinite gratitude! And of course, there would have been no sound if we didn’t have the super talented sound engineer, Jess Lauter. Thank you!

God’s Love is all about delivering food and sharing love… Butter and Snacks didn’t disappoint providing the same. It’s kind of funny, I always plan my parties around cheese. True story. It helps that my dear friend Martha Sarfaty happens to manage the best cheese shop in the city. She’s a true artist, especially when it comes to working with food. Let her do her magic and she always creates a masterpiece. We also had the great privilege of having the talented Anna Eagle assist in the creation. I thank you both for filling our bellies with divine yummy’ness.. (If you’d like your next party catered by Martha, reach out to me and I’ll make the connection). Big thank you for Freeman’s Ally, Missy & Doug for donating all the cases of wine. I don’t drink; but, everyone loved it!! Thank You!!

I had to have cupcakes and cake… Mike from Cupcake Café created two cakes and 75 beautiful cupcakes that captivated everyone’s attention as they walked it. Mike, thank you for your generosity and for creating such delicious treats!!!

And the beautiful flowers from Pretty Streets Botanicals… THANK YOU!

It’s also pretty cool to have your own event poster created. A BIG thank you to Max Schieble for the illustration and the creative team at Antarctic Creative for the graphics. I love it!

There are a few ‘behind-the-scenes’ helpers with whom I want to share my gratitude: Missy, James, Allie, Christine, Rhyannon, Lune, Dory, Steve….

As I mentioned at the party, I’m honored to be a part of Laurence Mathieu’s Documentary on HIV & HIV Awareness. I want to share my story in the hopes that it may help others who are living with HIV. Ultimately, I’d like to help educate everyone and eradicate the stigma that has been attached to this disease from the very beginning. The process of this project has truly been a healing one. We were able to team up with God’s Love so that I could connect with others living with HIV, collectively sharing our stories. I’m truly grateful for Laurence’s support, the evidence of which is attached in a beautiful video for God’s Love. I wanted to share my special thanks for Louis who opened his home to us so that we could better appreciate the gift that is God’s Love We Deliver.

And of course, I wanted to capture the essence of the whole evening for those of you who weren’t able to attend. My dear friend Liz Clayman captured it all. I’m so happy to share these images with you.

I now just want to thank you.. This truly has been one of the most meaningful things I’ve ever done. I just asked my friends to open their hearts and give a little. I’m truly touched and honored to have you in my life.

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Love & Light,

Jason