Why I’m Supporting Yoga in Action and the 2026 Moon Glow Gala

When Yoga in Action invited me to its 3rd Annual Moon Glow Gala, I already knew I would miss it. On October 1, I’ll be back in Minnesota, far from Rye, New Hampshire. Still, I didn’t want an unavailable date on my calendar to be the end of the story.

I first met Rochelle Jewell, Executive Director of Yoga in Action, at Kula Yoga Fest in 2025. When the Gala invitation arrived this August, I reached out and offered to donate products to the auction. That small exchange led to a longer conversation with Rochelle and Liana Hardcastle about Yoga in Action, the people they serve, and the work required to keep the organization sustainable for the long term.

I left that conversation wanting to do more than contribute an auction item. I wanted to tell you why I think their work deserves attention.

Yoga in Action’s 3rd Annual Moon Glow Gala takes place Thursday, October 1, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Atlantic Grill in Rye, New Hampshire. The evening includes small bites, live music from the Scharff Brothers, live and silent auctions, and a gathering of the Yoga in Action community.

The Gala is a fundraiser. To understand why I think it is worth supporting, you have to look at what happens after the event is over.

Why Access to Yoga Matters to Me

I teach yoga and run a yoga company, so I spend a lot of time around the ways people encounter this practice.

There are studios, festivals, memberships, retreats, online classes, and an enormous amount of yoga content available today. Access still depends on far more than whether a class appears on a schedule.

Cost matters. Mobility matters. Illness, disability, trauma, recovery, transportation, and the experience of walking into an unfamiliar space can all shape whether someone can realistically participate. The knowledge and experience of the teacher matter too, especially when a student needs more than a standard group class can provide.

Yoga in Action has built its mission around those realities.

The nonprofit works to ensure that people can access the therapeutic benefits of yoga regardless of social, physical, and financial barriers. They do that by providing free, specialized yoga programming throughout New Hampshire and Maine, along with virtual options that extend their reach beyond those communities.

What caught my attention is how practical that mission becomes when you look at the actual classes.

What Accessible Yoga Looks Like in Practice

Yoga in Action organizes its work through four primary areas: CONNECT, TRANSFORM, HEAL, and THRIVE.

CONNECT includes free and accessible yoga and community programming for veterans, seniors, and the general public.

TRANSFORM brings trauma-informed yoga into recovery settings, working with people navigating addiction, trauma, and mental health conditions.

Through HEAL, Yoga in Action offers Yoga & Cancer classes in person and online. These classes are available free of charge to people who are newly diagnosed, undergoing treatment, recovering from surgery, or in remission. Active caregivers are welcome as well.

THRIVE provides accessible yoga for people living with disease or disability, including chair and mat-based classes designed for people with diverse abilities.

This is where the idea of accessibility becomes real for me.

A person recovering from cancer treatment may need a very different environment from someone attending their first vinyasa class. Someone in recovery may benefit from a teacher who understands trauma-informed practice. A person with limited mobility deserves a class designed with their body and circumstances in mind.

The practice has to meet the person who is actually there.

I think about seva, the yogic practice of service, most clearly when it becomes this practical. A qualified teacher keeps showing up. The class is designed around the people participating. Funding allows the student to attend without a class fee becoming another barrier.

Yoga in Action has built an organization around making that happen week after week.

The Work Behind a Free Yoga Class

One part of my conversation with Rochelle and Liana stayed with me afterward: sustainability.

Free programming still has real costs.

Teachers need to be compensated for their time and expertise. Programs have to be coordinated across different communities and host locations. Relationships with partner organizations need to be maintained. The organization itself needs enough stability to continue offering these programs next month and next year.

That matters.

As someone who runs a yoga business, I know how much invisible work can sit behind an experience that feels simple to the person receiving it. A student may arrive, practice for an hour, and go home. Making that hour consistently available requires people, planning, resources, and funding.

Yoga in Action relies on donors, volunteers, community partners, and fundraising events to support that infrastructure. Donations can also be directed toward specific programs, helping fund teachers and the support required to keep those classes available.

This is where the Moon Glow Gala fits into the larger picture.

The 2026 Moon Glow Gala

The Moon Glow Gala gives the Yoga in Action community an opportunity to gather around this work while raising money to sustain it.

The event will be held at Atlantic Grill in Rye on the evening of October 1. Guests can expect small bites, live music from the Scharff Brothers, and both live and silent auctions featuring contributions from businesses and supporters of the organization.

I’ve offered to contribute products from Asivana Yoga to the auction as my own small part in the evening.

I wish I could be there in person.

Since I’ll be in Minnesota by then, sharing Yoga in Action’s work with the Asivana community is another way I can participate. More importantly, I hope it introduces some of you to an organization you may want to continue following long after the Gala.

If You Can Go, Go

If you live in New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, or elsewhere within reach of the Seacoast, I think the Moon Glow Gala is worth putting on your calendar.

You get an evening out at Atlantic Grill and a chance to meet the people who make up this community. Your ticket also helps Yoga in Action continue offering free yoga to people who might otherwise have a much harder time accessing an appropriate practice.

Reserve tickets for Yoga in Action’s 2026 Moon Glow Gala.

If you cannot attend the Gala, you can still support Yoga in Action through a direct donation. You can also look through their class offerings and share them with someone who may benefit from what they provide.

That last part matters too.

Sometimes supporting a nonprofit means donating money. Sometimes it means knowing the resource exists and helping it reach the person who needs it.

Yoga in Action is building the kind of yoga community I want to see endure. Access is something they actively design for through the populations they serve, the teachers they work with, the community partnerships they develop, and the decision to keep these programs free for participants.

Yoga can become an important part of how we move through illness, recovery, change, aging, and the ordinary difficulty of being human.

More people deserve a genuine opportunity to experience that.

I’m glad organizations like Yoga in Action are doing the work required to make that opportunity real.

Yoga in Action’s 3rd Annual Moon Glow Gala
Thursday, October 1, 2026
6:00 to 8:00 PM
Atlantic Grill
Rye, New Hampshire

Purchase Moon Glow Gala tickets

Learn more about the work, programs, and mission of Yoga in Action.