Many years ago a good friend I grew up with lost her father to cancer. Not long after, she found out she also had cancer. At first it looked like they caught it in time, but sadly it came back. And after years of pain and struggle, she has found peace.

I don’t want to share her pain nor her struggle. I want to share her strength, her beauty, and her voice.

My friend had a beautiful, rich and expressive voice. We used to sing together, first in the school choir and we then we did local operetta together. I always loved listening to her sing, and I will never forget the duets we sang together. Somewhere over the Rainbow is one of my favorites that we did together. I remember the concert we sang it in, I was a puddled of nerves and she put her arm around me before we went out on stage and said, “We’ve got this!”

Not only did she use her voice for beauty and enjoyment, but to also speak up for what she believed in: equality, standing up for what she thought was right. I remember a time when we were in high school a boy was bullying a friend of ours. She was the first person to stand up to him and tell him to go stuff himself… okay her words were a bit more expletive than that. (She was never one to shy away from the F’bomb if she felt it suited the situation.) She continued to use her voice for equality through politics as she got older.

Allie was a fierce and loyal friend. I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to have had her in my life and as a friend.

In her memory, and in the memory of all those who have suffered from breast cancer, please join me on Sunday September 18th, 6pm CEST (5pm BST | 9am PST) for a 30min gentle, embodied yoga session to raise money for breast cancer research. The proceeds will go to GEICAM, the Spanish Breast Cancer Research Group.

To join us and to donate what you can, please click the link below. If you cannot join live but still wish to join in, you most definitely can! You will be given access to the session replay for 3 days.

>> Charity Yoga for Breast Cancer Research <<