Beth Shaw: Karma Yogi, Animal Advocate
Beth Shaw is the kind of dog lover who will stop when she sees an abandoned dog in need of rescue. She’ll do more than stop; she’ll make a commitment to make a difference. Even though Shaw and her partner already shared their home with pug Ping and Boston terrier mix Numi, Shaw rescued her now-companion animal Taj directly from the streets of Inglewood. Taj is a pit bull, a fiercely loyal hunting breed branded with a bad reputation, largely because of their conditioning and training – or lack thereof. When Shaw was seeking assistance first with attempting to find a home for Taj and then negotiating how they could all live together, she met Rande Levine, the founder of Karma Rescue. Karma Rescue is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit who specializes in the ultimate Karma Yoga: rescuing, caring for, fostering and adopting the high-risk dogs other rescues are unprepared to handle. Impressed with Levine’s dedication and willing to offer her own services as a karma yogi, Shaw became the chairperson of the Karma Rescue Advisory Board.
Beth Shaw
Karma Recue is only one of numerous animal-related causes, initiatives and organizations that Shaw supports with both time and money. She serves on the National Leadership Council for the Humane Society of the United States and supported the recently passed California Proposition 2, mandating more humane conditions for farm animals in the state. The place Shaw holds in her heart for companion animals is also seen in her commitment to the City of Los Angeles Mandatory Spay and Neuter Ordinance that was passed in 2008. In addition to supporting the legislation when it was under consideration, once it was passed, she hired and directed a public relations firm to work with the city to publicize the campaign and organized city spay and neuter days to facilitate public access to programs. Why the emphasis on spay and neuter programs as a form of advocacy? According to Shaw, the rates of euthanasia of domestic animals executed in shelters across California and the rest of the nation is unacceptable and an example of our irresponsible stewardship of our companions. We breed and then kill them..
There is another option, and it is one that Shaw has embraced, to live as an embodiment of ahmisa, compassion or nonviolence. Since animals don’t get a chance to vote or speak, Shaw sees part of her role as a yogi to be a voice for the voiceless and exercise compassion. For her inspiration, she quotes Vivekananda’s 1893 statement, “Karma Yoga is the most important Yoga we can do.”
Karma Yoga is the most important Yoga we can do.
While Karma Yoga is her most important Yoga, it’s not her only practice; Shaw is a dedicated practitioner of Hatha Yoga. And in some ways, the forms that her life, teaching and activism have taken are not a complete surprise. In the early days of her practice, she experienced a psychic flash that foretold her subsequent success, but she didn’t predict all the manifestations. Inspired by her Renee Taylor, her first Yoga teacher in Los Angeles, she transitioned from avid athlete turned sedentary advertising executive into spiritual seeker and Yoga student turned Yoga teacher. She completed a teacher training program in 1993 and then combined her love of fitness and music with Yoga initially through teaching Yoga classes in health clubs. This morphed into a series of iterations of her approach to the practice: a cable TV show called YogaFit, a Yoga studio within a health club, a donation-based studio in LA’s South Bay, a line of clothing sold out of the trunk of her car and then CDs, videos, DVDs, books (including the newly released YogaFit) and teacher training programs and conferences held across the country. Completing the circle opened by Renee Taylor’s study of Yoga in Rishikesh, India, Shaw has recently traveled with some of her trainers and advanced students to the city viewed as one of the homes of Yoga. While there, she felt a sense of gratitude in the presence and energy of the place that has inspired much of her own practice.
Gratitude permeates her personal practice, advocacy work, relationships with companion animals and her approach to every level of her organization, YogaFit. And with that gratitude she seeks to expand the practice of Karma Yoga. All of the YogaFit teacher trainings and certifications include an emphasis on seva, selfless service, partly through mandatory hours spent teaching people who would otherwise not have access to the practice. Shaw mobilizes her network with animal advocacy work and other causes and offers teacher training scholarships through the Visionary Women in Fitness program. She sees her work as being more than just a business, but as a “global force of positive change.”
Looking for People to Serve. YogaFit has launched a national community outreach program to provide free YogaFit trainings to at-risk groups and individuals who may not otherwise have access to the practice and teachings of Yoga. YogaFit’s first free training is being hosted by The Children’s Institute in Torrance, an organization that works with at-risk children and their families in LA County.
Are You Willing To Serve?
YogaFit is looking for suggestions for partner organizations or groups who would benefit from receiving a free YogaFit training. The first 50 LA YOGA readers who write in a suggestion will receive a free YogaFit on the Road CD. To make a suggestion, or find out more information about the community outreach program, please email: pr@yogafit.com
For more information about Beth Shaw and YogaFit, visit: yogafit.com
For more information about Karma Rescue, visit: karmarescue.org
Felicia Tomasko has spent more of her life practicing Yoga and Ayurveda than not. She first became introduced to the teachings through the writings of the Transcendentalists, through meditation, and using asana to cross-train for her practice of cross-country running. Between beginning her commitment to Yoga and Ayurveda and today, she earned degrees in environmental biology and anthropology and nursing, and certifications in the practice and teaching of yoga, yoga therapy, and Ayurveda while working in fields including cognitive neuroscience and plant biochemistry. Her commitment to writing is at least as long as her commitment to yoga. Working on everything related to the written word from newspapers to magazines to websites to books, Felicia has been writing and editing professionally since college. In order to feel like a teenager again, Felicia has pulled out her running shoes for regular interval sessions throughout Southern California. Since the very first issue of LA YOGA, Felicia has been part of the team and the growth and development of the Bliss Network.