Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On Saturday 27th October I will be attempting to complete 108 "Sun Salutations" in 2 hours in support of my chosen charity, the Rainforest Foundation UK.

When I heard about this year's OM Yoga Thon I could hardly contain my excitement - finally an opportunity to put those countless hours of yoga practice to the test in support of an extremely worthwhile cause.

Rainforests worldwide are home to an estimated 50 million indigenous forest peoples and 70% of the Earth's wildlife species. However, every year an area of rainforest the size of England and Wales is lost to deforestation.  Time is running out - more than an acre a second disappears forever.  If deforestation continues at the current rate then by 2050 the planet's rainforests will be a thing of the past.  And by losing our rainforests, we lose the fight against climate change - destruction of rainforests is the second most important cause of global warming, creating more CO2 emissions each year than all of the cars, planes, trains and other vehicles on Earth.  

A world without rainforests is difficult to imagine.  But it could become a reality within our lifetimes.

The Rainforest Foundation UK believes that the strongest hope of conserving the rainforests lies with the local communities living in and around them.  Their mission is to support indigenous forest peoples to protect their rainforest environment.  In the last 15 years, they have helped to protect more than 45,000 square miles of forest and more than 385,700 square miles is on the way to being protected.

Logging, agricultural clearances, oil and gas exploration and mining are not only destroying forests, but also evicting the very people who have looked after it for centuries.  All of the money raised through the OM Yoga Thon will go towards the Rainforest Foundation's work to defend the rights of these peoples to protect their forest homes. For example, the Rainforest Foundation is currently working with communities in Africa's Congo Basin, home to the second largest rainforest after the Amazon. There, proposed felling of timber could destory an area the size of France, along with the livelihoods of tens of millions of people who depend on it.

Every donation (no matter how small!) will bring me one step closer to acheiving my fundraising goal. Thank you so much in advance for your generosity, it is hugely appreciated.