Shelley Gilbert, chair of the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center, has organized "YOGA! Take Cancer to the Mat," a fund raiser for cancer research and patient support services. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 27, two yoga classes per hour will be held at the Bema amphitheatre on the Dartmouth College campus in Hanover, N.H. "This is really to include more people in the community," said Gilbert who hopes the event will reach people who don't participate in the Prouty fundraiser held every July. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Shelley Gilbert, chair of the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center, has organized "YOGA! Take Cancer to the Mat," a fund raiser for cancer research and patient support services. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 27, two yoga classes per hour will be held at the Bema amphitheatre on the Dartmouth College campus in Hanover, N.H. "This is really to include more people in the community," said Gilbert who hopes the event will reach people who don't participate in the Prouty fundraiser held every July. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.

Hanover — The newest benefit for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center will have a distinctly natural feel.

The first annual “Yoga! Take Cancer to the Mat” event is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday at Dartmouth College’s Bema Amphitheater, a wooded area above East Wheelock Street featuring a stone stage and platform.

Surrounded by evergreens and just far enough away from downtown to feel secluded, the area will host 16 yoga instructors and meditation guides recruited from throughout the Upper Valley and New England.

Two 45-minute yoga sessions per hour will be held from 10 a.m.-noon and from 1 to 4 p.m., with varying styles to suit participants. At noon, Boston-based practitioners Bill and Susan Morgan — both of whom have lost close relatives to cancer — will lead mindfulness meditation. The event concludes at 4 p.m. with a final session featuring yogic musical ensemble Pure Kirtan.

“There’s something really special about performing yoga and mediation outside,” Friends of NCCC chairwoman Shelley Gilbert, the event’s director, said in an interview at Bema. “A lot of times with yoga, you’re in a climate-controlled studio. Here, you’re in the elements and you’ll here the sounds of nature. A squirrel might scurry by, the breeze might pick up. It adds something to the experience.”

Registration is $25, with an additional minimum fundraising pledge of $75 to benefit research and patient services at NCCC, headquartered at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. It is northern New England’s largest comprehensive cancer facility.

The event is about a year in the making after the Friends of the NCCC’s events committee envisioned it as an alternative to the Prouty, the popular series of long-distance bike rides that also benefits DHMC’s cancer center.

“We’d been trying to come up with an event that wasn’t as much for traditional (endurance) athletes like the Prouty is,” Gilbert said. “We were brainstorming and saying, ‘Should we hold a gala of some kind, maybe a dance?’ Somebody said, ‘How about yoga?’ and I immediately said, ‘Wow, that’s it!’ I could really see it in my mind. I’m really excited that it’s finally here.”

Optional styles will include vinyasa flow and Hatha yoga, which incorporate more vigorous physical exercise with breath control, as well as slower-paced styles such as yin, focused on poses held for longer periods of time and deep breathing.

“There will be some power-yoga styles workouts and then some slow-flow movements where concentration and meditative prana (breathing) is more the focus,” said Gilbert, 56, who’s practiced yoga for about 10 years. “We wanted those who wished to get a good physical workout to have that option as well as the more restorative kind. Both kinds are restorative, actually, physically and mentally.

“We thought yoga is perfect as a benefit for NCCC. There’s a lot of research suggesting that yoga and meditation are great for cancer patients and as a preventative practice. It has a lot of healing powers.”

Instructors include Upper Valley Yoga leaders Leslie Carlton and Sharon Comeau, River Valley Club’s Emily Anderson and Maegan Finnigan of Bikram Yoga Upper Valley in White River Junction.

Guest instructors also will be traveling from New Hampshire’s Seacoast region, Burlington and Portland, Maine, to help lead the sessions, Gilbert said.

Modeled after larger events — Gilbert said similarly formatted outings have been staged at the New England Patriots’ Gillette Stadium as well as large west-coast venues — Yoga! Take Cancer to the Mat will feature an emcee and food services from event sponsors The Skinny Pancake and Noosa Yoghurt. The first 100 participants (55 currently are registered) will receive a free headband, and a prize pack will be awarded to the highest fundraiser.

“It’s going to be a festive atmosphere, a lot of fun and excitement,” Gilbert said. “At the same time, it’s important people know that the level of yoga is still going to be very high quality. Sometimes, when you think of an event like this, you might not think the yoga is taken as seriously, but we have really dedicated teachers coming and the yoga itself is a very important part of it.”

Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.