Dear Sanctuary Subscriber… Do you know an adolescent or teenager who might benefit from meditation or Yoga Nidra---the types of practices featured on Sanctuary? I want to make that more possible. With your help, we can… Please read this email. It contains an important announcement. I first launched Sanctuary in part to fulfill a mission––make the extraordinary and far-reaching practices of meditation and Yoga Nidra accessible to as wide an audience as possible. To those ends, I created an ever-expanding, wide-ranging library of practices. At the same time, we instituted a Get One, Give One program specifically, for every Sanctuary subscription we gifted a subscription to those in one of five designated communities in need (victims of human trafficking, former inmates, victims of trauma in the LGBTQ+ community and active military duty/ veterans). Providing access to these practices to those in need was the right and necessary thing to do. This program has remained in place since Sanctuary’s inception. I now find myself turning to a different community in need––one that is suffering in extraordinary numbers: adolescents and teenagers. Indeed, the statistics and mental health challenges faced by young people today should sound an alarm for all of us. After all, the world they are struggling to navigate is one that, for the most part, they inherited––not one they created––passed on, for better and for worse, by previous generations. While it is true that young people are suffering at unprecedented levels, I hold to the belief that we are not powerless to affect the trends. Both the call of compassion as well as being a father of four, including to two teenagers, calls me to act moreover, to provide resources namely, those featured on the app––proven to help young people (as well as adults). In short, my intention for Sanctuary is that it be part of the solution. Therefore…. Sanctuary’s Get One, Give One program will be pivoting to address the needs of young people and their families after all, for every teenager or adolescent who is suffering so is the family of which they are a part. Sanctuary has instituted a new policy to address this… As of today, anyone with a subscription to Sanctuary can now provide a free subscription to a young person with whom they are living so that families, adults and young people, can share in these resources for healing and empowerment. To share the app with a family member (and more importantly, for them to start using it) all the subscriber is ensure that they have download the app and created a new user profile. As a current subscriber, you will only need to contact us at sanctuary@rodstryker.com; share the username of the young person you are gifting a subscription––their 3-month subscription can be renewed indefinitely as long as you, their sponsor, maintain your subscription. That's it. As soon as your request is processed, they'll be able to experience any of the hundred-plus practices currently in Sanctuary’s library. The app features a new section entitled, “For Teenagers &….” We have populated it with tracks, curated content from the whole library, with an emphasis on short-form practices. At the same time, I am planning and starting to record new content, specifically to address the most critical challenges faced by so many young people i.e., loneliness, fear, anxiety, sadness, doubt, confusion, and the many kinds of stress. The majority of young people see their phones as indispensable, despite the fact that so much of the time they spend on them are devoted to social media, which all the research tells us generates less than positive outcomes. Perhaps… One can pray… That some will now––at no cost to them––be able to use their phones for self-care and to elevate their well-being. For those of you currently subscribing to Sanctuary, thank you. Reach out to us and gift a subscription to a young person you care about. Moreover, please share this announcement to anyone or to families who you think could benefit from sharing the gift of Sanctuary with a young person. Together we can make a difference. Warmly, Rod

Posted by Rod Stryker at 2023-10-21 23:41:08 UTC