A Message From Our Founder
How it All Began and Where We're Going
Teaching in public schools, children (and adults) of all ages were my career focus and purpose. Creative dance, drumming and yoga are my passions.
A certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor and Let Your Yoga Dance teacher, I danced professionally and taught at Tucson Creative Dance Center and co-founded the Moving Center, a cooperative dance studio. I have pursued creative movement, yoga and drumming since my teenage years and have been a life-long student of mental and physical health.
In 2017 the work of Teen Cancer America, founded by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the 70s classic rock band The Who, inspired a new chapter in my life. They develop spaces in hospitals uniquely dedicated to teens and young adults fighting cancer. These underserved young warriors need a place to overcome isolation and boredom and connect with peers facing cancer. I had to find a way to help.
Months of searching gave birth to Mountain Rhythms, a 501(c)(3) tax deductible non-profit, where teens and young adult cancer patients experience in person or online creative movement, drumming and yoga that bring such joy, community, health and well-being.
Currently I lead Creative Movement, Yoga and Drumming programs at the Shaw Cancer Center in Edwards, Colorado where I live and Roundup River Ranch (part of Paul Newman's network of camps for kids with life-threatening illnesses) in Gypsum, CO.
In 2022 we will start online sessions for teens and young adults facing cancer. My goal is to help fill the gap in badly needed support systems and build healthy recoveries from this insidious disease.
Joyfully,
Cathy Catlett Bethke
