“The literal Sanskrit translation of the word yoga is union.That’s what five island yoga teachers have formed for a fund-raising event Sunday.Island yoga teachers are banding together for the first time to work for cancer research, teaching yoga classes as a fundraiser for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The Day of Yoga is one of the local events under the umbrella of Positive Yoga 2001, based in Seattle and the country’s only yoga fundraiser.The yoga teachers are happy, instructor and event organizer Christy Dorman said. It give us a chance to get together and integrate yoga into a group event.The five teachers, who represent different styles of yoga practice, will lead classes that range from simple and slow-paced to something resembling an aerobic workout.Dorman calls the day-long fundraiser a good way for yoga neophytes to get an overview, both of island instructors and the different styles. Even new practitioners of yoga could find themselves in such picturesque postures as The Cobra, The Downward Dog, The Two Boats before the day is over.If you have enough stamina, Dorman said, you could take four or five classes for your $50. It’s a pretty good deal.Marci Spahi will teach yoga for kids; Cynthia Fuller-Kling will lead an all-level yoga warm-up; Claire Klug will instruct students in Iyengar yoga, a relatively slow-moving for; Carol Wallace will lead the Asana, a quiet, restorative class for the end of the day; and Dorman will teach a class that combines dance and Ashtanga, which she characterizes as power yoga, vigorous and athletic. Dorman, like many yoga instructors, took up yoga after a career in dance. I came to yoga in my mid-thirties, Dorman said, and I had the same problem a lot of dancers coming to yoga have – keeping still. Over time, however, Dorman has found that connection with the inner self that is a main focus of yoga practice. Yoga’s union of body and mind – a feature that western medicine has begun to embrace – makes yoga a particularly fitting vehicle to raise money for cancer research, Dorman said.Instead of a bike-a-thon or a run-a-thon, we get to use yoga, she said. It’s a good combination. A Day of Yoga fundraiser for cancer research will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 6 at the Pavilion and at Bainbridge Dance Center. Participants may have friends, family or co-workers to sponsor their participation with a $50 minimum donation. Call 842-7570. “