Back To Fitness: How Yoga Is Changing The World
Taken from here.
If you practice yoga, you know the transformational effects it can have on your body, mind and spirit. It can truly open your heart to a whole new way of thinking and being. Nobody knows that better than Paige Elenson, founder of Africa Yoga Project (AYP)–a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to sharing this practice with thousands of young people in Kenya. What started with a few yoga moves along the side of the road in Kenya has now turned into a worldwide effort to bring yoga and its life-changing benefits into the lives of those suffering devastating economic, health and social conditions throughout East Africa. Its impact so far has been nothing short of amazing.
To find out more about what AYP is up to, we talked with Elenson yesterday:
In a land of such extreme poverty, tell us how yoga is making a difference in Africa?
Just like yoga is making a difference in your life and my life, the practice makes a difference no matter where you live, the color of your skin or how much money you have in your bank account. In Kenya, the circumstances are more dire and people don’t have enough food on the table. There is a huge amount of poverty–emotional, spiritual and physical poverty. Yoga is giving them the tools to handle these things and take care of themselves emotionally, spiritually and physically. It’s not just doing yoga with Kenyans, it’s also teaching some of them to become yoga teachers so they can spread the practice even more and continue the positive changes throughout Africa.
Tell me about the students. Is there one who stands out in your mind?
AYP really targets vulnerable populations–those who are at-risk, suffering from AIDS, unemployed and dealing with sexually transmitted diseases. They just don’t have the eduction to know how to prevent disease. One of the students happens to be in American right now; her name is Margaret. She is helping Baron Baptiste (whose yoga style we practice) with training new teachers, and she’s really making it now. She was married at 12 and was a child slave before that. She’s suffered a lot of trauma and wasn’t doing well when we first met her, but through her practice, she is so different now and helping to change other people’s lives.
What is it specifically about yoga that you think changes people?
What yoga does is changes our ability to relate to our circumstances. It will never cure poverty or AIDS, but it gives you a whole new way to relate to what’s there and what you’re going through. Instead of more hatred towards yourself, we choose the habits that empower us. On a physical level, it lowers blood pressure, lowers your weight, builds your immune system and makes you stronger and healthier all around. There’s a very physical level and emotional level of empowerment that happens.
Have some people been resistant to the idea that yoga can change the world?
I wouldn’t call it resistant, I would call it cynical. I think the real thing I try to emphasize is that this is a practice and something you dedicate yourself to daily. It never ends. You can’t do it for 30 days and say I’m flexible now. It’s always a decision to choose to do it daily and make it a part of your life. Where some people get cynical is over religion and thinking yoga is a religion. We teach about the space between Hinduism and where is there is cross-over and where is there is separation. Sometimes people think yoga is a negative religion or a cult, which of course, it’s not.
What are some other ways that yoga is changing the world beyond AYP?
There are so many amazing projects going on in Africa–new schools, food from the Red Cross, more health services. What I see happening is adding yoga as a practice to make the work these projects are doing better. When I start promoting yoga like that, that’s when we get rid of the cycnicism. Offering yoga to the volunteers of these projects changes their lives so they can be equipped to change the other’s lives. It teaches the community members and volunteers to take their work seriously and see the difference they are making within themselves and others. And without yoga teachers, we can’t do that. As we perform service work around the world, we need yoga to keep us all sane as we deal with such a huge human crisis.
If you had one wish, how would you like people to view yoga?
My wish is that people would view yoga as an every day practice and use it to better align themselves with who they are and who they want to be in the world.
If you want to help change the world through yoga, AYP is launching a nationwide fundraising event called Yoga Aid on October 1 and 2, and they are trying to raise $100,000 to help train more teachers. Visit www.africayogaproject for more details.
Photo: Africa Yoga Project
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If you practice yoga, you know the transformational effects it can have on your body, mind and spirit. It can truly open your heart to a whole new way of thinking and being. Nobody knows that better than Paige Elenson, founder of Africa Yoga Project (AYP)–a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to sharing this practice with thousands of young people in Kenya. What started with a few yoga moves along the side of the road in Kenya has now turned into a worldwide effort to bring yoga and its life-changing benefits into the lives of those suffering devastating economic, health and social conditions throughout East Africa. Its impact so far has been nothing short of amazing.
To find out more about what AYP is up to, we talked with Elenson yesterday:
In a land of such extreme poverty, tell us how yoga is making a difference in Africa?
Just like yoga is making a difference in your life and my life, the practice makes a difference no matter where you live, the color of your skin or how much money you have in your bank account. In Kenya, the circumstances are more dire and people don’t have enough food on the table. There is a huge amount of poverty–emotional, spiritual and physical poverty. Yoga is giving them the tools to handle these things and take care of themselves emotionally, spiritually and physically. It’s not just doing yoga with Kenyans, it’s also teaching some of them to become yoga teachers so they can spread the practice even more and continue the positive changes throughout Africa.
Tell me about the students. Is there one who stands out in your mind?
AYP really targets vulnerable populations–those who are at-risk, suffering from AIDS, unemployed and dealing with sexually transmitted diseases. They just don’t have the eduction to know how to prevent disease. One of the students happens to be in American right now; her name is Margaret. She is helping Baron Baptiste (whose yoga style we practice) with training new teachers, and she’s really making it now. She was married at 12 and was a child slave before that. She’s suffered a lot of trauma and wasn’t doing well when we first met her, but through her practice, she is so different now and helping to change other people’s lives.
What is it specifically about yoga that you think changes people?
What yoga does is changes our ability to relate to our circumstances. It will never cure poverty or AIDS, but it gives you a whole new way to relate to what’s there and what you’re going through. Instead of more hatred towards yourself, we choose the habits that empower us. On a physical level, it lowers blood pressure, lowers your weight, builds your immune system and makes you stronger and healthier all around. There’s a very physical level and emotional level of empowerment that happens.
Have some people been resistant to the idea that yoga can change the world?
I wouldn’t call it resistant, I would call it cynical. I think the real thing I try to emphasize is that this is a practice and something you dedicate yourself to daily. It never ends. You can’t do it for 30 days and say I’m flexible now. It’s always a decision to choose to do it daily and make it a part of your life. Where some people get cynical is over religion and thinking yoga is a religion. We teach about the space between Hinduism and where is there is cross-over and where is there is separation. Sometimes people think yoga is a negative religion or a cult, which of course, it’s not.
What are some other ways that yoga is changing the world beyond AYP?
There are so many amazing projects going on in Africa–new schools, food from the Red Cross, more health services. What I see happening is adding yoga as a practice to make the work these projects are doing better. When I start promoting yoga like that, that’s when we get rid of the cycnicism. Offering yoga to the volunteers of these projects changes their lives so they can be equipped to change the other’s lives. It teaches the community members and volunteers to take their work seriously and see the difference they are making within themselves and others. And without yoga teachers, we can’t do that. As we perform service work around the world, we need yoga to keep us all sane as we deal with such a huge human crisis.
If you had one wish, how would you like people to view yoga?
My wish is that people would view yoga as an every day practice and use it to better align themselves with who they are and who they want to be in the world.
If you want to help change the world through yoga, AYP is launching a nationwide fundraising event called Yoga Aid on October 1 and 2, and they are trying to raise $100,000 to help train more teachers. Visit www.africayogaproject for more details.
Photo: Africa Yoga Project
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