The Africa Yoga Project uses the transformative power of yoga to empower communities and change lives. By inspiring the global yoga community into active service, AYP delivers effective and innovative programs which foster peace, improve physical, emotion and mental well-being, facilitate self-sufficiency and create opportunities to learn and contribute across the communities of East Africa.

Our Work

The teachings and practice of yoga and the movement arts, the original inspiration and foundation for the Africa Yoga Project, continue to be the primary vehicle and inspiration for our work. Yoga has empowered millions of people across the world by supporting physical, mental and emotional health, facilitating authentic personal expression, building supportive communities, and inspiring positive action to contribute to others. We have been insipired by the affects acrobatic and dance training that the Sarakasi Trust outreach program facilitates and feel that yoga can offer substantial benefits as well. We are dedicated to delivering all that yoga has to offer to the diverse communities of East Africa, while at the same time providing opportunities for members of the global yoga community to participate and contribute. We connect those who want to make a difference by sharing their skills and strengths to those who can benefit from that action – and most often the exchange is mutual and contributes equally to all. Individuals are empowered, relationships are forged, communities experience emotional healing and become healthier physically, and new possibilities are seen and made real.

Core activities on a weekly basis for free in informal settlements include yoga practice, meditation, self-exploration through inquiry, performing arts as a vehicle for empowerment, health education (HIV/AIDS), relationship building, and community activism – all designed to increase physical, emotional and mental well-being on the individual level while building healthy and empowered communities.

Communities We Serve

Our activities in Africa are based in the Sarakasi Dome, under the guidance of the Sarakasi Trust. The majority of our beneficiaries we serve are between the ages of 16 and 30 from impoverished backgrounds in Kenya. Most live on less than $2 a day, and have been personally affected by tribal violence, rampant unemployment, teen pregnancy, and the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. These young adults live now or have lived in the informal settlements or internal displacement camps of Kenya. Given the poverty, illness, crime and drug use to which they have been exposed, and the minimal opportunities which have been offered, it is inspiring to witness their dedication to improving their lives and contributing to the people in their communities.

We have introduced thousands of people in Kenya to the practice of yoga through weekly classes throughout Nairobi, in places such as community centers, prisons, orphanages, among the deaf community, and schools. Africa Yoga Project has also served the population by providing communication skill building, educational scholarships, job training, food stipends, temporary housing, and health services

History

Africa Yoga Project began under Sarakasi Trust in 2006 as an experiment into the effects of using yoga and the movement arts as tools for experiential learning and development in some of the poorest areas in Kenya. Could yoga positively transform lives across race, nationality, age, gender and economic status? Would yoga be valued when offered at no cost to the student? Can people who are struggling to survive, have little food to eat, and live in an unstable environment utilize yoga to transform their perception of their life and what is possible for the future? The answer was an unequivocal yes. Yoga was embraced by participants as a result of the multiple benefits received from the practice, including personal empowerment, emotional healing, and increased physical health and vitality. Yoga also provided students with the experience of community support through open dialogue and the opportunity to envision and create new possibilities for the future. We witnessed participants as they accessed their own strength and power. The strong desire for a consistent yoga practice and a community based on the principles of possibility, personal responsibility, service and community action was generated, and thus, the Africa Yoga Project was born.

AYP’s growth in Kenya since 2007 has been extraordinary. Under the umbrella of International Arts Trust, Sarakasi, over 4,000 people are participating in our community yoga classes weekly. We work in over 80 locations per week and have trainer 62 professional yoga teachers. More than 40 young people, trained as teachers by international teacher Baron Baptiste, are earning a living wage by teaching yoga to people who otherwise would not have the opportunity. Beyond the benefits that have been given to the informal sector, 26 of our trained teachers have found employment outside of Sarakasi Trust / Africa Yoga Project in the Kenyan job market in relation to yoga.

In America, Africa Yoga Project is a 501c3, not for profit organization. AYP has also applied for non-profit status in Canada.

www.africayogaproject.org

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it