Kenyan Street Youth Releasing Through Yoga

Block, Molly

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/49125 Copy

Description

Title

Kenyan Street Youth Releasing Through Yoga

Author(s)

Block, Molly

Contributor(s)

Gottlieb, Alma J.

Issue Date

2014-05

Keyword(s)

• Anthropology
• Youth

Abstract

Yoga has recently spread to Kenya with a variety of studios opening up around Nairobi. One in particular brings yoga to those who never would have heard of it before. Africa Yoga Project (AYP) is an NGO that trains underprivileged Kenyans (with an emphasis on the youth employment) as yoga instructors. These new teachers then go into the community and teach classes in slums, prisons, schools, parks, or anywhere that is interested in practicing yoga. Spending my junior year abroad, my research project takes a bottom-up approach to the emergence of yoga in Nairobi. I am asking various Kenyans on the streets and the teachers at AYP for their opinions and perceptions of yoga. This photo shows a group of street youth during their weekly practice. They could be out sniffing glue, doing drugs, or stealing, but instead they take the time to create this community and gather in a safe space that allows them to release their feelings. In the picture you can see the power yoga has; it can make someone happy, calm, powerful, euphoric, even grateful. Even if they don't have food to eat or a home to go to, those whose lives have been touched by yoga have a new sense of wellness, of happiness, of safety. For more information about the Image of Research--Undergraduate Edition go to: https://publish.illinois.edu/imageofresearch/

Type of Resource

• text
• image

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/49125

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Molly Block

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