At first glance, the idea of ​​a project that brings yoga to Africa may sound at least curious. In our iconography the African continent is linked to images that evoke far more primary needs than yoga and emergencies of a completely different nature.

Yet by now the model of humanitarian aid in the classical sense has been questioned by many authoritative intellectuals (at the time the interesting text of the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo " The charity that kills " was echoed ) and is increasingly being done street the conviction that it will not be with the periodic rains of money that the West sends in various countries of the continent that the problems will be solved.

In small, an answer in this sense is given by the volunteers of the Africa Yoga Project, an organization active since 2007 in Kenya born from an idea of Paige Elenson, yoga teacher, together with the well-known American yogi Baron Baptiste: their work it has allowed an enormous diffusion of yoga in East Africa, so much so as to count the involvement of about 5000 people and the formation of 250 weekly classes.

From Nairobi to the Masai: a journey that tells of love for yoga

It all started with a trip to Elenson's Kenya that recounts: “ I taught Baptiste Power Yoga for 15 years, then during a vacation in Kenya with my family and I saw people doing verticals. I got out of the car and imitated them. That day changed my life ". Paige started spreading yoga in the slums of Nairobi hoping to benefit the difficult lives of the inhabitants. In the largest of them, Kibera has given birth to various classes, some of which are dedicated to children and orphans .

From this almost casual beginning we come to talk about the Masai community of Alasiti, the first to combine yoga with its own traditional lifestyle. As Parit explains, a local resident and now a yoga instructor: " At first we thought it was magic, but then we realized that everyone could do it ." So the practice became part of the day, like eating, drinking, washing. The Parit concept explains well: " Yoga helps me understand who I am. Every morning when you get out of bed, the body asks you to do yoga ". Yoga thus becomes a way of taking care of oneself for the villagers especially after a long day of work with cattle or at home engaged in household chores.

The purpose of this non-profit organization is to spread yoga in Kenya and East Africa and, through it, contribute to improving the quality of local life by creating jobs and using the potential that this discipline offers to improve everyday life hard of these people.

The project also includes a teaching phase during which the training of new masters is taken care of, who in turn will be able to practice and spread the discipline, nurturing a virtuous circle, both economically and socially. In fact, on the one hand the young teachers are professionalized and can contribute to their own and family well-being, on the other hand local craft activities are involved and developed, as evidenced by the " Bead the change " program that involves women from two Masai villages and they make jewelry with the proceeds of which they built and equipped schools at their community.

This project was also the subject of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Buffalo who went to Kenya together with a team of yoga teachers and psychologists to study the effects and methodologies of this type of experiment. Cathrine Cotton-Cook, an associate professor in the department of Counseling at the University of Buffalo, comments enthusiastically: " Jobs have been created and it is a type of healthy activity that has none of the negative impacts that industries have. It is amazing how much people keep the program and how much it has changed their lives . "

A model to repeat and spread

Last summer a program similar to the African Yoga Project began in the east side of Buffalo dedicated to underprivileged children. The state of New York is not Kenya, but this is proof that the immense potential that yoga offers do not really know borders or barriers.

In this video three yoga instructors from Kenya of the Africa Yoga Project tell about their experience.