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Healing with yoga

Posted on March 15, 2012March 14, 2012 by Staff

By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer

Michelle Johnson teaches a group of school children from Huruma, a slum in Nairobi, the yoga pose Warrior I.


In January, Michelle Johnson found herself in an unlikely place – in Kenya, crossing a stream that reeked of raw sewage and trash, to join villagers convening in an open field to participate in a yoga class.

Two years prior to this moment, Johnson, a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, had seen a three-minute video sent out by Lori Burgwyn of Franklin Street Yoga that convinced her to go to Africa and become an ambassador for the Africa Yoga Project.

So, with her husband, Jeff Herrick, Johnson raised $10,551 to bring herself to an open field outside a crowded slum in Kenya, stripped of all the creature comforts she had grown accustomed to in her 12 years of practicing yoga.

“Here I need my yoga mat and water bottle and other material objects to feel comfortable,” Johnson said. “There, it wasn’t even available.”

Partnered with a man from a nearby village whose name she didn’t know – and had no hopes of learning since they didn’t speak the same language – they conveyed their trust in each other simply through smiling.

“We were doing this backbend pose with our partners and I was looking up at the sky and it was really beautiful,” Johnson said. “I remember thinking, everything is all right in the world.”

Michelle Johnson makes a connection with a young student during a yoga class in Huruma, a slum in Nairobi. Photo by Jeff Herrick

Founded in 2007, the Africa Yoga Project (AYP) is a nonprofit that uses yoga to empower and transform lives, focusing on Nairobi, Kenya. AYP teachers, who are natives of the villages they work in, teach, on average, 4,000 students per week through free classes, after which participants receive a free meal. In addition to training community members to become yoga teachers, AYP and its volunteers and ambassadors build schools and community centers and provide other needed services.

“Going there and seeing how they use yoga changed my perspective on what I know in theory and what I know in practice about yoga,” Johnson said. “The sense of community there was so strong.”

To become ambassadors, Johnson and Herrick not only had to raise $5,000 each to donate to AYP but also had to commit to working for two weeks in Africa on a project they created.

Johnson drew on her skills as a social worker and as a yoga instructor for her project, in which she worked with AYP teachers and taught them techniques for dealing with trauma.

Michelle Johnson and a group of students fold forward to connect during a yoga outreach program in a field near East Leigh in Nairobi.Photo by Jeff Herrick

The teachers and villagers AYP serves have all been victims of election violence, which can occur after one tribe wins an election, leading to an outbreak of fighting.

Through her project, Johnson gave teachers a space to finally open up about what they had experienced, and taught them techniques to work through it.

“I taught them about what trauma is and gave them a word for what they had been through,” she said.

Through these workshops Johnson heard stories of how yoga saved lives and empowered AYP instructors to teach peace through yoga in their communities.

A young student from a school in Huruma, a slum in Nairobi, concentrates as she practices yoga. Photo by Jeff Herrick

Immediately after returning from Africa, Johnson and Herrick pledged to raise $100,000 over their lifetimes to donate to AYP, and they hope to raise $10,000 by next January to return.

This Saturday, Carrboro Yoga Company (CYCo) will hold a Spring Yoga Mala, with the proceeds to go toward Johnson and Herrick’s goal.

The mala, which is celebrated around the world to welcome spring, consists of 108 sun salutations completed in four rounds. During the first round, Johnson is going to video chat with teachers from AYP.

“It is so cool to have this connection across the planet,” said Sage Rountree, CYCo owner. “It’s going to give the students a really touching sense of where their money goes when they donate.”

The mala will be held at Carrboro Yoga at Carr Mill Mall from 2 to 4 p.m. and costs $25. For more information about AYP, visit africayogaproject.org

1 thought on “Healing with yoga”

  1. Michelle Johnson says:
    March 15, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Thanks to the Citizen for printing this article. If you all want to donate to the fundraising campaign visit: http://www.tinyurl.com/michelleayp

    Namaste!

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