
{"id":24502,"date":"2012-03-15T10:27:58","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T14:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=24502"},"modified":"2012-03-14T17:22:04","modified_gmt":"2012-03-14T21:22:04","slug":"healing-with-yoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/03\/15\/healing-with-yoga\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing with yoga"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Rose Laudicina<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_24509\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24509\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"yoga2_web\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web-100x66.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga2_web-360x239.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Johnson teaches a group of school children from Huruma, a slum in Nairobi, the yoga pose Warrior I.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<\/br><\/p>\n<p>In January, Michelle Johnson found herself in an unlikely place \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here I need my yoga mat and water bottle and other material objects to feel comfortable,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Johnson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even available.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Partnered with a man from a nearby village whose name she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and had no hopes of learning since they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t speak the same language \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they conveyed their trust in each other simply through smiling. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We were doing this backbend pose with our partners and I was looking up at the sky and it was really beautiful,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Johnson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I remember thinking, everything is all right in the world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24511\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24511\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"yoga4_web\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web-100x66.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga4_web-360x239.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24511\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Johnson makes a connection with a young student during a yoga class in Huruma, a slum in Nairobi.  Photo by Jeff Herrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Going there and seeing how they use yoga changed my perspective on what I know in theory and what I know in practice about yoga,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Johnson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The sense of community there was so strong.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24508\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24508\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"yoga1_web\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web-113x75.jpg 113w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web-150x99.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web-100x66.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga1_web-360x239.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I taught them about what trauma is and gave them a word for what they had been through,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Through these workshops Johnson heard stories of how yoga saved lives and empowered AYP instructors to teach peace through yoga in their communities. <\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24510\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24510\" style=\"width: 294px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"yoga3_web\" width=\"294\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24510\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web.jpg 294w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web-88x150.jpg 88w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web-66x113.jpg 66w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web-58x100.jpg 58w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/yoga3_web-270x460.jpg 270w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24510\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A young student from a school in Huruma, a slum in Nairobi, concentrates as she practices yoga. Photo by Jeff Herrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>This Saturday, Carrboro Yoga Company (CYCo) will hold a Spring Yoga Mala, with the proceeds to go toward Johnson and Herrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goal. <\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is so cool to have this connection across the planet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Sage Rountree, CYCo owner. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to give the students a really touching sense of where their money goes when they donate.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In January, Michelle Johnson found herself in an unlikely place \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24502"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24518,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24502\/revisions\/24518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}