WELLNESS: TOWNSHIP YOGI
THE BENEFITS OF YOGA
How can yoga help those living with HIV/ Aids and TB? Studies have shown that yoga benefits people with TB and HIV in a number of ways. Living with HIV and
Aids is stressful and yoga can greatly assist with stress reduction, as well as helping ease some symptoms and side-effects of HIV medication including joint pain and digestive problems. Other research has shown
yoga can improve mental health, body image and even help prevent the spread of the virus by encouraging a more proactive approach to care and treatment.
In terms of TB, yoga is
all about breathing and improving lung capacity. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of yoga in treating people with TB.
Yoga eases stress, joint pain and digestive problems – all side affects of Aids/HIV
Any other benefits of yoga for these communities? Studies have shown a significant and lasting effect of meditation on drug and alcohol abuse. Many addictions begin as coping mechanisms, or ways of filling a spiritual void. When you replace this with yoga, people in treatment can learn to deal with their emotions and environment in healthier ways. Yoga also shows potential
as a treatment for drug addiction as it’s been found to help reduce depression and stress. The intense breathing patterns of yoga release the body’s natural pleasure-producing endorphins, which helps suppress addictive behaviours while restoring the brain’s dopamine functions to healthier levels.
that they needed to do yoga. I can’t explain it – it was just something I was sure of. Even if I only reached a few people, I
wanted to be able to share the physical, emotional and spiritual tools that yoga offers (see above). It’s a tough, tense, stressful existence and I wanted them to know the kind of peace I’d experienced – even if just for one hour a week.
Can anyone attend your classes? Absolutely. We have kids from as young as three, right up to ‘gogos’ – elderly women who arrive at class leaning on their canes. Everyone and anyone is welcome and classes are free. We just ask them to clean the mats afterwards – or sometimes they’ll sing a special song for the teacher, just as an exchange of energy. We also provide basic yoga clothing for students – many of them don’t have more than two or three items of clothing to wear, and none of it’s appropriate for yoga – so nobody misses out. Word of mouth plays a big part in
getting people involved. People walk past a hall, see the class happening and ask about it. Many people who attend also come with friends the next week.
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It’s a tough, tense, stressful existence and I wanted them to know the kind of peace I’d experienced – even if just for one hour a week
Are there any other aspects to it besides yoga? Other needs have come out of the yoga classes – like people wanting to eat more healthily, but not knowing how, given their dire financial situations. So we’ve given classes on cooking healthy food on small budgets – including encouraging people to grow their own vegetables and become self-sustaining.
How have you funded the project? We rely on donations, although hopefully we’ll soon be able to start tapping into some international foundations and funding organisations that focus on the social issues we’re trying to help alleviate. The only ‘salaries’ paid are the small
stipends given to township yoga teachers who take classes in their communities. They get ZAR100 (US$8, €7, £5) a session.
At the moment we need about ZAR20,000 (US$1,630, €1,470, £1,040) a month to set up new classes, pay township teachers and to train others. One of our biggest costs is paying for these courses – they do a full 200-hour training course, which takes about six months, and are SETA registered when they complete it. This cost will only grow as we expand, but in terms of international funding it’s a sustainable project.
I believe there’s also a film being made? My husband and I are filmmakers and we could see the potential for amazing stories. So we decided, right at the very beginning, to make a film about it – a documentary that follows the journey of five people in the Inanda township – as a way to build awareness and raise funds to sustain expansion into the whole of South Africa.
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