Africa Yoga Project

        

I have known about a non-profit called Africa Yoga project for a while now, so I decided to make a little stop in Nairobi after my internship to see what its all about - after all, I was dying to do yoga after months of a sporadic self-spractice.

On Saturdays at 10am they have a free community class followed by a vegetarian lunch. The Shine Center, Africa Yoga Project's studio, is located in the Parklands district of Nairobi which is inhabited mostly by Indians. I walked into a large building called Diamond plaza with several stories of shops selling saris, electronic accessories and other Indian trinkets. After asking for directions a few times, I found the Shine Center nestled in a corner on the fourth floor. At a quarter to 10, the studio was already busy with people signing in and finding their mats. I was delighted to see people of all nationalities - Asian, Caucasian, African and Indian - and there were also many kids!! Apparently, they have a special space for kids to practice upstairs during the community class. I've never seen that before, and I think its such a great idea! So many little aspiring yogis. 

Today's community class was dedicated to B.K.S Iyengar in celebration of his recent passing, so AYP brought in a guest teacher to lead an Iyengar style class. This class was different than what I'm used to; the teacher focused on proper alignment, and although we also pay attention to alignment in power yoga, in this class we repeated triangle pose three times, for example, attempting to perfect it by the third try. The teacher was strict and did not talk in a soothing or meditative "yoga voice". It reminded me a bit of Bikram yoga which also emphasizes fully entering a posture and uses strict tones rather then focusing on one's personal best. It was tiring holding postures for so long, and I missed the flow aspect that draws me so much to Vinyasa yoga. 

However, I enjoy trying new types of yoga and what made this class special and energizing was the community vibe that permeated the whole room. Our mats were lined up side by side with but an inch of space between them in order to accommodate the approximate 200 yogis who showed up to practice. People were gathered in small groups chatting before class contrasting the unspoken silence which is expected prior to most yoga classes. When the teacher would finally allow us to come out of a posture, the entire room would let out a huge sigh followed by a wave of laughter. Although sometimes I enjoy utilizing the yoga studio as a quiet, personal space of refuge, today's class was refreshing and allowed me to feel connected with the entire room full of yogis despite being in Africa and not having attended a class for 3 months. This is truly why yoga is so powerful. Checkout AYP's website (http://www.africayogaproject.org/), they're doing awesome things in and around Nairobi! I hope I can make it back here someday!