This post comes to us from Emily Kuser of the awesome blog Get In Emily’s Head (and a former Drishti employee!)
Inspiration is so delicious! Street Yoga offers yoga to at-risk homeless youth in the Portland, OR area and their awesome non-profit program has inspired others to begin similar programs in their cities and towns too! Volunteer yoga teachers are trained to work with at risk-kids and then sent into local schools to set up shop in the good ol’ gymnasiums (budget cuts nation wide have totally reduced PE funding, so gyms are wide open for volunteer yoga!)
The little yoga students arrive with back pain from sleeping on concrete floors, doorways, and in cars. They are hyperactive, fierce, and inwardly screaming for understanding and control of their emotions. They are also incredible cool, hip, and understanding street kids that, given the chance to breathe (yoga), their faces change and a shift occurs. Subtle, maybe, but the small shift multiplies and soon the kids understand the experience of calming the mind.
In the Street Yoga video below, a kid shares how cold he was one night sleeping on the streets in below-30-degree weather. To warm himself he practiced 10 minutes of sun salutations! Wow! Way to go, yoga teachers, for offering your time and knowledge to those in need!
Check out Street Yoga and send them your support! They are doing amazing things!
Written by,
Emily Kuser
