Street Yoga

I chanced upon Street Yoga about a year ago when I started reading about how Yoga had a transformative ability on people. When I read about them, it got me started on a headfirst dive into the world of yoga, therapy, and social change. I honestly believe in using yoga for social change. It may not revolutionise the world like how nuclear power did in 1945, but I’m sure one limb at a time, Yoga is able to teach us human being how to reconnect with our humanity, so as to extend our love and care to those outside of out immediate circle.

Started in Portland, Oregon, Street Yoga would work with those who live on the streets. As the name suggests, Yoga would be practiced in open environments, or low cost locations where people could come together and practice yoga.

If you have ever been locked out of your house, and stuck outdoors on a winter’s day, that would be a glimpse of what life is like for those who live on the streets. Without proper warm clothing, without a bed to sleep on, all they have, are the clothes on their back. Imagine having to always be on alert from sexual predators, from cops who chase them away from places that may be warmer but out of bounds to trespassers, having the cold seep into your bones, and if it rains, the dampness that clings onto you long after the rain have passed. That’s what living on the streets is like.

Street Yoga cannot solve the problems of homelessness, or of abject poverty. But what it CAN do, is to provide a loving community of support for those who have landed up on the streets. Teaching the poses is just 1 aspect of helping these youths to heal. For sure, back bends and deep stretches will help ease the kink of knots in their muscles from constantly being hunched over in the cold. Chest openers will also teach the homeless how to open to grace, and always look for the good in the world. Sun salutations will help warm up frigid muscles on an icy winters day.

But that’s not all.

More importantly, it reminds them that even when all things seem out of their control, they will always have control over their own body and mind. And with the support given from those at Street Yoga, these youths will never have to feel alone, for they know that in the Yoga community, they have found a long term friend.

*Besides working with homeless youths on the streets, Street Yoga also does fantastic therapy/healing work with those who have been sexually abused, juvenile detention centers, families in shelters and alternative schooling centers. Read more about them at www.streetyoga.org