Anahata International has worked in Washington DC to build sustainable yoga and wellness programs at no cost to participants. Through weekly classes, workshops, and retreats, our domestic work has empowered at-risk/homeless youth, domestic violence survivors, homeless individuals, adults living with HIV/AIDS, veterans, and front-line service workers.
In addition to a host of weekly classes at local organizations, a few of our keystone projects have included the D.A.S.H. Wellness Center, serving survivors of domestic violence and their families, and Wellness Retreats designed to support veterans and front-line workers.
Past International Programs:
Rwanda
Since 2007, Anahata has brought yoga instruction and yoga therapy to Rwanda in order to extend the healing benefits of yoga to people affected by violent conflict. Anahata’s strategy has been to provide yoga teacher trainings to young Rwandans with the intention and ability to help their own communities heal.
In under a year, Anahata facilitated two teacher trainings in Kigali, Rwanda. During the first, Angela Cerkevich, our founder, worked with the international NGO Never Again Rwanda to identify 30 young Rwandans to receive yoga instruction. The participants ranged from 17 to 30 years of age and all were affected by the country’s genocide. Thirteen young adults from this group were selected to go through an intensive teacher training through which they gained the skills to share yoga as a practice for healing with their respective communities. Angela then returned to Kigali with another teacher trainer, Radhika Thakkar, to provide additional teacher trainings, expand the yoga community, and build a network among local organizations to further Anahata’s impact in Rwanda. During this trip, Angela and Radhika were able to:
Provide 30 hours of in-depth teacher training for 17 new teachers
Introduce yoga nidra for trauma recovery and self study
Lead daily community classes for more than 30 students
Teach Rwandan women how yoga can be especially helpful for their health and community issues
Establish relationships within leaders and activists within the local community to facilitate future partnerships between Anahata trained teachers and local initiatives
Anahata’s Legacy in Rwanda Today
Anahata International trained yoga teachers consistently leading classes in and around the surrounding communities of the capital, Kigali, and at the University of Butare. Their reach ranges from working with young children, to the elderly, women and adults. Through their own initiative, the teachers have organized themselves and their students into two clubs – the Kicukiro and Butare Peace Clubs – to better promote yoga and provide support to each other.
Anahata continues to support the growing yoga community in Rwanda. Today, Anahata-trained teachers lead regular classes in and around Kigali, reaching groups ranging from young children to senior citizens. Anahata supports the teachers through email and phone communication to provide additional support and education.
Ramallah
In 2013, we returned to Ramallah for part two of our teacher training program for women from all over the West Bank. The project was taken on as part of an ongoing partnership with Farashe Yoga, a nonprofit center in Ramallah, in response to a growing demand for expanded and increasingly sustainable yoga programs in the city. The training, which began in 2012, was the first of its kind in Palestine. Our goal was to empower women from the local community to build resources and establish new and increased sustainable yoga-based wellness programs to schools, community centers, and refugee camps.
Over twenty women traveled from all over the West Bank to be with us for a weeklong intensive focused on trauma-sensitive yoga and meditation skills. Many traveled from their homes as far as three hours each way every day – homes in villages and cities where military occupation, violent protests, and socioeconomic disadvantage are a fact of daily life.
The majority of the women from our first training in July 2012 are now teaching yoga in their communities (some as many as 11 classes every week with 25+ people attending!) and all have incorporated yoga into their own lives to substantive positive effect.
Press Coverage of the Project
A Peace Offering in the West Bank Washington Post, August 4, 2012
Palestine: Peace can be a bit of a stretch Al Jazeera, July 17, 2012
Bringing the Benefits of Yoga to the West Bank – Huffington Post, June 28, 2012
About Farashe for Healthy Living
Since it opened in 2010, Farashe has been striving to meet the needs of the community—offering safe, accessible yoga throughout occupied territories with only a few volunteer teachers. Anahata has helped to increase the cadre of teachers that are able to offer these healing services and enable Farashe to increase their program offerings and outreach efforts.