With the support of my yoga teacher training organisation Yogacampus I’m volunteering with disabled people in Nepal to enable them enjoy the benefits of practising yoga. I’m working with an organisation called Boddhisattvas In Action (BIA) who run a centre supporting people with spinal injuries who live and work there. I’m travelling to Nepal on March 23 for three weeks where I’ll be running yoga classes at a BIA centre in Kathmandu. I’ll be blogging whilst I’m away giving updates about the classes I run and other news from my trip.
I wanted to set this project up because I have a long-standing connection to Nepal. My daughter’s dad is Nepali and I met him when I was teaching English there 20 years ago. I’ve remained in touch with family and travelled over several times since. I had the idea to offer yoga to people with disabilities when I visited Nepal last year. I went to see friends of a friend who live in Nepal’s second city Pokhara. Both have been disabled since childhood, one by polio the other by leprocy, and were orphaned or abandoned by their families. Against all odds both have achieved degrees and are now working as a social worker and accounts manager in a children’s home. Seeing some of the difficulties this couple have as a result of using crutches I suggested that disabled people might benefit from yoga and they agreed that Nepali people’s disabilities mean they experience pain and stress. For example, people whose crutches put strain on their shoulders or who sit for long periods. In addition, Nepali disabled people have very difficult and stressful lives mentally and emotionally as well as physically.
I am really excited to be able to offer this positive support to people’s lives. I’ve always wanted to help the people of Nepal in some way. They are a warm and generous people with a beautiful land that has been beset by so many problems over the years – including the massacre of the royal family, Maoist guerrillas and earthquakes. I want to, in some small way, try to help improve the lives of ordinary Nepali people who always seem to keep smiling as they build their lives and raise their families in what are often very poor conditions. My aim on completion of my 200 hours yoga teacher training is to use my skills to benefit people in the UK as well as in Nepal. I want to practice yoga with people who have aches and pains and bring benefits to people who are not typical yoga practitioners – in particular men. I’m hoping to run classes for people who have strains and pains as the result of work including computer use as well as professions like bricklaying and scaffolding and from leisure activities such as mountain biking and boxing.
