This article brought a smile to my face, not because of the Hurricane-Katrina-brought-xx-improvement-to-the-city sort of argument (which by the way, I hear every four seconds in the education realm — it may or may not be true but it feels sacrilegious somehow to discuss in that way) but the fact that yoga has served as a part of the Crescent City’s healing:
What struck me was how much yoga had grown in New Orleans since Katrina, ” she said. “The people I talked to really emphasized how much yoga had helped the community in the aftermath of the storm.”
A case in point: Ann Yoachim, who said she considered yoga a luxury for hippie types or the wealthy until a friend persuaded her to visit Wild Lotus in the fall of 2005. She remembers being nervous, then moved by yoga students who wept during classes.
“I didn’t think yoga was for me until Katrina, ” she said. “It was a safe place to let emotions flow.”
‘Like an anchor’
Wild Lotus became a “real refuge” in October 2005 as one of the first studios to reopen after the storm, Johnson said. Veteran students reunited there, and new students, including relief workers, came looking for comfort.
“A lot of people said the studio was like an anchor for them in a time when they had nothing to hold on to, ” Johnson said. “I think people really found a sense of healing and community through the yoga practice and through the connection with each other.”
On this blog I talk a lot about yoga’s healing power, but this article reminded me of another side to yoga I hadn’t really thought about in this context – connecting with one’s community. Breathing and moving in a yoga practice is powerful regardless of where you do it (like in solitude in a home practice) but there’s something special about moving alongside 5 or 10 or 20 others, with nothing but the sound of your collective breath and if you’re lucky, a great playlist. It’s a shared experience that’s hard to describe. And when the healing aspects of yoga begin to unfold – often unexpectedly – sometimes it’s nice to be a room with others, even strangers, and to know you’re not the only one.
Blessings to all those still recovering in New Orleans and to that resilient, beautiful city.
namaste,
Jamie
Jamie
Julia
Hannah Siegle
yogatyler
