VOA标准英语2012--Yoga in the Nairobi Slums Provides Empowerment, Hope

 

Yoga in the Nairobi Slums Provides Empowerment, Hope

Africa Yoga Project

Paige Elenson has been teaching yoga for 15 years. The former Wall Street consultant¹ came to Kenya in 2007 to live and volunteer in the Nairobi slum of Kibera. She co-founded the Africa Yoga Project.

“It was actually a huge opportunity to start the project right around the post-election violence. It was a time where people were feeling very separate from each other, where different tribes were starting to fight just because of their tribe, and to introduce a practice that’s around peace and unity², where you don’t have to talk, but you just do and you physically³ are united," said Elenson. "People started to really come together in a way that exceeded their tribe.”

For 26 year-old yoga instructor⁴ Joyce Murugi, who experienced the violence in the Nairobi slum of Mathare firsthand, yoga provides an outlet⁵ for dealing⁶ with the trauma⁷. “It was just now like, when I go and train yoga, it’s me and my mat. I only train, no stress," she explained. "When I get outside the mat, it’s like I’ve been reborn from the way I entered the class is not the way that I’ve left the class.”

The Africa Yoga Project has trained over 50 instructors⁸ like Murugi, all from the Nairobi slums, who teach more than 200 free classes per week in the same areas. They make additional income by teaching private classes at gyms, spas, hotels, and even the United Nations.

“Yoga, is something that typically, in the West, we see as for the upper class. Here in Kenya, we’ve reversed it. We’ve put all the yoga, pretty much, in the slums. And it’s now the people from the slums that are teaching the upper class. This is a great way, to really reverse how we think of people, and what yoga is,” Elenson stated.

Yoga, providing an escape

Thanks to the free classes, 48 year-old Alice Njathi can temporarily escape from the stresses of life in the slums. “It’s just like a medicine. After you have done it, you’ll feel different. You’ll feel different from your body and your mind. So you relax and concentrate," she noted⁹. "You relax, so you feel that you are now different. And I’m feeling it. And it’s helping¹⁰ me.”

Although a new concept for many Kenyans living in the slums, Elenson says that yoga is universal.

“What impresses me is that someone who takes classes in New York City could go to a place that looks completely different, you could be in Kibera, and in the middle of a slum and get on your yoga mat and all of a sudden, you’re just on your yoga mat,” Elenson said.

So in Kenya, it appears that yoga is here to "namaste" (a pun using a common yoga greeting to explain that it appears yoga is here to stay). 

1 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

5 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

8 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。