Anywhere any time
 - children’s Yoga in Rwanda

“They were piled together like kittens in a box, says photographer Tim Botsko, referring to the early morning session that took place at El Shaddai Orphanage in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Paula Herring, a newly certified teacher from Studio 1 Yoga in San Diego, was putting her skills to the test with vulnerable children who are survivors of the 1994 genocide and the AIDS pandemic. A class was held before school started on the cement floor of the abandoned warehouse that the children now call home. With the help of Celestine, for translation, and Sylvestre, the activity director, Paula presented the ancient movements, breath and sounds of Yoga to people who had never heard the word, let alone knew what it meant.
   They called it a game and said, ‘Let’s play Yoga’. I began by explaining that there is no competition to this game, says Paula. It is three-pronged and involves your spirit, heart and body. I told them that Yoga respects plants and animals. As she spoke, the young people created a circle around her and kept inching forward, squishing their bodies together. No matter how often she showed them how to make space by opening their legs and stretching, they kept clumping together like pick-up sticks which had been randomly dropped in the middle of the floor.
   If we were in the States, Paula thought, nobody would infringe upon another’s space like this, let alone be touching each other. She realised that there is a deeper sense of community here than in the States.
   Paula opened with ‘Om’, telling them about its significance as the vibration of the universe and a way to receive blessings. Instead of resting their hands on their knees, as instructed, the children held them up in the air as if in praise. Being raised in a predominantly Christian country and a like minded orphanage, they interpreted the sound as a benediction and thus lifted their hands towards heaven.
   The first 2 poses were Mountain and Tree, Paula explained. ‘I asked them when they heard the word mountain what they thought about. One child said, “Home”. Others pointed out the window at the nearby hills. I said the mountain and tree pose are strong, like those hills and that they never move or change...”

Written by freelance writer Gabriel Constans, the article continues to describe the rest of the class and the responses of the children.