The International Day of Yoga (June 21) has taken the ancient Indian spiritual science of balancing and aligning one’s body and mind with cosmic forces to various corners of the world. There is no one, rich or poor, who cannot benefit from yoga.
On July 9, a unique combination of Indian spirituality — yoga and kirtan — was experienced by the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, and at the centre of it was the renowned American kirtan singer Krishna Das, born Jeffrey Kagel.
Dozens of Brazilian yoga aficionados saluted the sun in unison in a Rio de Janeiro favela for the inaugural class of a free course allowing residents of the low-income community to qualify as yoga teachers, reported Associated Press via Press Trust of India. Krishna Das, known for his performances of the Hindu devotional music known as kirtan, led a spiritual practice and attendees prayed, sang, clapped and even danced.
“I felt like I was in another world,” said Luciene Costa Gonzaga de Andrade said at the event. “The mantras transcend the souls and transform sadness into joy. It was magical.”
Hairdresser Costa Gonzaga de Andrade, 54, is one of the 20 people from Rocinha, Brazil’s most populous favela, or low-income neighbourhood, who have signed up for the free training programme offered by the Yoganaya International School and the company Mude.
She started practising yoga to alleviate pain in her lower back. She used a cane for three years, but the ancient practice allowed her to regain mobility. Standing on her feet all day is a struggle and she was delighted to learn how to teach yoga.
“It’s a course that would be very expensive for people who, like me, have a low income,” she said. “Who knows, maybe in the future I’ll quit the salon and just teach classes.”
The 14-month project aims to train around 180 new teachers from favelas in Rio and Sao Paulo, who will then carry out paid internships in their communities. Participants receive uniforms, yoga mats, speakers and microphones, as well as stipends and support when entering the job market.
Yoganaya International School founder Renata Mozzini said that she created the project specifically for favela residents to pierce the “bubble of elitism”.
“People here often feel like yoga isn’t for them. They think yoga is for those with money or who have life figured out. But the truth is that it’s for everyone,” she said, pointing to an existing yogi community in Rocinha with classes run by “Yoga na Lage,” or Yoga on the Rooftop.
Organisers got wind of the South American tour by Krishna Das and invited him to the first class with the Rocinha group, which was open to the public.
At least 150 people attended, with many mats touching during the class in an open space owned by a restaurant with a spectacular view of the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and Rio’s mountains, including the Corcovado, where the famed Christ the Redeemer statue is located.
“Tonight was so rich and sweet. It was just beautiful,” Das told The Associated Press after the Rio event. “It’s just a joy to interact with them and to sing and to encourage them to continue because there [are] so many obstacles and difficulties to try to overcome.”
Daniela Moraes, who has a stall on the beach and is training to become a teacher, has listened to Das many times on YouTube and was moved to see him sing live. The 47-year-old from Rocinha said that the kirtan performance being in the favela made it even more special. “Seeing him shouldn’t be something exclusive,” she said.
The website of Krishna Das said that he was well-known for “layering traditional kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation”. The website cited a New York Times article (from 2000) that called him the “Chant Master of American Yoga”.
Describing the unique music created by Das, the NYT article said: “The words are Sanskrit, the ancient invocational tongue of India, and the repetitive melodies stimulate a trancelike mental openness. This is the gospel sound of American yoga, expressed in the music of Krishna Das.”
A practitioner of Bhakti Yoga, or devotional yoga, Das himself had said in an earlier interview, as quoted by NYT: “I’ve never formally trained in Indian classical music, which is an extraordinarily subtle and amazing technique. I’ve never had the discipline, and now I just don’t have the time. I want to sing to God, I want to sing to my own heart. And I want to be open.”
