Nonprofit works to bring yoga to East Austin school
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
More than 80 people took part in a yoga class Saturday, not just for their bodies, but for a good cause.
Money from the class, along with a portion of sales from some East Austin businesses, will go to a nonprofit group called Community Yoga. The idea is to bring weekly yoga classes to Blackshear Elementary School, where 99 percent of the students are eligible for free lunch.
Karen Young, a music teacher at the school, has high hopes for the project.
"We're really hoping to inspire the kids to think outside the box and welcome new experiences,” she said. “And we're also hoping that this will promote a sense of inner calm in our students."
Blackshear is made up of about 60 percent Hispanic students and 40 percent African Americans. Community Yoga Co Founder Jyl Kutsche said the program works citywide to bring yoga to people who otherwise wouldn't experience it.
"Normally, we've got about 40 classes a week, from working with kids that are in, you know, more disadvantaged situations, to shelters, housing sites, seniors, prisons, detention centers, recovery centers. It's just a vast array of different places and people" she said.
Instructors said this is the first time they've tried bringing yoga to the school. Community Yoga and Blackshear hope to begin the classes this fall.