[page] 听力文本[/page]

Paige Elenson has been teaching Yoga for 15 years. The former Wall Street consultant came to Kenya in 2007 to live and volunteer in the Nairobi slum of Kibera.

She cofounded the Africa Yoga Project.

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

For 26 year old Yoga instructor Joyce Murugi who experienced the violence in the Nairobi slum of Mathare first hand, Yoga provides an outlet for dealing with the trauma.

“It was just now like when I go and train Yoga, it’s me and my mat. I only train, no stress. When I get outside the mat, it's like I've been like reborn from the way I entered the class not the way that I've left the class.”

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 reversed it. We’ve put all the Yoga pretty much in the slums. And it’s now the people from the slums are teaching the upper class. And this is great way to really reverse how we thing of people and who what Yoga is.”

Thanks to the free classes, 40 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 feel different from your body and mind because you relax and concentrate. You relax, so you feel that is now different. I’m feeling it. It’s helping me.”

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

“What impresses me is that, you know, someone who takes class in New York City can go to a place that looks completely different, like you could be in Kibera, and in the middle of the slum and get on your Yoga mat and all of a sudden, you're just on your yoga mat.

So in Kenya, it appears that Yoga is here to Namaste. 

注：文本转自UNSV

[page] 参考译文[/page]

Paige Elenson 已经学习瑜伽 15 年了。她曾是华尔街的瑜伽顾问， 2007 年来到肯尼亚居住，并在首都内罗毕的Kibera 贫民区义务教授瑜伽。

她与人一起创立了非洲瑜伽项目：

“就在肯尼亚大选后的暴力活动的时候，我们开始这个瑜伽项目，这真是一个非常好的机会。当时不同的部族之间开始打斗，仅仅是因为属于不同的部族，人们觉得相互之间都隔离开了。要想引入一个通向和平和联合的做法，

而又不需要通过交谈，需要去做就可以帮助大家统一起来，瑜伽帮助人们开始真正以一种超出部族的方式走到一起。”

26 岁的瑜伽教练 Joyce Murugi 亲自经历了内罗毕的 Mathare 贫民区的暴力活动，对她来说，瑜伽提供了一个治疗创伤的好方法：

“就像现在，当我开始去培训瑜伽的时候，只感觉到我自己和我的瑜伽垫。我给大家做培训，没有任何压力。当我完成瑜伽练习离开垫子时，与我进入这个课堂时相比，就好像我获得了重生，而不是仅仅离开课堂。”

非洲瑜伽项目已经培训了 50 多个像 Murugi 这样的教练，他们都来自内罗毕的贫民区，他们在这些贫民区每周免费教授 200 多瑜伽课。

他们通过向健身房， SPA ，宾馆甚至联合国办事处提供私人课堂来获得额外的收入。 Elenson 说：

“在西方，瑜伽被普遍认为是面向上层阶级的，但是在肯尼亚，我们颠覆了这个观念，我们将瑜伽课大量推广到了贫民区。现在内罗毕，许多来自贫民区的人在给上层阶级教授瑜伽，这对于颠覆人们对人平等的思路以及瑜伽是什么来讲，真是太伟大了。”

因为参加免费瑜伽课， 40 岁的 Alice Njathi 可以从贫民区生活的压力之中暂时解脱出来，她说：

“瑜伽就像是良药，在你服用之后，就会感觉不同。因为你得到放松和全神贯注，你的身体和大脑会感觉有变化，因为你得到放松，你会觉得与众不同，我正在感觉到这种感觉，这对我非常有帮助。”

虽然对许多贫民区的肯尼亚人来说，瑜伽还是一个新概念，但是 Elenson 说瑜伽是普遍的：

“瑜伽给我留下的印象是，某个在纽约学习瑜伽课的人可以在来到一个完全不同的地方之后，比如像 Kibera 贫民区，在贫民区里面开始进行瑜伽练习，然后突然之间就会放松下来，只有你的瑜伽。”

在肯尼亚，瑜伽看起来会被大众所接受。