This letter is from Nancy Reinhart, a Yoga East student who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia
Yoga In Armenia
This letter is from Nancy Reinhart, a Yoga East student who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Armenia.
Dear Yoga Students:
I am writing this letter on behalf of the people of my Peace Corps community in Jermuk, Armenia. My name is Nancy Reinhart and I have been serving as a volunteer for nearly two years. Since I arrived at Jermuk in the early fall of 2001, I have been teaching yoga to my friends and students here. Yoga is new to most Armenians, and they are eager to learn about it.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have had the unique opportunity to live in this small mountain health resort of 5000 citizens and to communicate with people in the beautiful language of Armenian. Through both general communication, and through my yoga teaching experiences, I have come to realize that Armenians have very little access to new information and materials in their native language. While Russian was taught in schools here during the Soviet Union times, it is becoming less prevalent as Armenians return to their native tongue and culture.
Many people visit Jermuk from all over the world and all over Armenia, as it has a reputation for being a great health spa resort town due to its clean mountain air, natural mineral waters, and sanatoriums. Because of this, I have had the chance to teach yoga to both tourists and local people. They love doing it and visitors want to continue to do it after they leave Jermuk, but I have no materials besides pictures in Armenian to offer them so that they may study alone.
Because of its success, I decided that the most sustainable way to strengthen and build the yoga program here would be to train yoga instructors. I thus began to train Ruzanna and Stella during the spring of 2001. Ruzanna is an aerobics instructor and nurse at the local polyclinic, and Stella is a physical and massage therapist at the largest local sanatorium. Both quickly learned various yoga positions, understood the philosophy behind it, and began to teach suitable poses to their clients throughout the summer. Ruzanna and I continue to teach classes to women and men of all ages.
60% of Armenians fall beneath the international poverty line, and much of the wealth in this country is located in very few hands. The average Armenian citizen struggles economically to meet daily needs. We, the Peace Corps Volunteers and yoga trainers in several cities throughout Armenia, have been gathering our resources to strengthen and build local yoga education programs. We are seeking any financial or material resources that would aide our endeavor. We hope, with the donated hours of a translator, to create written brochures and posters about yoga philosophy and postures in Armenian. We also plan to distribute yoga props to several cities that already have local instructors and a program in place. Additional funding will be used to purchase other needed yoga materials. Peace Corps Volunteers will directly oversee this process, working alongside with our Armenian counterparts.
I hope that you feel the value and importance of the project. We have been working for nearly two years toward the expansion of yoga to benefit the world and increase our chances for peace both globally and in individual lives. Even through language mishaps and mess-ups, cold rooms to work in, and lack of materials (we use sofa pillows from the hospital director's couch!), we are understanding each other in a language that transcends every difference. Your contribution will be both used properly and be fruitful towards our work. As this is primarily a letter seeking interested donors, please contact me if you and your organization wish to contribute.
Thank you and Namaste,
Nancy L. Reinhart
astarte@wowmail.com
Contributions to Nancy's program through Yoga East are tax-deductible. Make your check to Yoga East, and mark it "Armenia". Mail to Yoga East, Inc. 1232 E Broadway, Louisville, KY 40204.
Donations of new or used mats, blocks, belts or other props are also welcome and can be dropped off at either Yoga East location.
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