Impact & Community
There are over 70,000 Yoga Teacher Trainings all over the world, and that number is growing quickly. That may seem like many but at Karuna we truly believe that every person should at some point in their life time attend a training that helps them grow personally. Only when you invest in yourself, you can invest in the community around you and hence create the impactful life we all wish to lead.
Our founders, while creating Karuna, had a very specific vision and set of values that they use as the backbone of all their teaching. It is what defines all the trainings, workshops, classes and retreats under the umbrella of Karuna and they are the values Karuna Alumni and Global Fellows are expected to uphold.
Here are our core values, that set Karuna apart:
Compassion is the driving force behind Karuna. We believe that when one identifies their core value/s, it becomes the driving force behind all their decisions and makes it easy to see situations with more clarity. For us that value is compassion. The founding belief behind Karuna has been that we are all the same. We are one, what we do to others we do to ourselves and what we do to ourselves we do to others.
When compassion is the guiding light, there is no separation. This is more necessary today than has ever been. In this time of political, social and economic divide the only way to find a way to live with harmony is through believing in compassion. This holds true for people, animals, nature and anything that exist. At all our trainings, we use compassion as our safety net to fall back on. We create and teach tools to learn compassion, practice it daily and keep practicing it especially when it is hard.
Yoga is a wonderful way of life and we truly believe that as long as you can breathe, you can be kind, you are a yogi! Being inclusive goes way beyond saying hello to someone in a yoga class. Both our founders stand up for equality and social justice, our courses are rich with discussions and healthy debates about creating a sustainable inclusive environment in different walks of life. By understanding inclusivity, we help our students create classes that are available and beneficial to people of different backgrounds, cultures, body types and minds. Bio-individuality is a big part of our sequencing and we aim to make practices that respect individuality.
We believe in the power of community and its role in healing and growth. The highlights of Karuna trainings are often evenings spent chatting about feminism or consumerism with the focus of making the world a better place to live in. Karuna is not limited to its founders and teachers, Karuna is a community.
You can read about our co founder Leyla’s community projects:
• Prison Yoga – https://www.yogauganda.com/single-post/2020/02/03/Prison-Yoga-Project
• Jinja Community – Yoga https://www.yogauganda.com/single-post/2020/02/03/Jinja-Community-Yoga
Mental health is a very important aspect of wellness for Karuna. As a yoga teacher, it is critically important to be aware of what our students bring to the mat. Consent and sensitivity to the various traumas our students carry in their bodies is (in our opinion) something every yoga teacher, if not every person, should consider and incorporate into their habitual behaviour. Throughout Karuna courses, we weave in trauma awareness along with inclusivity, with the hope that alumni can integrate this lens into their classes and personal practice. We talk about trauma at the level of general awareness as well as during specific workshops that discuss trauma theory, neuroscience, and yoga’s potential to facilitate healing from trauma.
Our 200-hour training is trauma informed and includes a trauma workshop that expands on the adaptations and various approaches to teaching a trauma specific yoga practice. In our 300-hour training (Module C), we delve deeper into the workings of trauma, its effects and how we, as teachers, can safely offer yoga as a way to embody the principles of trauma-healing.
Our trauma informed syllabus is led by Sophie Namy, the founder of Healing and Resilience through Yoga (Hart Yoga). Hart Yoga is a group-based program that integrates yoga asana, pranayama and guided meditation for holitic healing. Since 2016, Hart Yoga has supported women and girls who have experienced human trafficking in Uganda. The program is twelve weeks, and aims to create a nurturing environment where participants can connect with their inner resilience, build a supportive community, and overcome the psychological effects of trauma. Hart Yoga uses a theme-based curriculum that evolves over time and is explicitly designed to promote safety, trust, and interpersonal connections. For more information please visit www.hartyoga.org
There is no scarcity of information online, everything we want to learn is a click away. An abundance of information has its benefits but it also means we require more critical thinking and discernment to realise what is true and applicable. All our course material is well researched, experienced and based on evidence. Certain ancient concepts that do not have any evidence-based data yet will be presented as they are without the claims of being the ultimate truth. We believe in integrity of knowledge, our founder Payal is a Genetic Engineer by education and Leyla has studied Traditional Chinese Medicine and Energy Healing (shiatsu) for over 3 years at university level. Our guest Dr Sarah works for the NHS as a medical professional and Sophie has years of expertise working with trauma. At Karuna we believe in questioning everything and having a non-dogmatic approach to learning. We keep in mind not to indulge in appropriation, false equivalencies, pseudoscience and baseless claims. Even for concepts that have not been proven, we offer space healthy discussions based on experience.
At Karuna we do not believe you need to “look” a certain way, “speak” a certain way or “be” a certain way to be a yoga teacher. We truly believe yoga is for EVERYONE and its about time to take this wonderful practice outside of the usual leggings and mala studios and into real life.
If any of these (or all) values resonate with you, you are definitely already practicing Karuna! The trainings offered by us will enrich and nourish you, provide you so much more than just asana.
Benny started out practicing Hatha and Iyengar yoga from the age of 15, but only discovered Yin Yoga in 2015, finally becoming a teacher in 2017. Since then she has never looked back and continues training in and teaching this wonderful practice wherever and whenever she can. Based in Kenya, she teaches studio classes in Nairobi.
Jordan has been practicing yoga for over 10 years in the US, Europe and Kenya. She received certification in Baptiste Power Yoga with the Africa Yoga Project in Kenya, completed the Karuna YTT in 2018 and recently completed a course in yoga for 12-step recovery.