Violence among human beings is the single greatest threat to our survival and well-being, both as individuals and as a species. Cycles of violence at local, regional and national levels continue to drive fear and hatred into the hearts and minds of people around the world. Meanwhile, our tools of oppression and our weapons of war continue to grow in power by terrifying orders of magnitude.
We believe that transformation begins with the individual's consciousness and spreads from there.
Yoga practice helps people remain steady and caring in the face of conflict and cultivates awareness of the similarity and connection between all beings, without religion or dogma. Yoga works for change in the family, in the community, and on a global scale.
The Peace Project supports yoga teachers in active conflict zones and other troubled areas around the world, helping to nurture communities of healing and hope and joy in places where suffering and despair threaten to dominate everyday life.
The Heart of Yoga Foundation Peace Project was born of a deep desire to see peaceful change in our lifetime and from personal experience of yoga's powerful ability to heal people's hearts and minds.
The Project has a simple but urgent mission - one which, if successful, can change the world: to teach people about their own power and beauty through real yoga; to teach them that no matter how bad things appear, there are ways to heal ourselves and regain our natural capacities for relatedness and joy and gratitude. Yoga counters the forces of ideology and violence that would oppress us, and it helps us bring more of our natural grace and beauty to the world around us.
The Yoga For Peace Project is dedicated to:
Building yoga communities in troubled areas around the world Spreading peace through the transformation of individuals Enabling cross-cultural understanding through one-on-one diplomacy
The Peace Project employs yoga as a unifying, non-religious means of bringing those affected by struggle and conflict together in neutral locations where their full attention can be applied to basic yogic principles such as non-violence, tolerance, and compassion.
The Peace Project provides education and resources to current and aspiring yoga teachers so that they may better carry the seeds of positive change to the people and places they love.
