5 May 2024 · amaye.org
Yoga on the Front Lines in the Ukraine
Soothing music fills a basement in one of the front-line cities in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. People gather here three times a week to minimize the personal stress caused by the endless shelling from Russian artillery.
The instructor, Serhii Zaloznyi, invites the students to “Let go of the external world” as he leads the students into a meditative state. For these students, their external world is filled with the sounds of constant sirens and explosions. Amidst these disruptions, Zaloznyi’s voice can be heard reminding them that peace, tranquility, and balance fill the heart.
One of the students comments: “Yoga brought me to emotional balance. Yoga classes gradually calmed me down, … and taught me not to be afraid, to feel in harmony and balance”.
The gym where Zaloznyi used to teach yoga has been converted into a shelter and so now he teaches in a former beauty salon. Even though the beauty products left there gather dust, the yoga participants persist in moving their bodies from one asana to another with closed eyes. The windows are covered with colored tape to prevent glass from shattering. Shelling sometimes occurs during classes.
Participants embrace the possibility that when they come together to this calm practice of yoga, surely everything will be fine. They support each other, and a feeling of unity, safety, and trust in the Universe emerges. – from the AP News
