Natalie Tomlin, special to wtop.com

WASHINGTON - Yoga is doing more than improving the bodies and minds of those who belong to a local studio. Yoga outreach programs are extending their reach throughout the area, making the popular practice accessible to anyone who is interested.

Jasmine Chehrazi, founder of Yoga District and Yoga Activist, is one of many yoga instructors and enthusiasts in the area helping to combat yoga's cookie-cutter image.

"The point of the practice for many is self-realization and understanding who you really are," she says. "Everyone has that question -- everyone. It doesn't matter where you come from, how you look, whether you can touch your toes or not, what your cultural or economic or racial background is. We have to adapt the practice to make it relevant."

She believes yoga is a practice that serves each individual in a unique way, and she is helping to spread the practice of yoga to a variety of communities throughout the area.

In 2006, Chehrazi founded Yoga District, which offers affordable yoga classes at six not-for-profit, community-run yoga studios in D.C. A seventh studio is currently being constructed in Anacostia and will open later this year.

At Yoga District, instructors teach classes of all skill levels for $11 or less.

Despite the affordability of Yoga District classes (compared to other class rates in the D.C. area, which hover around $18 a session), Chehrazi quickly noticed the practice was still restricted to the studio setting and was not reaching a wider demographic. So in 2008, she created Yoga Activist.

Supported largely by Yoga District, Yoga Activist focuses on partnering yoga instructors with social service organizations that offer yoga programs for their communities. From classroom management to trauma sensitivity, the nonprofit outreach program helps prepare teachers for instructing yoga to under-served communities.

Teachers at Yoga Activist can also set up their own outreach programs, bringing yoga instruction to churches, schools, halfway houses, mental health centers, prisons and other locations where the community members may not otherwise have exposure to yoga.

The rest is here:
Yoga outreach brings healing to all D.C. communities