Hi all.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my message.

Through my yoga teacher training I hope to make this world a more peaceful place.

I live and work in Aid and Development in the Third World and thus have very infrequent access to yoga teachers. Hence I rely heavily on my self- practice. Yoga has provided me with mental and physical health and strength that is very much required working in what at times can be very challenging conditions. I feel my self-practice would hugely benefit from one month of working with experienced teachers of all aspects of yoga. However, I am not only hoping to further deepen my own practice but also to gain skills that will allow me to share my love and commitment for yoga with other people. I feel yoga can be beneficial for people from all walks of life and would like to work on making yoga accessible to disadvantaged people that would otherwise be marginalized.  I am particularly thinking of people affected by armed conflict in the Third World.

I have been deeply inspired by my original teachers, who have generously agreed to share their vast knowledge simply out of the depth of their heart, without any financial remuneration. This has provided my with a solid foundation from which I have been able to build six years of predominantly self-practice. I now feel ready to develop skills that allow me to make yoga accessible to other people, preferably people that wouldn’t otherwise have access to yoga.

Professionally, I am particularly interested in Aid and Development in armed conflict situations and am currently enhancing my skills through completing a university degree by correspondence from the Third World. The teacher training I have selected is offered in my region and during my semester break from university studies. Being currently a full time student I would very much appreciate some financial support to attend the yoga instructor certification. I am working on my last semester of my academic studies and am hoping that by mid-next year my formal education, combined with my work experience and my yoga teacher training will allow me to start working on my ambitious plans. I am hoping to use my skills to manage projects in conflict areas of the Third World offering yoga to people affected by armed conflict. Having researched similar projects in Africa, I would like to offer yoga for reintegration of former combatants, trauma relief as well as for healing physical wounds in conflict or post-conflict contexts in Asia.

I am unsure about winning this competition, as all my friends on facebook are friends in real life too, hence their rather humble number. While I would be absolutely thrilled to win this scholarship, I also highly value your opinions and comments. I appreciate every insight I can get and winning this contest in the process would be an absolute bonus. Please note that I don’t tweet, but that every facebook “comment” and “like” counts as one vote towards my scholarship application. So feel free to “like” AND “comment” as you go along. Also if you have friends that I haven’t had a chance to meet that would like to contribute, please feel free to inform them about my article. Thank you.

My yoga journey has been an amazing one so far and I am looking forward to deepen my understanding every day.  Your comments and ideas will greatly support me in my pursuit. I feel this world would be a safer place if there were more balanced and nurtured people and am hoping to contribute to peace through supporting disadvantaged and marginalized people affected by armed conflict in the Third World.

Namaste

2012 Yoga Scholarship Essay

By: Lisa Luginbuhl

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