(10 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rio de Janeiro – 09 July 2025
1. Various of Krishna Das and band performing at a yoga event in Rocinha favela
2. Das singing
3. Women dancing to the music
4. Crowd cheering and singing
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Krishna Das, Kirtan vocalist:
++ PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTs 4-5 ++
"Tonight was so rich and sweet. It was just beautiful. Their hearts are so available. It’s just a joy to interact with them and to sing and to encourage them to continue because there’s so many obstacles."
6. Yoga class at Rocinha favela
7. Luciene Costa during the class
8. View of Rio de Janeiro
9. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Luciene Costa, 54 years old, hairdresser:
++ PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 6-8 ++
“It’s not a cheap course, it’s very expensive. People with low income, like myself, can’t pay for it. So it’s been very gratifying for me, I don’t even have words to describe it.”
10. Yoga class with views of Rio
STORYLINE:
Dozens of Brazilian yoga aficionados saluted the sun in unison in a Rio de Janeiro favela on Wednesday for the inaugural class of a free course that will allow residents of the low-income community to qualify as teachers.
Krishna Das, a renowned American vocalist born Jeffrey Kagel and known for his performances of Hindu devotional music known as kirtan, then led a spiritual practice during which attendees prayed, sang, clapped – and even danced.
Hairdresser Luciene Costa, 54, is one of the 20 people from Brazil’s most populous favela Rocinha who have signed up to the free training programme proposed by the Yoganaya International School and company Mude.
She started practicing yoga to alleviate pain in her lower back.
She used a cane for three years, but the ancient practice allowed her to regain mobility, and she was delighted to be learning how to become a yoga teacher as standing on her feet all day is a struggle.
“It’s a course that would be very expensive for people who, like me, have a low income,” she said. “Who knows, maybe in the future I’ll quit the salon and just teach classes.”
The 14-month long project aims to train around 180 new professors from favelas in Rio and Sao Paulo, who will then carry out paid internships in their communities.
Participants receive uniforms, yoga mats, speakers and microphones, as well as stipends and support when entering the job market.
Renata Mozzini, who founded Yoganaya International School, said she created the project specifically for residents of low-income communities, known as favelas, to pierce the “bubble of elitism”.
Mozzini also pointed that there is an already existing yogi community in Rocinha, with classes run by ‘Yoga na Lage’, or Yoga on the Rooftop.
Organizers got wind of the fact that Krishna Das was touring in South America and invited him for the first class with the group from Rocinha, which was also open to the public.
At least 150 people attended, and many mats were touching each other during the class which took place in an open space owned by a restaurant with a spectacular view of the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and Rio’s mountains including the Corcovado mountain that is adorned by the Cristo Redentor statue.
“Tonight was so rich and sweet. It was just beautiful,” Das told The Associated Press afterward.
“It’s just a joy to interact with them and to sing and to encourage them to continue because there’s so many obstacles and difficulties to try to overcome.”
AP video by Lucas Dumphreys
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