Maya Weir (2013)
Community Yoga Project
Maya’s project, Community Yoga Project, seeks to increase access to the practice of yoga by holding classes at various social justice organizations in the East Bay Area. Unfortunately, through the process of appropriation in the West, yoga has become a commercial industry that is marketed predominantly to a privileged demographic. Maya brings this awareness into her teaching as she strives to create classes that take into account the impact of historical structures of oppression. Providing access to the transformative and powerful practice of yoga aims to improve the emotional and physical health and wellness of marginalized communities in the East Bay. She will partner with the following organizations: Phat Beets Produce, North County Women’s Center, Causa Justa: Just Cause, Energy Solidarity Cooperative, Planting Justice, Multicultural Community Center, Oakland Rising, Communities for a Better Environment at Tassafaronga Recreation Center and The Living Room Project.
You can view a short video about her project here. Read an article by Maya about the Community Yoga Project here.
Letters Home
Biography
Maya is a community-oriented yoga teacher based in Oakland, CA. She recently graduated from UC Berkeley where she studied Peace and Conflict Studies. She was the co-founder and facilitator of the Women’s Consciousness-Raising Group Decal, an empowerment based discussion forum. Maya has focused extensively on the idea and practice of empowerment and furthers this emphasis with her yoga classes. She has taught worldwide, including Vietnam, where she studied abroad and taught yoga classes at Hanoi University. Maya is passionate about the practice of yoga and its potential to bring healing to individuals and communities. She feels that individual emotional and physical awareness practice must be understood within the context of societal and political structures.
