{"id":1628,"date":"2025-06-21T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1628\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T06:36:09","slug":"yoga-in-a-zimbabwe-bar-is-the-latest-mental-health-outreach-in-a-struggling-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1628\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoga in a Zimbabwe bar is the latest mental health outreach in a struggling country"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s before sunrise on a Saturday and a small group has gathered at Socialite Bar in on the outskirts of Zimbabwe\u2019s capital<\/a>. Instead of nursing hangovers, they sit with eyes closed and bodies in meditative poses on the bare floor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unlikely setting for a yoga class. In Zimbabwe, the practice is rare and mostly found in the wealthy suburbs. Yet it is quietly taking root here in a beer tavern in Chitungwiza, a low-income town 30 kilometers (18 miles) outside the capital, Harare.<\/p>\n

The initiative is led by Actions Winya, a yoga instructor who saw how economic hardship and social pressures<\/a> were damaging the mental health of people in his hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga is expensive \u2026 but we also got humans in the ghetto. They need mental wellness,\u201d said Winya, who usually teaches in affluent areas, charging between $30 and $100 a month. That\u2019s an impossible cost for most, especially in a country where many survive through informal jobs.<\/p>\n

Since 2023, Winya has been offering free weekend classes to some of those hardest hit by Zimbabwe\u2019s economic problems.<\/p>\n

The sessions have become a source of relief for people navigating relentless challenges. Authorities acknowledge a growing societal crisis worsened by drug abuse, domestic violence and poverty<\/a>, compounded by a shortage of public health services and therapists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a coach, so they bring the stuff that they face within families (to me). This is where we come in and say, \u2018Guys, come and try yoga, it can help somehow,\u2019\u201d Winya said.<\/p>\n

Yoga, an ancient Indian practice, has become a multibillion-dollar industry and a daily ritual for millions<\/a> around the world. The United Nations over a decade ago designated June 21 as International Day of Yoga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Africa, other countries like Kenya and South Africa are introducing yoga to poorer communities, with the Indian government promoting its spread across the continent.<\/p>\n

Inside the tavern in Zimbabwe, mellow music played as about a dozen participants moved through poses. They had no mats, just a cold brick floor, but plenty of determination for inner peace. One mother tried to stay focused as her toddler dashed around, disrupting her poses.<\/p>\n

For 47-year-old John Mahwaya, the practice has been transforming. A father of four, he also supports relatives in the countryside, a responsibility he said once weighed heavily on his mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy head was always spinning. I thought I was losing my mind, and the stress started causing back pains,\u201d he said. \u201cYoga helps me relax and clear my mind. I sleep peacefully these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said many Zimbabwean men bottle up their emotions, afraid to show weakness in a highly patriarchal society<\/a> that prizes toughness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on physical fitness, forgetting the mind,\u201d he said. \u201cWe suffer slowly, but what suffers first is the mind, and from there, it becomes a slow death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edinah Makosa, 24, joined the class earlier this year and said it gave her hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be depressed a lot. You know, for people my age, our main stressors are unemployment and relationships,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoga changed my mindset. I used to think negatively all the time. Now I have started selling beauty products to earn a living. As for romance, well if it works, it works; if it doesn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t. I no longer stress about men. I go with the flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they practiced, the sounds of township life<\/a> seeped in. Taxi drivers shouted for passengers. Vendors pushed carts, calling out to potential customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a proper environment and studio. But we are trying,\u201d Winya said.<\/p>\n

For participants like Mahwaya, the location didn\u2019t matter nearly as much as the healing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to promote yoga in the communities because everyone has a mind. And fitness of the mind is the responsibility of everyone, regardless of where you live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

For more on Africa and development: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/africa-pulse<\/a><\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe (AP) \u2014 It\u2019s before sunrise on a Saturday and a small group has gathered at Socialite…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2239,57,2240,210,2242,2245,2244,517,2241,67,132,68,107,2237,2238,2243],"class_list":{"0":"post-1628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-economic-indicators","9":"tag-general-news","10":"tag-harare","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-india-government","13":"tag-john-mahwaya","14":"tag-kenya","15":"tag-mental-health","16":"tag-south-africa","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-world-news","21":"tag-yoga","22":"tag-zimbabwe","23":"tag-zimbabwe-government"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}