Yoga for Homeless Youth

Street Yoga, founded by Mark Lilly, offers yoga and wellness classes to homeless and sheltered youth in Portland, Oregon. Lilly’s staff of dedicated yogis volunteer at community sites including Outside In, The White Shield Center and New Avenues For Youth

“Although it’s tough to understand what these kids endure, they’re still kids. Street survival is simply their way of life. Street Yoga offers a safe, honoring, and welcoming space of continuity and commitment absent in days and nights filled with struggle.” -Lilly

Portland statistics indicate that 90 percent of its homeless youth have escaped violent households. Thirty-six percent of the females have been sexually abused, often by age seven, and 30 percent are sexual minorities, convinced that street life remains a safer haven for the complexities of sexual and gender differences. Some are abandoned or run away, escaping parental poverty, joblessness, alcohol, and drug abuse. Homeless and at-risk youth are preyed upon for sex, drugs and petty theft.

Lilly works closely with Street Yoga teachers to insure an understanding of the challenges the teenagers sustain. Trainings, meetings and open discussions via e-mail and website newsletters facilitate the how-to’s of interacting with scenarios unlike most. 

https://yogaunioncwc.com/street-yoga/

https://vocal.media/longevity/street-yoga-in-portland