Motivational speaker and former United States military paratrooper, Dan Nevins, will lead 300 people at the next session of the Africa Yoga Project community class on Saturday at Diamond Plaza in Nairobi.
Dan who is a double amputee and advocate of the Wounded Warrior Project is a certified Baptiste Yoga instructor, a qualification which he has used to empower people to develop themselves and others as leaders.
“Yoga is so often seen worldwide as an activity exclusively for flexible, strong and healthy people. Dan’s leadership in spite of the fact that he has no legs, changes the way the world sees people who practice it,” said Africa Yoga Project co-founder and executive director, Paige Elenson.
“And this resonates with what we believe at Africa Yoga Project, that yoga is truly for everyone,” she added.
Dan who joined the army while still a teenager sustained life changing injuries while on tour in Iraq after an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his vehicle.
As a result, the former infantry squad leader suffered traumatic brain injury and the amputation of his left leg below the knee. His right leg which was also severely damaged was amputated three years later due to constant pain and recurring bone infections.
“I met Dan at his first yoga teacher training a few years ago and I was inspired by his resilience and commitment to healing which made me invite him over to Kenya to share his knowledge with the Africa Yoga Project,” said Ms Elenson.
“We are all fighting some kind of battle, and although Dan's scars may be more visible than the common Kenyans most of us have experienced physical and emotional trauma. Dan's message of healing our seen and unseen wounds comes at a profound time when Kenyans are realising that we need tools to care for ourselves so we can care for others,” she added.
Dan is a permanent fixture on the motivational circuit with talks given to Fortune 500 companies, conferences and festivals around the world.
He also successfully reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2010 with the help of two wounded veterans.
He is currently working on getting more wounded soldiers to adopt yoga as a healing tool through his Warrior Spirit Retreat project.
The Nairobi session will take place between 10am and noon.
Africa Yoga Project was created in 2007 to train youth and build the wellness industry so that previously un- or under-employed youth from marginalised communities earn a self-sustaining income as community leaders who have the ability to build healthy, wellness-promoting communities.
Based in Nairobi, AYP serves diverse, marginalised and/or vulnerable communities. Through partnerships with previously marginalised youth who are now yoga teachers, it currently provides more than 300 free classes per week to more than 6000 community members.
Since its inception, it has trained more than 200 yoga teachers in Kenya.