Our Origin:

We have always been in service to our community- The Urban Yogis started in 2011 as an integrated program of LIFE Camp, based in South Side Jamaica, Queens. Led by Erica Ford, the yoga program was inaugurated with five young adults from the South Side who grew into dedicated yoga and meditation practitioners. Each of our original team members has been personally affected by tragedies due to guns and other types of violence. They have found practicing yoga is an effective remedy to their healing and growth.

Following their footsteps, the Urban Yogis continue to engage in community activism. We are a non-governmental, non-sectarian, and not-for-profit organization. We actively engage in community activism. We offer free, community-based yoga and mindfulness classes and teach the transformative tools of yoga and meditation to communities that were otherwise lack access.

OUR MISSION:

The Urban Yogis teach yoga as a tool for personal and communal transformation.

OUR VISION:

We have found that the practice of yoga and meditation allows us to release negative energy, which makes it possible for us to re-create a different mindset, and eventually to improve constructive community relationships.  It has given us an appreciation and understanding of the fact that we are all different types of people yet live in this world together. By engaging in these practices in our community and making them our own, we can see that we are creating conditions for peace.