V.I.B.R.A.N.T
Victims Initiative Becoming Resilient and Navigating Trauma
Jai Baikti Yoga Foundation seeks your support for a comprehensive wellness initiative across impoverished districts of New Orleans, LA specifically targeting the 9th Ward with the highest gun violence- where half the city’s homicides and non-fatal shootings are reported (2021). JBYF has been supporting the BIPOC Community (Black Indigenous People of Color) since 2017, where many participants devastated by gun violence have found peace through lifestyle changes, yoga, and nutritional education.
The grant/contribution for V.I.B.R.A.N.T (Victims Initiative Becoming Resilient and Navigating Trauma) will create a yoga and Ayurvedic Health Educational Curriculum for minority women affected by domestic violence in the heart of the city’s most violent district. Through our wellness and health programs, rooted in Ayurveda, supporting the wholeness of the individual by addressing behavior, diet, routine, lifestyle, exercise, meditation, and mindfulness training, participants will reduce stress, gain strength, flexibility, and balance to aid themselves from victims to changemakers, becoming leading members of their communities.
Tootie Walker,
Graduate of JBYF YTT & Advocate for Change
This RESILIENCE INITIATIVE will help women transition out of their shelters and transition back into their communities making an impact in improving individual and familial behaviors.
The initiative requires women to stay in V.I.B.R.A.N.T for five months allowing JBYF to document individual changes in wellness among the participants.
Women will learn group facilitation skills in harmony with wellness to be agents of change in shelters and local communities. As the five months progress, women will have an increase in independence-oriented activities and small group work and presentations in the community, gaining confidence to be leaders both in shelters and in the city of New Orleans.
FREE Community Aqua Yoga Program in Central City, New Orleans, LA
JBYF provides women education in Vedic health and wellness through self and body discovery including care routine, modifications of diet, lifestyle, and behavior-driven illness and/or other mental health-related diseases. Our intention is to combat stress, anxiety, depression, obesity, diabetes, and dependency, and inspire healthy transformations with compassion and understanding.
With your generous support, we will continue to push forward with V.I.B.R.A.N.T (Victims Initiative Becoming Resilient and Navigating Trauma) with the determination to empower women and children of impoverished districts in New Orleans, Louisiana’s 9th Ward to make conscious choices to prevent further victimization of domestic and gun violence in the city’s most dangerous district.
Thank you for considering to being a part of giving the gift that lasts a lifetime.
Feel good, do good, and make a difference in the world starting in your backyard.
The De Los Angeles Grant Program is created by Christina Andrini, founder of JBYF in honor of her late mother Maria De Los Angeles. Christina has been working at the intersection of yoga and community outreach since 2007. She, among other teachers that offer yoga in marginalized communities, needed financial support to continue their work and pursue their dreams of providing health and wellness services within these communities.
Christina, who teaches and manages the JBYF School of Yoga and Ayurveda, sees a two-pronged approach to recovery: financial stability and mentorship. “We are focusing on teachers who live in historically marginalized communities, so we can invest in their future and encourage other teachers to begin offering classes in these communities,” Andrini says. “When we support teachers in under-served communities, it creates a ripple effect to inspire students of these teachers to pursue the gift of teaching yoga and bring the practice into their respective neighborhoods.”
Where do my contributions go?
Proceeds from the Ayurveda Yoga Teacher Training, Retreats, Memberships, Mentoring, and Courses go towards the De Los Angeles Grant Fund, to provide scholarships for Ayurveda Yoga Teacher Training to minorities and under-represented future leaders in financial need.
“This program is meant to empower and support the students and teachers who have dedicated years of their lives to yoga outreach and service. We want to be a foundation of support for yoga students and professional instructors throughout the world,” says Christina Andrini, Founder of Jai Bhakti Yoga Foundation. “Yoga has the power to transform lives one breath, one person, one mat at a time and it is an honor to stand with and behind those who have a shared vision to heal the world.”
Who can apply or be nominated for the De Los Angeles Grant?
The De Los Angeles Grant is open to all yoga students and teachers who are in financial need. These students and teachers must have at least two years of practicing yoga in marginalized communities with little access to yoga and wellness education.
What is the deadline to apply or nominate someone for the grant?
Applications or nominations must be received by December 31st of the current year to be considered for the following teacher training session.
Is there a specific award amount for the grant?
There is no specific award amount. The grant will be either partial or full Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) tuition depending on individual need and funding available during that application period.
Apply to the De Los Angeles Grant
Application for the next Ayurveda Teacher Training will be available soon. Check back periodically to see when the link is active to apply.
