This article was written for the University of South Florida College of Public Health (USF COPH) October Newsletter.

Alumna Aditi Desai Uses Yoga to Get in Touch with Vulnerable Populations

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

USF College of Public Health alumna Aditi Desai is using a special set of skills and her public health passion to reach vulnerable populations – through yoga.

Desai recently returned from Nairobi, Kenya, where she completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training with the Africa Yoga Project (AYP). Now that she’s returned stateside, she’s begun her volunteer work with the Purple Dot Yoga Project.

“I became attracted to Purple Dot Yoga because of its mission to help empower women,” Desai said. “I love the fact that I can use something I love [yoga] to help others. Yoga is such a powerful tool in life and being able to spread it makes my soul shine!”

The Purple Dot Yoga Project works with survivors of domestic violence and abuse.

Desai also works as a health education specialist with a medication assisted treatment program at Tri-City Health Centers in Fremont, Calif. In both of her positions, being able to effectively communicate is crucial.

“It is tremendously important that I not only listen, but really hear and try to empathize with the community that I’m serving,” she said. “I’m working with an extremely vulnerable population so listening to them and adjusting my teaching practices to better serve them and allow them time to heal is the most important thing I can do as a teacher.”

Desai credits the COPH for helping her to build the skills to be able to truly listen to the communities she’s trying to serve.

“USF COPH was the best thing that happened to me and my career,” Desai said.

The Orlando native earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, with minors in biology, chemistry, and photography, from Mercer University in 2009.

She graduated from the COPH with an MPH in global health practice and a graduate certificate in epidemiology in 2013.  Desai intended on a different academic path and often refers to her introduction to public health as “accidental.”

“I was planning on attending medical school and when I didn’t get in I thought instead of wasting time and retaking the MCATs, I would go ahead and get a master’s level degree while studying,” Desai said. “Little did I know, I would fall in love with the master’s degree coursework!”

Although she’s come so far—between Nairobi, multiple professional positions, working with the U.S. Peace Corps in Uganda—Desai has no intention of stopping anytime soon. The first thing on her list: the Purple Dot Yoga Project.

“I hope to expand the project to northern California,” she said. “I plan to continue acting as a volunteer yoga teacher.”

Desai also hopes to tackle a new vulnerable population using her yogi practices. Soon she begins teaching those in the medication assisted treatment programs at the Tri-City Health Center’s where she works.

“I am going to expand my yoga practices into teaching those in addiction recovery,” she said. “Using yoga to empower vulnerable populations is my ultimate goal and whatever I can do to achieve that, I will.”

Yoga props can be a valuable addition to a yoga practice. BKS Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar yoga and one of the foremost yoga experts in the world, was a large proponent of using props throughout one’s yoga practice, especially beginners.

Yoga props can provide extra support and comfort when needed. They had also allow for deeper reaches in certain postures.

Props are usually straps (towels can be used in lieu of formal straps), blocks, and bolsters. Straps and bolsters are used to create extension and comfort, respectively. Straps and bolsters can also be used to allow for better alignment in specific poses. Blocks are used to support specific poses as well as to create more depth in them, especially in poses with twists.

I’ve tried three types of blocks each made from different materials, wood, cork and foam. The two best types were the cork and foam blocks. The wood type was best for supportive poses but not as great for creating depth. The foam block (purple pictured below) was great to use in poses which need more support, like seated poses, or poses which may require more depth, like half-pigeon pose. The foam material really allowed for both support and some give, so sitting on the block felt comfortable. The cork block (pictured left below) was best for support in standing, twisting poses as well as for creating depth in the twists.

Overall, either block you chose will be helpful. All props are helpful in their own way and can really improve a yoga practice. Props will only help the yogi get the best out of his or her own practice. Props should not be seem as a crutch, but as a support method to help your body reach new poses and new depth.