How the elderly in Bugesera use yoga to tackle mental health

Thursday afternoon is a special day for the elderly in Bugesera District. At about 2:30 pm the elderly men and women aged between 50 and 70 start trickling in at Aheza Healing Centre, some with the help of a walking stick.

It is not only an opportunity for them to meet and catch up but most importantly, it is the day that an instructor takes them through a one-hour yoga session.

63-year-old Caroline Mukandori is a regular member of this group of about 16. The slender, bubbly elderly woman is chatty, telling stories and jokes as old men and women roar in laughter.

Clad in a Kitenge outfit, she occasionally pauses her conversation to break into church hymns which she accompanies with a sway of her hips in a dance.

This is the Mukandori that everyone in this village in Bugesera District knows but behind this jolly exterior is a woman who has suffered great loss and grave physical pain.

During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, she was shot in the back as she ran up a hill to escape an attempted rape.

Years on, Mukandori found difficulties walking until a major operation was performed to remove the bullet from her back.

The doctors also fitted her back with metal to give her back her ability to walk normally.

Although her back issues were fixed, Mukandori says that she was left battling serious mental health challenges.

“Mention any mental health issue and I probably have experienced it but my biggest challenge is depression. It’s easy for me to drown in sorrow and my depressions come with lots of tears. I cry about any sad story I hear and I simply can’t stop,” she says.

Mukandori says that she thought that she would have to live with her mental illness until she was introduced to yoga.

The journey

Mukandori says that the first time that she heard about yoga, she was curious.

She explains that this is mostly because, at a younger age, she was very physically active and was involved in many sports activities.

“When I heard about the sports session, I was intrigued because I used to be quite sporty when I was younger. I used to compete in running races, play football and do high jump. So when I heard that the centre was offering sports sessions, I was curious,” she said.

After her first yoga class, she went home, took a bath and went to bed and to her surprise, she woke up at 5 am the next morning.

“For you to understand my confusion and later, my joy, you must know that this was the first time I was sleeping through the night in so many years. I was used to going to bed at 7 pm and waking up at midnight. This was a miracle,” she said.

Since then, Mukandori says that she takes her yoga classes very seriously and has incorporated the exercises into her daily routine.

She also attributes yoga to helping her put her emotions in check, saying that breathing exercises that are a major component of her class have brought her peace.

“I used to cry and feel sad all the time but with these exercises, I have hope about the future. I now feel secure and at peace. I can now cook and eat. There are times in the past when I would just cook and even fail to eat,” she said.

She says that the exercises have also greatly improved on her bloating and stomach ulcer issues, promptly putting off the need to take medication every day.

“I bloat less. It is such a good thing for my stomach. I used to take a tablet called omeprazole for my peptic ulcers and stomach gas but not anymore. The trainer showed me how to deal with the gas which was the root of all my problems,” she said.

Off medication

52-year-old Christine Mukarukaka says that the first time that she heard about yoga, she laughed because she could not imagine their community of the elderly participating.

However, her curiosity brought her to the class and she has never looked back.