WITH chronic workplace stress on the rise, fueled by the high demands of the modern world, the need for people to connect with themselves and remain healthy has become an urgent matter. The World Health Organization predicts that burnout will become a global pandemic within a decade and is estimated to cost the global economy $323.4 billion annually. Sisters Nosizwe Mji Majija and Nomzamo Mji, gave up the corporate world and everything that goes with it three years ago to establish the Toolbox, a wellness centre in Peter Mokaba Road Musgrave, offering yoga classes, workshops and wellness events to the Durban community.
The sisters say people have a misconception about what yoga is and who it is for. “They are often surprised to learn that it is just as much about bending the body as much as the mind, that you don’t have to be flexible to do it or that two black women left their formal employment to push yoga. I was an an Advocate at the Johannesburg Bar, stressed out and a good friend introduced me to it and said it was good for tension. I loved it and shared it with my sister,” said Nomzamo.
“We are two black sisters, tell me who is more stressed out in the world than black women! I believe that if anybody should be leading this conversation and journey around wellness it should be black women because it is our bodies and lives that are so affected by stress and all the other things that come with it. I got into yoga and it spoke to me because I was stressed out and it was finally something I could do for myself,” adds Nosizwe.
“We have also launched an after school in Clermont township where we grew up. We are trying to launch this program in different neighborhoods and different schools because we’ve recognized that in most township schools there’s hardly any recreation facilities or after school programs. We want to open it up and are keen to have community classes which are donation based. The image that people see on social media, of very thin skinny people makes it seem very inaccessible. We have normal bodies which also promotes tthe fact that this is for everyone, that is how we approach the accessibility thing,” she said.
“Accessibility has to do with how you teach something and I think sometimes when you speak in complicated abstract ways, you limit the number of people you reach. A lot of what we try to do with our Toolbox style is to break Yoga down in a way that the everyday person can understand, and can use in their modern life. You don’t have to be this enlightened monk in order access it,” said Nomzamo.
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