Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #68 – The Healing Journey – Yoga in Uganda with Mugisha Ali Allan

Welcome to Episode #68 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! My conversation with Mugisha Ali Allan, a yoga teacher from Uganda, was so touching as Mugisha shared stories with us about teaching yoga to children with special needs and who are struggling with life-long illnesses. He also shared how grateful he is to be a part of people’s yoga journeys.

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about the healing journey of yoga and how yoga is the art and science of well-being, then this is the conversation for you.

Mugisha Ali Allan is a Hatha, vinyasa power, and yin yoga teacher. He’s also a meditation instructor and a trauma-informed yoga teacher. Mugisha is the founder of the Entebbe Yoga Community and is a co-owner of the Kindle Yoga Studio Entebbe. Mugisha also teaches yoga at NGOs that support special children like Embrace Kulture and Aid Child Leadership Institute in Entebbe.

Tell me more about Mugisha Ali Allan 

Mugisha Ali Allan has been practicing yoga since 2015, and he has been a yoga teacher since 2018. Mugisha teaches hatha yoga, vinyasa power yoga, and yin yoga. She also is a meditation instructor and a Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher. He studied yoga and was certified by the Pura Vida Foundation in 2018, Karuna Yoga Journeys in 2020, Living Life Limitlessly University in 2020, and the Yoga Impact Institute in 2019. Mugisha is the founder of the Entebbe Yoga Community and is a co-owner of the Kindle Yoga Studio Entebbe. Mugisha also teaches yoga at NGOs that support special children like Embrace Kulture and Aid Child Leadership Institute in Entebbe. Moreover, Mugisha taught at Kampala International School and he is a Yoga Teacher at the National Culture Center Kampala.

What to expect in the Yoga In Uganda episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Get ready for an incredible episode! Mugisha opened up the world of Uganda to us, and didn’t hold back. He shared vulnerable stories about his heart attack, and how that led him to want to help others find wellness and ultimately inspire people to live a good life. 

He knew he wanted to work with children because to enact change in a country, you start with the children. Mushier teaches yoga to children with special needs, and children who have AIDs. He told us sweet stories about how much the children love yoga and the games he plays with them. 

Mugisha described yoga as the art and science of well-being. And he really dove into how yoga is challenged in Uganda, and also how yoga has changed his life. 

Ready for a powerful conversation? Tune in!

Favorite Quote From Mugisha Ali Allan

“The most important thing, of course is I earn respect because now I teach people who are even older than me, because I would say my oldest student is about 75 years. And at least I’ve got a chance to be a part of someone’s healing journey. And I love that I’m earning a living. I’m making a living. It’s very important because I live in a country where the economy is very tight and it’s very hard to make money. And I’m using my practice to feed myself, to make myself a living, to pay my bills, and at least I’m inspiring people to live a good life, and I’m trying to do this to teach and show people how healthy they can live and, which makes me happy.”

Connect with Mike

www.yoga-ugandan.com

YouTube : Kaduggalayoga

https://www.instagram.com/alimugisha8/

https://www.instagram.com/256yoga/

Facebook: Mugisha Kaduggalayoga

Instagram/Facebook: Kindle Yoga studio Entebbe

Instagram/Facebook: Entebbe yoga community 

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Wild Yoga Tribe Episode #68 – Yoga in Uganda with Mugisha Ali Allan Transcript

[00:00:00] Lily Allan-Duenas: Namaste family and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. Today I’m so excited to welcome Mugisha Ali Allan onto the show today. He’s a yoga teacher from Uganda and is also a Haha, Vinyasa, power, Yin yoga, meditation instructor and a trauma informed yoga teacher. Mugisha is the founder of a really amazing yoga community in Uganda. As well as the Kindle Yoga Studio. He’s the co-owner of it, and he teaches yoga with NGOs that support children like Embrace culture and Aid Child Leadership Institute. I’m so excited to dive into this conversation with Mugisha. So thank you so much for being here with me today.

[00:00:49] Mugisha Ali Allan: Thank you very much. My name’s Mugisha Ali Allan, all the way from Uganda, and I’m really glad to be hosted at the Wild Tribe Podcast.

How did yoga come into your life?

[00:01:00] Lily Allan-Duenas: Just to get started, how did yoga first come into your life?

[00:01:05] Mugisha Ali Allan: That was really a tricky one because yoga came into my life in 2015 when I was invited to be a part of a workshop and they were facilitating. This workshop came to dancers. By then I was doing dance in 2015 and this was introduced by someone from the Africa Yoga [00:01:30] Project that is in Kenya. He came to Uganda and they were paying some money facilitation to be a part of the workshop. I was thought “why don’t I make some money?”

[00:01:39] Lily Allan-Duenas: Oh wow. So you actually were paid to do your first yoga workshop.

[00:01:44] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah.

[00:01:45] Lily Allan-Duenas: That’s amazing. What made you like yoga and want to keep learning or keep practicing?

What made you like yoga?

[00:01:52] Mugisha Ali Allan: So when the workshop ended, the workshop happened for a whole week, and  I resumed with my life. One  year down the road, I happen to have a problem with my heart.  I was getting double beat, I was getting heart attacks, and the last heart attack lasted for about 45 seconds that almost killed me.

So waking up, I was in the hospital. My friends visited me and then they told me that had I not stopped practicing yoga, I would be very ok. So that’s when I started practicing and watching my diet. When I went back to the hospital to check, they told me that the breathing capacity of my lungs had expanded and otherwise within the time that I got a heart attack, I couldn’t even workout for 30 minutes, like my heart could react. And then I get more heart attacks. So having had this healing through yoga, I decided to be more consistent with the practice. [00:03:00] In  2018, that’s when I started, I went for teacher training.

[00:03:05] Lily Allan-Duenas: Wow. So it sounds like yoga really… I don’t want to say it saved your life. But yoga has been a real way to reach healing, to rebuild your health, after such a huge health scare.

Yoga as a way to rebuild health

[00:03:19] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah. I would say so because it is very common that in Uganda we few people have Healthcare, like insurance. That is only the people who are like government workers or people who work for big companies. So the people who don’t have the privileges like that, who don’t work for the company, can’t know about their health. So it came by surprise. Then with yoga, at least I had to learn about my health. And that’s the main reason I had to study,  to share a list or to teach people about the wellness education

[00:03:55] Lily Allan-Duenas: Wonderful. I know that you studied and was certified in yoga with the Pura Vita Foundation. Could you tell us more about that, what that is, and what it was like to be trained by them?

The Pura Vida Yoga Foundation

[00:04:09] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah. I started with the Yoga Pura Vida Foundation, which is registered in Tanzania, but it was in incorporation or they had an alliance here with this Satyananda Yoga Center, which is in Brazil. The teachers came down to Africa in Tanzania and that’s where we had the teacher training and it was really amazing [00:04:30] because that was my first time to leave my country to go and get to another country. It was for teacher training. I had a training for hatha yoga where I studied the instrumental Children’s Hatha Yoga. I wanted to teach my yoga first to the children because I know the best way is to start with children and that’s why I started with yoga Pura Vida. I didn’t pay any money, they gave me a scholarship.

[00:04:57] Lily Allan-Duenas: Amazing. I’m so glad they did that. What country did you travel to do your certification?

[00:05:03] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah. For that certification, I went to Tanzania.

Karuna Yoga Journeys

[00:05:07] Lily Allan-Duenas: Tanzania. Wow. Then you did more certifications with the Karuna Yoga Journeys? 

[00:05:14] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yes.

[00:05:15] Lily Allan-Duenas: And was that in Uganda?

[00:05:18] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah. Karuna Yoga Journeys is in Uganda, I did that teacher training. It was online because we were in the covid, in the pandemic time, so I did that with them. I did the yin yoga teacher training for a hundred hours.

[00:05:34] Lily Allan-Duenas: Great. Great.  I know you mentioned you love teaching to children and you knew you wanted to start teaching yoga with the children. So tell us more about the NGOs that you work with to teach yoga.

What NGOs do you work with to teach yoga?

[00:05:45] Mugisha Ali Allan: So the first one is uh, Embrace Kulture, which is located in Entebe, and this one works with children with Down syndrome, epilepsy, cerebral. So I [00:06:00] noticed that when I studied touch as a therapy. In teaching children, it was more like theory, but as I teach special children, it is always different because they love touch and they respond differently with touch. Usually I play games with them and they love it a lot. So it’s really beautiful that I have to give individual focus to every child.  I know I happen to learn how it feels to be special and to feel loved because it’s so different that they perceive it differently. 

[00:06:37] Lily Allan-Duenas: That’s amazing that you really spend the time to find what each child needs and what lights them up. So do you go in and teach regularly with them? Is it always the same group with Embrace Kulture or is there different kids coming in every month or what’s that?

Tell us more about Embrace Kulture

[00:06:56] Mugisha Ali Allan: They are the same students. Every year they get new students who join them because the organization keeps looking for these special children. In Uganda it’s not so normal. Like some people, when they have special children, they want to keep them home.

They don’t want them to go to school because they think they’re not normal. We have  schools for special children. The only way you, of course, have to teach them is to go to their schools because parents hide them. So [00:07:30] like school, these organizations look for them and they bring them in. If the parents can afford to pay for their school fees, they proceed and pay for them. If they can’t, they look for sponsors to keep them in school.

[00:07:45] Lily Allan-Duenas: Okay and what is their response in general to yoga?

What is the student’s response to yoga?

[00:07:49] Mugisha Ali Allan: They love yoga. They feel like it is a good way to stretch and they like the games that are involved, so it is a beautiful practice for them and they love it.

[00:08:03] Lily Allan-Duenas: Great. I know you also work with the Aid Child Leadership Institute. Could you tell us more about that one?

Aid Child Leadership Institute

[00:08:09] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah, so AID Child Leadership Institute is is a, an institute that supports children with children living with HIV Aids. And so a part of their therapeutic practices. They do yoga and we go through meditation with them. There are more ways like mindfulness that we get to engage them into accepting their bodies and getting to know themselves building self love and of course building what we call the internal silence or in yoga, what you call the Mauna, which builds acknowledgement and acceptance from from deep within. And of course they love the practice too. And they’re always looking forward to the next [00:09:00] class.

[00:09:01] Lily Allan-Duenas: Oh, that’s amazing. I’m so happy. I  feel so much joy in my heart that you get to serve your community in this way and specifically with the children. That’s amazing.

[00:09:13] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah.

[00:09:15] Lily Allan-Duenas:  I was wondering how you think or what you think has changed in your life since you’ve become a yoga teacher? What has yoga changed for you?

How has yoga changed your life? How has yoga changed the lives of those around you?

[00:09:26] Mugisha Ali Allan: First of all I would say I’ve become healthier because I was forced to eat a plant-based. But now I like it because I’ve embraced it.  I’ve seen it becoming very important and good in my life.  I’ve expanded my connections.

The most important thing, of course is I earn respect because now I teach people who are even older than me, because I would say my oldest student is about 75 years. And at least I’ve got a chance to be a part of someone’s healing journey. And I love that I’m earning a living. I’m making a living.

It’s very important because I live in a country where the economy is very tight and it’s very hard to make money. And I’m using my practice to feed myself, to make myself a [00:10:30] living, to pay my bills, and at least I’m inspiring people to live a good life, and I’m trying to do this to teach and show people how healthy they can live and, which makes me happy because I’ve seen my students, she came to my studio telling me she wanted to get pregnant.

Of course, I didn’t have any idea how yoga can work, but I told her, if you are healthy, maybe some blockages can be clarified or can be made can be worked over with a practice.

Maybe sometimes you just need to make your body healthy by using some yoga with breathing practices. So that same year, she got pregnant. She always says the reason she has the baby. I’m proud. I’m a part of a few people’s healing journeys and there are a couple of students who have come to me, one with Multiple Sclerosis.

She was a part of my practice, she was getting a lot of improvements because the condition of Multiple Sclerosis gets people numb. One side gets paralyzed and they have excess fatigue,  emotional instability, like unstable emotions. This person told [00:12:00] me that every time we were at practice, she was getting better and better.

Of course one had to go for a knee surgery, and the doctor told her she has to do yoga or to go for a surgery. She was in the practice for about eight months and when she went back, the doctor told her she’s okay. She doesn’t need to have the surgery. At least I’m happy that my practice is helping our people and I’m proud of it.

[00:12:29] Lily Allan-Duenas: Absolutely. I mean you’re changing people’s lives.

[00:12:32] Mugisha Ali Allan: Thank you.

[00:12:33] Lily Allan-Duenas: Yeah. So actually Mugisha, what is your definition of yoga? How do you define yoga? Or if someone asks you I don’t know what yoga is. What is yoga? What do you tell them?

What is your defition of yoga?

[00:12:47] Mugisha Ali Allan: In spite of the written definitions in the books that I’ve read, for me, yoga is the art and science of well being. Because this is what I’ve seen, because this is what I teach. Even doctors themselves, they read books, but I’ve seen most of them who don’t believe in what they preach. And when I happen to teach them, it’s totally different. I happen to teach doctors, surgeons, from the emergency surgical ward in Entebbe.

And it is so amazing when they’re doing the practice, like when I am teaching, things feel so new, and yet they’ve learned [00:13:30] these things and they do them so it feels so different. That’s why I say it is the art and sense of well being, Because we bring the art to life and then they start learning the anatomy through their own bodies, connecting their mind with their body and feeling that vibration of energy into the parts of the body that they’re engaging through the practice and relating the practice to their normal life. I would say very much that it is the art and science of wellbeing indeed.

[00:14:00] Lily Allan-Duenas: You said that beautifully, absolutely beautifully. I know in Entebbe you have founded and are a co-owner of a yoga studio. Can you tell us more about that? You’re the founder of the Entebbe yoga community and the co-owner of Kindle Yoga Studio. Can you tell us more?

The Entebbe Yoga Community

[00:14:20] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah, so when I left the teacher training, I promised myself that I will go out there, introduce the practice to the people who don’t know it, and at least because yoga gave me a chance to live a healthy life, at least I would make sure that many people get a chance to practice in a safe zone and least a place where everyone is welcome.

When I went to Entebbe. I started calling out for people who can give me space and people invited me [00:15:00] in different places. One of them was like an old gym that wasn’t working anymore, all the machines were out. They gave me space and I started sharing the practice there. But I also was looking out for people who were practicing, behind curtains because there were people who were practicing yoga at their homes. So I started looking out for them on Instagram, and I used to look out their location and if they’re in Uganda. I could write to them and tell them, yo, I’m a yoga teacher. I’m in Entebbe, so if it’s okay with you can come and we practice together. You can be a part of the community and we grow together.

That’s how I started to invite people to the studio. That’s where I started reaching out and looking out for teacher training for these people. Of course, teacher training is expensive. But there were chances of scholarships.

I happen to secure two scholarships and we have now two yoga teachers who are certified and another one who is not certified yet, but she’s been following her practice and she’s sharing the knowledge she has, and that’s how we are building our community and growing bigger. Yeah,  it’s not that big, but at least we share different places in Entebbe. [00:16:30] Even though the people are not so receptive to the practice, at least we have a student or two who comes to the studio to teach.

We have backpackers or a guest house. Which is a transit center and people like to come through when they’re going to the airport,when they’re coming back. Some people just wish to do yoga practice before they proceed to their journey. That’s how we’ve been able to hold up with the studio in Entebbe and the community.

[00:17:03] Lily Allan-Duenas: Amazing. I love that. I love that you reached out to people you didn’t know on Instagram and you said, Hey, if you’re in Uganda, come practice and join this community.  I love building communities. I love holding space for people to come together, share, collaborate and connect. I love that you’re doing that for Uganda, Mugisha.

[00:17:25] Mugisha Ali Allan: Thank you very much.

[00:17:26] Lily Allan-Duenas: You mentioned that people aren’t very receptive to yoga in Uganda. Is that true? Do you feel like you face a lot of barriers or uncertainties with people in Uganda?

Are people in Uganda practcing yoga? What is yoga in Uganda like?

[00:17:38] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah, I would say that is a real fact. Because I’ve had colleagues go to hospitals myself, and even doctors don’t believe that the practice has the ability to heal and help people get better or like help in any way. We have [00:18:00] a big problem with religion. Religious leaders are so much against yoga. They say it is a cult. They say that people summon demons, even when we try to explain and teach them, and myself from a living testimony. It feels so different until people travel,  come back and they say. “I’ve traveled and people practice yoga, and now I believe I can do yoga.” That’s all the time people come to do yoga. These are the very few people because not everyone practices yoga. 

Yoga in Zootopia, Yoga with kids 

[00:18:34] Mugisha Ali Allan: So uh, Youth, they’ve loved to do yoga because they see it in movies. Children love to do yoga because they’ve seen it in animations, for example. In Zootopia, there was a yoga teacher who had dreadlocks. So they’ve loved to do yoga because they see it in animations. Of course other people have loved to do yoga because of movies. There are very few people, and for the other people who have got a recommendation from hospitals, they of course expose people who have traveled around the world or to different countries where the practice has been already accepted.

So for the other people who can really access the internet, we have problems sharing to them about the practice. Because even when we tell them that the practice does good, they accept it when they go to the churches or worship [00:19:30] centers or like mosques. When they tell their religious leaders about the practice, they do. They tell them that it’s satanic, it’s a cult, and so we have resistance from the religious leaders. 

[00:19:46] Lily Allan-Duenas: Oh, that’s so sad. I’m sorry that you faced that barrier, particularly people saying it’s Satanic. Is that kind of how the community responds to it? Or is it only those that are in religious places of worship specifically.

[00:20:01] Mugisha Ali Allan: You know, Our country is not like the rest of the world. We are a British colony. Colonial masters bringing colonial rule. They were using religion a lot to soften people. So most people are religious. They are either Christian or Muslim. It’s either way. We have a few people who if it’s out of a hundred, there is just 1% of people who are not religious.

[00:20:35] Lily Allan-Duenas: Wow, that is a very high percentage.

[00:20:37] Mugisha Ali Allan: Yeah.

[00:20:39] Lily Allan-Duenas: So for some of our listeners that aren’t very familiar with Uganda as a whole, can you tell us more about your country?

What is Uganda like?

[00:20:47] Mugisha Ali Allan: First of all, Uganda is a very beautiful country, I must say. We only have two seasons in a year. We have two seasons. We have the wet season and the dry season. We don’t have the winter, summer, [00:21:00] like autumn, spring like you guys do.

 Uganda is a very green country. We have lots of big forests. We have the gorillas. So if you are not the only country where you find the gorillas.

It’ll be Uganda, Congo, and Rwanda. It’s only the three countries and we are cross directly by the equator. We have 105 tribes. Our country is very diverse. That means all those tribes speak different languages. They have different cultures and different beliefs. We have kings. We have kingdoms. Every kingdom has a king.

And we have, of course, the central government. But also our kingdoms are very powerful. We are deeply rooted into culture, I might say. Yeah. Something maybe to know about our country is we have the source of the River Nile in Uganda. 

How to get in touch with Mugisha

[00:22:13] Lily Allan-Duenas: Mugisha, I have loved talking with you and hearing more about your story and also about all of the amazing things you’re doing in Uganda for your country. I expect some of our listeners might be curious and might want to learn more about you and get in touch or ask a question.

I’m [00:22:30] going to link all of your social media channels. On the show notes. So wherever you’re listening to this podcast, just go to the show notes and all of Mugisha’s links will be there. They’ll also be on my website, wild yoga tribe.com/yoga in Uganda. There will be a transcription of this episode as well,  you can read and follow along while you listen. Mugisha, it’s been such a joy to be with you. Thank you so much for being with me.

[00:22:57] Mugisha Ali Allan: thank you very much for choosing Uganda and thank you very much for choosing me to tell my story. And thank you for having these stories of different yoga teachers from all over.

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Outro

[00:23:11] Lily Allen-Duenas: Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. My conversation with Mugisha Ali Allan, a yoga teacher from Uganda, was so touching as he shared stories with us about teaching yoga to children with special needs and children who are suffering from lifelong illnesses.

He also shared how grateful he is to be a part of people’s healing journey. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that’s all about the healing journey of yoga and how yoga is the art and science of wellbeing, then this is the conversation for you. Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. Be well. 

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