Roots Tribe Yoga for International Women's Day

The story of RTY began in the smallest country in continental Africa— The Gambia. A peaceful, predominantly Muslim country, The Gambia was extremely different from any other place RTY founder Philipa had ever lived. She quickly adapted to this new way of living and thrived. Philipa loved adventure of Africa. She met two small boys who would become mainstays in her time there. While she taught them how to read English, they helped her with local language and explained cultural customs. They grew through mutual tutelage, and these two boys became the inspiration for Roots Tribe Yoga.

Philipa realized that through building relationships founded on trust and mutual respect— mixed with play and lots of laughter—she could empower children to envision and manifest their potential. Philipa eventually returned to school to study International Affairs and Development at The New School in NYC, and one of her mentors offered her the opportunity to work with her in Cape Town, South Africa. Philipa joined a yoga studio in Cape Town and enrolled in a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.

Yoga became an invaluable life raft for Philipa, as she had recently experienced the death of a close friend and her newfound yoga practice helped her navigate the rollercoaster of grief and accompanying questions of life’s purpose. During her teacher training, Philipa realized (quite suddenly) that yoga was her niche, and that her work in International Development would be to bring the principles of yoga to children and underserved communities. She would teach each yoga class with an intentional learning goal; the lessons would be cumulative and weave goals, intentions, and “soft” skills together to foster mindfulness and empowerment. She wanted to serve youth in a way that would enable them to step into their fullest potential, using the lessons and skills she had discovered from her time with those two boys in The Gambia.

Philipa’s inspiring vision has become known as Roots Tribe Yoga. Philipa created an Ambassador Program to train interested and qualified individuals to teach the RTY Curriculum in their own communities. In order to work, Roots Tribe Yoga would need to function in a way that was replicable, scalable, and sustainable.

Today RTY is active in South Africa, Swaziland, and The Gambia, and we are piloting new programs with PCVs and locals in Zambia, Moldova, Armenia, and Argentina. Through word of mouth, we continue to grow and thrive. To date we have trained over 73 RTY Ambassadors in 21 countries, who have delivered the RTY program to over 693 students. We continue to work towards our mission to use the practices of yoga, mindfulness, and play to empower young adults to step into their fullest potential and create positive change. Our vision for the world is that children everywhere will grow up with a rooted sense of empowerment, compassion, and interconnectedness.