History

NEEM’s first seeds were panted in 2003, when Ana Maria Velasco, an artist and yoga teacher living in NYC traveled to her native country Colombia, to teach Yoga. Through a program organized by Colombia Herida Foundation, Yoga classes were offered to soldiers who had just arrived from combat, and were under psychiatric care at the Military Hospital in Bogotá. Some of these soldiers had been kidnapped, tortured and were experiencing severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After just one yoga session, they became more receptive, calm and focused. The doctors from the hospital were happily surprised by the immediate positive response to the practices.

Images and stories of these experiences were shared with people in the New York City yoga community. Moved by these stories, a small but diverse group of individuals in New York started an organization dedicated to promote cross-cultural understanding and peaceful conflict resolution through yoga and art. . Through a generous donation from the Jivamukti Yoga School in New York, they were able to sponsor one candidate from Colombia to attend the 2005 Jivamukti Yoga teacher training. This student, Ana Muriel became part of the team, and continued to work on the yoga programs in Bogotá.

The group returned to Bogotá in November 2005, and worked with 3 new organizations: Cirec, Tecnovo and Fundación Para la Reconciliación. During this second trip to Colombia, yoga techniques were taught to ex–combatants, people who had lost their limbs to land mines, and people who were displaced by the war. In-depth yoga programs were developed to offer to the staff (doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists and priests) of Fundación Para la Reconciliación, who experienced for themselves the benefits of yoga practice, and implemented it into their own lives while sharing it with patients.

In 2006 part of the team began new endeavors in other parts of the world, while the rest of the team continued to expand the already existing programs in Colombia. The organization’s vision was redefined and NEEM Foundation was created. For one year, Neem offered regular Yoga classes to children and adults at the Peace Center of La Fundacion para La Reconciliación in Caracoli-Ciudad Bolívar, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. This same year, Lucine Eusani, an M.phil student from the University of Bradford in The United Kingdom, traveled to Bogotá to join NEEM. She worked for one year teaching and studying NEEM’s Yoga programs in Ciudad Bolivar and completed her thesis on the benefits of yoga as an alternative therapy for PTSD, and as a tool for non-violent conflict resolution.

As part of NEEM’s vision, three students from the classes in Caracoli were sponsored to become certified yoga teachers in Bogotá. They are now experienced instructors and their lives have been completely transformed by this opportunity. Martin Morris, a Yoga teacher living in Colombia participated actively in this initiative.

In 2007 Marcella Echavarria, Ana Maria Velasco , Jackie Granados y Camila Rivera established NEEM as a 501(c) non-profit organization based in New York City. NEEM continues to work in Colombia, with the aim of creating a solid model that can be replicated in other parts of the world.