PKY is Planting Seeds to Amplify Healing Justice in Hawai’i.

Acacia Koa Black Seeds | Stock Photo

February 2, 2024 | Honolulu, O’ahu

Aloha and welcome to the Project Koa Yoga Blog! Project Koa Yoga (PKY) was founded in 2021 by co-founders Laura Toyofuku-Aki and Victoria Roland. Since the first seeds of PKY were planted, Laura and Victoria envisioned creating a blog to give PKY a voice. 

At PKY, our programs focus on providing a communal space for Kānaka, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA2SMāhū+ to process, integrate, and metabolize life experiences. You can expect this blog to be a branch of our already existing work, another opportunity for collective growth and healing. For our first post, we would like to share a little bit about the blog to plant seeds for our future posts. Please read below to learn more about our intention behind this new project.

Why is PKY creating a blog?

PKY is creating a blog as a way for you to get to know who we are, our values, and the learnings that we think are important. Our work is rooted in social justice, community liberation, and activism and every month we are hoping to highlight different topics that allow us to dive deeper into our Hawaiʻi community - uplifting more voices and experiences of Hawaiʻi’s marginalized communities, Kānaka, and BIPOC. This is a new project for PKY and so we know we will be learning alongside you. This blog is meant to serve as a starting point and to inspire you to think deeply about your positionality within society and within Hawaiʻi. We will be sharing the articles and ʻike (knowledge) we reference within these blogs to provide you with more tools and resources to explore on your own time. 

What is the intent of the PKY blog?

The intent of the PKY blog is to be a resource. We plan to share more information on Hawaiʻi, Kānaka Maoli (Indigenous people of Hawai’i), health and wellness in Hawaiʻi, the history and impacts of colonialism on Kānaka and ‘āina health, wellness and pilina (connection), and information on Yoga that is more accessible and diverse than what you might find in mainstream media and the yoga industrial complex.

Who is the blog intended for?

The PKY blog is intended for everyone, but especially those who are new to our community and curious about what we are all about. We intend to reach new folx who are not already a part of our PKY community. For example, BIPOC in Hawai'i, Kānaka in and outside of Hawaiʻi, and those interested in learning more about their kuleana (responsibility and privilege) to both Hawai'i and its people. We encourage you to share this blog with your ‘ohana (family) and kaiāulu (community), and to give us feedback on what topics you think matter most in our community. 

What type of content/topics can we expect to be discussed in this blog?

At PKY, we are making Yoga more accessible, trauma-informed, resilience-centered, and culturally relevant to Hawai’i. We also want to center the social injustices that Kānaka Maoli and marginalized communities of Hawaiʻi are facing. We believe in amplifying healing justice. Therefore, with this blog, you can expect to see content that may be informative and empowering, as well as content that may be unsettling and/or kūʻē (expressing opposition or resistance) at times. As an extension of our existing work at PKY, this blog will continue to center the voices and perspectives of the Indigenous, BIPOC and LGBTQIA2SMāhū+ community. 

We are so excited to see how this new project grows! The PKY blog is intended to be a collaborative space designed for you, your friends, ‘ohana (family), and others who resonate with us and our values. We invite you to plant the seeds of growth, learning, and justice with us. If you have any topics that you would like us to explore, please feel free to reach out to blog@projectkoayoga.com or message us on Instagram: @projectkoayoga. 

Stay tuned for our next blog post in two weeks! Subscribe to our newsletter to never miss out on a new blog post and to unlock exclusive resources and content from our programs. Mahalo for reading and we look forward to learning and being in community with you all soon!

Resource for ‘Õlelo Hawai’i Translation: https://wehewehe.org