How mindfulness can reduce stress

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a Twin Cities rapper and mindfulness instructor who says yoga saved his life.

Chance York was a rapper for many years, but says the late nights, busy tour schedule and endless parties led to an unhealthy lifestyle. And events close to home — such as the fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer during a traffic stop in 2016 — left him feeling hopeless.

After he hit a low point, he began to take his casual yoga practice more seriously, trained to become a yoga instructor and eventually helped start a nonprofit to encourage more people of color to become yoga teachers.

Most recently, he’s become a mindfulness instructor. And he wants to help us all understand how mindfulness can reduce stress.

Guest:

• Chance York is a mindfulness instructor at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing where he teaches mindfulness-based stress reduction. He is also the co-founder and co-executive director of Peace in Practice, a nonprofit that develops and supports culturally responsive yoga and mindfulness professionals. And he is the host of the Twin Cities Public Television web series “Outside Chance,” which features new and traditional outdoor activities highlighting Minnesota’s outdoor culture. 

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