Tripoli women lean towards yoga to escape Libya tensions

Mats rolled tightly under their arms, a group of women walk to a secluded Tripoli beach for a seaside yoga session to escape tensions in conflict-stricken Libya.

Under the watch of a solitary police car, each Thursday the 25 aspiring yogis begin limbering up, their bright gym attire outlined against the crumbling concrete security compound that forms the backdrop to their open-air studio.

"Yoga releases the pressure we live under. Here I can escape reality," one participant, Mawadda, tells AFP before the afternoon class.

"Here I feel free."

Tripoli residents have endured near-constant unrest since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Libya has since been thrown into disarray, with warring armed groups and rival political factions vying for control and the Islamic State group establishing a bastion in the oil-rich North African country.

Thousands of Libyans have fled the unrest but for those left behind, daily life has been significantly curtailed and frequent clashes in the capital mean it is often too dangerous to exercise outside.

And with a conservative Muslim society implicitly imposing restrictions on how one should dress and behave, Libyan women are especially short of viable pastimes.

Abir Ben Yushah, who operates an exercise studio at her family-owned gym, struck upon the idea of yoga classes after talking to other women.

"We understood that women need hobbies and a change after the war," she tells AFP.

"After Zumba courses, Arabic and Indian dance classes, and fitness programmes, we decided to start yoga on the beach."

Eyes narrowed in concentration, the students -- hair covered with headscarves, sun hats or baseball caps -- closely mimic the poses held by Abir.

Four women sit on nearby rocks, observing and commenting on the class.

A few metres away, the luxurious villas of the Ragata compound once used by Libya's expatriate oil worker community sit abandoned, some vandalised, like those of Kadhafi's sons.

For many Libyan women who enjoy Italian fashion and like listening to music, practicing yoga was nothing new.

The novelty, however, was to do it on a beach in broad daylight without upsetting conservative members of the society.