Hackney Yoga Project

The 'Namaste' gesture means respect, and may you know freedom and happiness.

On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, Hackney Yoga Project is proud to announce that our doors will open in just under two weeks, with refugee and asylum seeking women being the first on the yoga mats.

Hackney is one of the most deprived and under-resourced inner city areas in the UK, with one of the largest refugee and asylum seeking populations in London. 

This pilot project aims to develop a best practice model for working with yoga and refugees/those seeking asylum.  We are monitoring the main barriers to individuals participating, issues that arise during project time and the effects of yoga on participants, among other metrics.

Hackney Yoga Project will take place at the much loved community resource, Hackney City Farm, where we’ll be teaching yoga and serving tea and a delicious seasonal lunch at the farm's fabulous Frizzante cafe. 

The women we'll be working with have been displaced from their homelands due to war and natural disaster.  Many have experienced gender based violence and sexual abuse.  Some are also destitute, living off charity and friends' hand-outs, as is the case for a large number of women in the asylum process in the UK, according the British Red Cross report, 'Not gone but forgotten' (2010).
 

Our mission is to improve the quality of life for refugee and those seeking asylum, through the practice of yoga in Hackney.  

Yoga has many widely recognised theraputic benefits, including being more relaxed, having more energy, becoming stronger and more flexible in body and mind, and improving self-esteem and confidence.

Hackney Yoga Project is supported by Hackney City Farm, Big Lottery and British Red Cross, who we thank very much – for their generous spirits, invaluable advice, and support and funds, which have enabled the project to move from idea to reality.