ABOUT the REFUGEE yoga project

Vasudhara conceived and developed the Refugee Yoga Project in partnership with Danielle Begg, then working as a Research Associate and Project Developer at Vasudhara. Danielle previously worked as a social entrepreneur and yoga teacher, and has an academic background in psychology and social policy.

Inspired by Danielle's experiences in the UK with the Hackney Yoga Project, Vasudhara and Danielle collaborated in early 2015 to trial yoga classes with a number of refugee organisations across Sydney.

Following positive feedback from participants and organisations, the initial pilot classes have evolved into a year-long research program into the benefits of yoga for refugees who have experienced torture and trauma.

WHAT WE're doing TOGETHER

Vasudhara provided funding to the Refugee Yoga Project to conduct a year-long research program in collaboration with the NSW Service for the Treatment And Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS).

The project offers eight, weekly yoga classes to groups of refugees healing from torture and trauma. Danielle teaches the classes, and STARTTS provides counsellors and translators.

The experiences of the attendees is tracked at every class and the data will form the basis of a research paper to be published by STARTTS. 

In June 2016, Danielle was a speaker at the North American Refugee Health Conference, where she spoke about the initial findings of the project.