YIN-YANG
(Youth Inclusion through Yoga Actions Network Growth)
Programme
Erasmus+
Key Action
KA2 Sport
Action Type
Small Collaborative Partnerships
Project Period
01/06/2022 – 30/11/2023
Project Reference
101049088
About the Yin Yang Project
Project objectives will be realized through 4 main activities:
WP1 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT, MEETINGS, MONITORING AND COMMUNICATION
– transversal activity that guarantees the quality of the work-plan, activities, results and the communication/dissemination plan.
WP2 – COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF BEST PRACTICES ON YOGA WITH YOUNGSTERS WITH DISADVANTAGED SOCIAL BACKGROUNDS AT EU LEVEL
– definition of a common base of knowledge from which to start to enhance the existing best practices at EU level. Output: D2.2 Best practices research report.
WP3 – DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF YOGA PILOT ACTIVITIES PROGRAMME
– design of the pilot activities programme, implementation and collection of participants’ feedback. Outputs: D3.1 Yoga activities program & D3.3 Feedback report.
WP4 – ONLINE INTERACTIVE GUIDE FOR YOGA TEACHERS
– creation of an interactive online guide to provide yoga teachers with guidelines and skills to carry out yoga classes both online and face-to-face with young people with fewer opportunities and their educators. Output: D4.3 Online interactive guide for yoga teachers.
We aim to train at least the following beneficiaries: 30 youngsters, 10 educators and 10 yoga teachers per partner involved in yoga pilot actions (IT, SP, PT) for a total of 90 youngsters, 30 educators and 30 yoga teachers.
Project Partners
Bottega Ashtanga (Italy) – Coordinator
Local yoga sport club that promotes yoga and its benefits on both physical and psychological level. Bottega Ashtanga is active in the city of Bologna since 2015 and works on an everyday basis involving people of any age, background, health and social status.
The founders Lucia Di Lucca and Roberto Maffeo have been working in the education and social fields for more than 25 years especially promoting social and educational inclusion. Having expertise and skills in these two fields and believing in the potentiality of yoga as a tool, not only of well-being but also of social inclusion, Bottega Ashtanga aims to reach through yoga and all its techniques, such as meditation and pranayama, young people with social disadvantages that rarely will get to know yoga, both for the general ideas on this discipline (often believed to be boring and for older people) and because it is not affordable for most of them.
Bottega Ashtanga coordinates all project activities and, in particular, leads WP3 – Design and implementation of yoga pilot activities programme making use of its staff of experienced teacher and trainers that will give the opportunity to youngsters and their educators to know the whole potential of yoga.
Yoga Sin Fronteras (Spain)
Is a non-profit association with the goal of making yoga accessible to everyone, especially to vulnerable groups and at risk of social exclusion.
Normalizing the image that has been generated around the yoga discipline is a mission of the organization. The benefits of practicing yoga are widely proven and Yoga Sin Fronteras shares them with those who need it most. By combining physical and mental exercises, the organization helps to reduce stress and generate serenity and relaxation in all bodies, regardless of age, sex or social status.
Yoga Sin Fronteras has a broad network of collaborators from private and public bodies that work with groups of people affected by disabilities and/or social difficulties. Through this network of entities Yoga Sin Fronteras offers free yoga classes adapted to the characteristics of each group of people. The classes are provided by volunteer teachers that are part of the association.
For financing the social project, Yoga Sin Fronteras offers:
– Professional yoga trainings, always focused on the promotion of social inclusion;
– Yoga and meditation programs to corporations, with the objective of enhancing the health and wellbeing of the employees;
– Yoga events of different nature to promote their activities and collect donations from particulars.
Yoga Sin Fronteras contributes to this cooperation project by providing the expertise in reaching people at risk of social exclusion and offering them well-being programs based on the yoga practice. The association leads WP2 – Collection and analysis of Best Practices on yoga with youngsters with disadvantaged social backgrounds at EU level.
Europe For You (Czech Republic)
Is a voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit alliance of citizens representing proponents of cooperation in the field of education, culture, active citizenship, charitable non-profit work and sport. EFY promotes healthy lifestyle, healthy nutrition, sports, engagement of young people into sports activities, fighting usage of steroids and other illegal drugs. EFY has experience with Erasmus+ KA205 and KA201 projects and in popularization of sports via online tools by creating high quality tutorials, informative project websites, useful YouTube channels, regularly updated social media pages and groups etc. Because of the above-mentioned expertise, they lead WP4 – Online interactive guide for yoga teachers.
Spin Association (Portugal)
Is a non-profit, non-governmental development organisation whose aim is to promote intercultural understanding, intercultural dialogue, sustainability as well as active and participatory citizenship and lifelong learning through promoting international mobility programs and other international cooperation projects. Spin was founded in 2008, it is based in Lisbon in a peripheral social housing neighbourhood – Bairro Padre Cruz.
By promoting international programmes for young people, Spin aims to empower youngsters, especially those pertaining to marginalized social groups, with social obstacles, economically deprived or facing other forms of social exclusion. Through the creation of opportunities that allow the participation of young people in International mobility programmes such as trainings, exchanges, voluntary and cooperation projects, they intend that youngsters have the chance to widen their horizons, develop their personal and professional growth and expand their European awareness and active citizenship. Spin puts a strong focus on the intercultural dimension of all its projects, both at local and international level, as a mean of promoting tolerance and raising awareness in its beneficiaries and in the public opinion in
general that we are all part not only of our local community but also of Europe and the world. Therefore, in this project Spin hired a yoga teacher to implement yoga pilot activities with the youngsters pertaining to marginalized social groups and their educators in the neighbourhood and coordinates Task 3.3 Feedback collection of participants and validation of the activities due to its proven expertise in involving and implementing activities with young people with fewer opportunities.
Project deliverables:
D2.2 BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH REPORT
Report on yoga activities best practices carried out with youngsters with disadvantaged social backgrounds and their educators at EU level in order to define a common base of knowledge from which to start.
D3.1 YOGA ACTIVITIES PROGRAM
Yoga activities program to be carried out with young people and educators
D3.3 FEEDBACK REPORT ON PILOT ACTIONS TO DEFINE GUIDELINES AND COMPETENCES FOR YOGA TEACHERS
Participants’ feedback collection in yoga pilot activities and in the local short-term training for Yoga Teachers and validation of the activities
D4.3 ONLINE INTERACTIVE GUIDE FOR YOGA TEACHERS
Online interactive guide providing yoga teachers with guidelines, skills and competences to carry out yoga classes with young people, especially those with the most disadvantaged social background, and with their educators/trainers/teachers/community operators with the aim of improving their psycho-physical well-being at 360 °, their social inclusion and their tolerance to diversity.
