ELIX, in partnership with Finn Church Aid (FCA), has successfully concluded the second part of the “Project Yoga” offering a certified training course to become Yoga instructor to 14 young people with 9 different nationalities (Albanian, Afghan, Bangladeshi, Greek, Iraqi, Irish, Kurdish, Spanish and Syrian).
After three months and more than 200 hours spent together in ELIX yoga studio, the future Yoga instructors have concluded the professional training that will improve their employability and offer them new professional opportunities in the future.
The trainees have a diverse range of backgrounds and identities, some of them having migrant or refugee background, some being second generation migrants, some Greek.
During the training, the future Yoga instructors got trained in teaching Hatha Yoga, one of the most spread Yoga branches all over the world. Besides, they had the chance to participate in workshops about different varieties of Yoga, such as Kundalini Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga or Yin Yoga.
The wholesome programme was planned by the certified Yoga teachers and included both theoretical and practical lessons to get familiar, not only with the postures, philosophy and values of Yoga, but also with valuable pedagogical tools and approaches to be used in a Yoga lesson.
The participants of the Training Course will receive an internationally recognised certification, showing the acquired knowledge and increasing their employability both in Greece and abroad.
The professional Training course took place from the 17/01/108 to the 30/03/2018.
Project Yoga was born in order to create a space of integration and inclusion where locals, migrants and refugees can come together for a common activity: Yoga, as this discipline has proven to have a strong impact on the psychosocial wellbeing of the participants. Moreover, the project aimed at improving the employability of both locals and migrants and refugees, in order to tackle both social and professional needs of the participants.
Since November 2017, ELIX, together with FCA, has been offering open classes for mixed groups and women only groups. The open classes will continue being offered for the next months.
Project Yoga has reached so far more than 200 Yoga students in the open classes, 30 children in the children’s space, and involved more than 15 volunteers supporting ELIX and FCA staff. The yoga students had 32 different nationalities: Afghan, Albanian, Algerian, Bangladeshi, British, Bulgarian, Canadian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Egyptian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Indian, Iraqi, Iranian, Irish, Italian, Kurdish, Moroccan, Nigerian, Palestinian, Pakistani, Peruvian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Syrian, Turkish and US American.
