What is to come?
Below is Bristol Yoga Roots Project’s Tree - mapping our journey from roots all the way to leaves. We’ve broken it down into chunks so it is easier to digest, but don’t be fooled, this has not been a linear journey! This project has been created and sustained primarily through the relationships between all those involved. It has been a project of love, care and a strong commitment to our values & ongoing reflection.
Although BYRP as a CIC is coming to an end, this commitment and love for this work, and the incredible wisdom of yoga as a practice of collective liberation, remains alive.
We will continue to offer mentorship, consultancy, and resources for individuals and organisations wanting to carry this work forward. We will also continue to host our flagship two‑day training once or twice a year, as well as within yoga teacher trainings and other programmes.
Our website will also continue, offering a hub of information, resources and ways of connecting to this work.
With love & solidarity, we hope you enjoy!
Leaves: letting go 2024-2026
8.
We came to call this, THE SOUP time. Due to shifts in energy & funding limitations, there was lots of back & forth around how to continue as a CIC and the work we were offering.
10.
Eri supported us from Spain, offering support for our social media & operations, and so much more once they were back in the UK!
12.
As a whole team, we came together and decided it was time to end as a CIC. We were successful in receiving a private donation which supported us to‘close well’.
9.
Sheena stepped forwards in a big way and took on the majority of our ongoing classes and more operational responsibiltiy.
11.
Hazel officially ended her time as a Director. Anna got involved to support with project management.
Leaves: new directions 2022 - 2024
1.
Megan & Leni had huge personal shifts which shaped the next yearof the project.
2.
New teachers & support came on board: Eri, Lildonia, Eliana, Ryan, Sheena, Anna and Lena. Eri, Sheena & Anna were to become integral to this next stage of BYRP!
3.
We started to regularly run ourtraining with support from localstudios: Now and Yogasara.
4.
Hazel begun a verrrrrry slow process of deciding to step back from her roleas Business Director.
5.
Llidonia came onboard to take on theoperational lead role for a time.
7.
Leni & Lildonia created & ran ourfirst 6 week Yoga Foundations course to support participants across all our classes to deepen their yoga practice.
6.
Funding applications continuedand we were successful insecuring funding from the National Lottery, Sports England and again, from the Quarter Foundation. They funded our classes within the substance misuse sector, refugee services and our first public community lass.
Branches: expanding outwards 2021 - 2022
1.
We were succesful in securing 2 years worth of funding from the Quartet Foundation! For the first time, we were able to pay ourselves!
2.
We created & strengthened partnerships with local orgsations including: One25, Bristol Drugs Project, DHI, Southmead Project, SARSAS, Bristol Refugee Rights, Aid Box Community, Refugee Women of Bristol
4.
We were expanding our branches into other events/projects like Bristol’s Refugee Festival, Beyond Therapy Festival and recording trauma-informed yoga videos for young people with The Greenhouse Project.
5.
We expanded our funding sources: setting up a donation page, running fundraising events and continuing to apply for grants.
3.
We had more teachers & were teaching more classes! We started to run regular peer supervision & 1-1 supervision for our teachers.
6.
The core team started meeting for regular development days to develop our organisational models with quarterly reviews, goals and board meetings.
7. Researching our impact.
Megan & Leni worked with Evanthia Triantafyllidou, funded by the University of Bristol to research the impacts of our work. This included developing an Impact Measurement Toolkit. This supported our funding applications going forwards and brought new waves of motivation and commitment to BYRP’s work.
8. BYRP Trauma-Informed Community Yoga Training
Our training programme was born, bringing together our years of experience sharing trauma-informed community yoga practices. This training also drew on our lived experiences and professional work,spanning: clinical psychology, community case work, social activism,mental health and business development.
The first training weekend took place in May 2022. Since then we have run bi-annual training, for over 72 yoga teachers.
The Trunk: growing stronger 2020 - 2021
1.
We developed a teachers manual sharing guidance of how to run trauma-informed community yoga classes.
2.
As we were in global lockdown we suddenly had the time to meet(viritually) reguarly and plenty of energy & love to pour into BYRP.
3.
We developed our organisational policies, our website, set up our board and applied for our first grants.
4.
We established our vision & purpose and held our first board meeting with an incredible group of humans: Aliya Mughal, Stephen Lightbown, Andrea Wright and Becky Boucherat.
5.
Alongside growing our ongoing classes, we proactively reached out to local organisations to form partnerships & offer yoga to their service users.
6.
We started to seek new yoga teachers & develop processes for onboarding. We welcomed: Marianne, Eri, Stephen, Seanie, Sally, Aliya, Rebecca.
7.
Hazel became our business lead and participated in the Cambridge Social Enterprise programme.
8.
We started to meet reguarly online with other projects like ours in the UK and develop the UK Community Yoga Collective.
9.
As our core team was developing and taking on more operational/supervisory work, we began to have regular supervision with Sophia Ansari
10.
We were running regular (and free) Reflective Practice & Learning Spaces for yoga teachers online, inviting guest speakers & folks with lived experience. Topics included: physical accessibility in yoga, impact vs. intention, the power of language, and inclusivity.
Seedlings: cultivation 2019 - 2020
1.
The core group of Hazel, Megan &Leni emerged as a clear trio with the time & energy to dedicate to developing BYRP as an organisation.
3.
Throughout this we continued to organise teacher meet ups and we were starting to bring our own community classes under the umbrella of BYRP.
5.
Megan, Hazel & Leni took a team trip to Glasgow to attend ECY’s weekend training and meet Lorraine& Laura. They supported us so much to get our dreams of a CIC off the ground.
2.
We started exploring other projects/trainings in the UK to connect with and learn from. This included Ourmala, TCTSY and Edinburgh Community Yoga Project.
4.
These classes were taking place in places like: NHS Trauma Service, Spring of Home Women’s Shelter, St Mungo’s Homeless Service, Refugee Women of Bristol.
6.
On the train back from Glasgow, Hazel officially set us up as a Community Interest Community, with us as the three name Directors.
.....then Lockdown happened.
The Soil: Beginnings 2017 - 2018
1.
Leni & Megan met in Yoga sara and connected over their shared passion to offer yoga to the people they were working with in their NHS & Charity work.
3.
We created a Facebook group to connect people and organise teacher’s meet ups - we met in parks, houseboats and people’slivings rooms.
5.
The name Bristol Yoga Roots Project was solidified. And we were getting a sense of who was committed to growing this vision and core was beginning to emerge.
2.
We reached out to yoga teachers we knew were doing this work/had the same vision and gathered for our first meeting at Space 238. Starting to feel into what was possible...
4.
The initial vision was to create a collective of yoga teachers with a shared vision of bringing yoga out of studios and to marginalised communities. After gathering lots of ideas & people we realised this might need some leadership to get it off the ground!
6.
For a time, James, Leni, Megan, Hazel & Andrea were working together to build our vision and develop a core group.