How my yoga and social justice worlds collided

The other day I ran a session at work where I asked my team to share the reasons why they decided to join Amnesty International and work in the human rights space. It was an interesting exercise and so beautiful to hear everyone’s heart-warming stories. There was certainly a lot of passion in the room, even some tears!

As I was preparing for the session it got me thinking about my personal journey and how I came to be a yoga teacher and Director of the Refugee Yoga Project charity. Looking back I can see a thread running through my life that led me to this point.

I first became interested in social issues and other people and cultures as a 7 or 8-year-old. I have my parents to thank for that. They encouraged me to study Australia’s Indigenous culture and to be curious about the world. At school I gravitated towards the non-Anglo Saxon kids in my eagerness to find out more about them and their way of life. I have great memories of squashing grapes with my feet to make wine in my Italian friend, Tania’s garage.

The first sign of a social conscience came when I convinced Mum to help me and a friend to set up a lemonade stand on our street. We were raising money for starving children suffering in the famine in Cambodia (then Kampuchea). I don’t remember how much we raised, probably not that much, but we were enthusiastic, budding activists.

Jump forward 15 years and I found myself spending a month in Dharamsala, in Northern India, as part of a two-year back-packing trip. Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile and home to a large Tibetan community including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. My boyfriend and I were lucky enough to attend the monthly ceremony where His Holiness welcomes all the newly arrived refugees. What an honour and I still have the little red string I was presented with! That kick-started my ongoing interest in Tibet and my learning about the horrific atrocities committed against the Tibetan people. Back home I began volunteering with a local charity to help advocate for protection and autonomy for the Tibetans in their homeland and to help Tibetan refugees settle in Australia. The activism urge was growing!

The next two decades were lost in a whirl of career-building and mortgage payments, saved only by opportunities to volunteer helping some of Sydney’s many homeless people and my growing love of yoga. My worlds were starting to align…

While I started doing yoga from a purely physical perspective, wonderful teachers introduced me to the philosophy and the true meaning of yoga. Everyone has their own interpretation, but for me the purpose of a yoga practice it to develop wisdom and active compassion, active being the important part. That means helping people less fortunate than me in any way I can.

Cut to 2017 and I’m a yoga teacher working at Amnesty International. I’m actively campaigning to help refugees across the world find safety and a new life and I’m involved in an amazing charity (The Refugee Yoga Project) directly helping refugees heal from their trauma and torture. I’m teaching yoga to teenagers dealing with anxiety and difficult family situations and I’m still helping feed Sydney’s homeless.

I’m passionate about social change and the transformative power of yoga. I believe that through breath and movement we can all connect to our inner compass and use that wisdom to guide us on our personal journey. For me social justice is at the core of my personal journey.