Charting the course for 2025 and beyond
Our sense of anticipation and excitement for the year ahead is palpable. We know there are new opportunities on the horizon, and we’re ready to make an even greater impact in our yoga community.
We began 2024 with promise, unveiling a new website makeover to highlight our inspiring Grant Stories, which have been a valuable source of interest and insight on doing good with yoga. Now, we’re charting the course for 2025 and beyond.
At Yoga For Good, we not only provide funding to support our new grantees but also aim to inspire others by sharing the stories of previous grants. We hope these stories encourage people to use their yoga skills to offer programs for those in need and apply for funding to make a difference in their communities.
Grant opportunities and growth
We love showcasing talent on our website and expect to close this year’s Grant round in the first half of next year. Each grant has its own story—an origin, a plan and the ongoing delivery or completion of a project. Our Grant portal will reopen in mid-2025, likely in May or June, so be prepared.
We support innovative ideas that address current needs, and it’s fascinating to see how these ideas evolve during implementation. As projects grow and adapt, the outcome, lessons learned and future steps become clear. It’s a natural cycle of development.
The key to our growth and that of our community is leading with the heart. Contemplating what this means in practice is essential to how we operate. Here’s a definition:
“When people are led from the heart through a servant leadership approach, the individual performs at a higher level because the leader treats him or her with dignity and respect. The leader has taken the time to build trusted relationships with employees, continually communicating the meaning and purpose of what the organisation does.”
Grant summaries
The following is a summary of our current Grants, their intended outcomes, and an estimated overview of their potential reach. Our Grant scheme is currently operating in four key areas, with each project offering a unique approach to Yoga for Good.
Trauma-informed yoga
We are supporting the training of nearly 100 Yoga Teachers in trauma-informed practice and the delivery of eight programs for over 150 participants over a 12-month period. Research on the best yoga practices for youth in schools, the broader community and detention facilities is a crucial step toward making yoga’s benefits more widely accepted in mainstream society.
| Name | Project | Person per year | Potential reach |
| Yoga in Detention Facilities | Research into best practices to be released later | Currently 800 | 70,000+ |
| Teaching At-Risk Groups | New Training Course | 80 teachers | 80+ |
| Program Collaborations for FDV and Frontline Worker | Three Programs of 20, low-cost or free to participants | 60 participants | Only limited by funding |
| Stress management and Well-being program for Men’s health | Two 8-week programs for 8 | 16 participants | Increased engagement in the community |
| Residential Workshops on Yoga for Trauma and Healing | Training, networking, and support for service-centred yoga teachers | 12 teachers | Increased engagement in communities and groups |
| Youth Mental Health support for high migrant population community program | One program for 6-weeks in 3 locations | 90 participants | Associated research with UWS |
Community yoga reaching out for wellbeing
Our Grants support communities recovering from natural disasters and social disadvantage. We aim to reach over 30 people with special retreat experiences designed to restore health and wellbeing. These innovative programs foster deep connections between yoga, Indigenous culture and the land, creating new ways to engage. We are removing financial barriers to bringing yoga to isolated individuals, forming nurturing community bonds through regular face-to-face sessions for 100 people, and reaching as many as 3,000 online.
| Name | Project | Person per year | Potential reach |
| Indigenous practitioners retreat at the Winter Solstice | Physical recovery and social support to a flood-impacted region | 17 people | Increased engagement
in Community |
| Restorative yoga for a diverse and inclusive audience | Weekly restorative class on insight, Community Class | Online min 2,500
face to face 30 |
60 classes engaging 3300 people |
| Retreat for Indigenous Women | An immersive 7 days of healing mind, body, and soul using a connection with love and yoga | 15 women | engagement with yoga and Indigenous culture |
| Community engagement programs to decrease isolation | Tackling the disadvantages of high psychological stress and anxiety with dance and yoga | Weekly classes
70 people |
All age groups and genders in a high migrant population |
| Affordable yoga instruction of poses for children’s classes | Downloadable, versatile tiny books for children ages 1-10 | Sale of 1000 books | Engage with a large audience through yoga fairs |
Yoga infrastructure
Innovative ideas can be challenging to establish and often face roadblocks during the Grant process. We’ve seen the passion of others working to promote traditional practices in new ways, aiming to make their studies, experiences and the benefits of their daily applications more accessible. Various levels of technology can be applied, but the first step—recruiting initial participants—often requires disproportionate effort and a lengthy lead-up of research and development.
| Name | Project | Person per year | Potential reach |
| Yoga Ecology Portal | A targeted plan to engage in this Eco-Yoga community | 100-250 initial subscribers | 5,000 registered members |
| Launching pilot Hot Yoga teacher training | Free Creative Commons 26&2 script for beginning teachers | 12 initial subscribers | Global network for 26&2 |
| Adaption of deep yoga into modern functional life | Free practices available within an app & self-paced integrated yoga nidra course, at a cost | 20 initial students for the course | Global online community |
| Adaption of Traditional Tantric practices | To demonstrate a new way to teach meditation online | Initially 30 people | Collaboration with Meditation Sangha |
| Refurbishment of residential quarters at Spiritual Centre | Greater Satisfaction on a 4 months study and spiritual life course | 20 | Further 5 people |
Yoga therapy and healing
Yoga holds immense potential as a therapeutic tool for healing and managing medical, mental and emotional challenges. The dedication of individuals to their projects reflects a quest for positive change, embodying the core values of yoga—loving-kindness and compassion for self and others. The larger the project, the greater its potential reach. The success of yoga and meditation in managing conditions through therapeutic practices that lead to healing should not be underestimated. Eventually, this approach will be integrated into mainstream health treatment considerations.
| Name | Project | Person per year | Potential reach |
| Online Sound Science education platform with diverse content | Evidence-based resource for contemplative practices, workshops, and training | 20 workshops in early 2025 | Worldwide recognition of sound science as prevention and treatment in healthcare |
| Children’s ADHD & Autism | A program to calm and focus the mind in one-on-one sessions yoga session | 16 participants in two 6-week blocks | Secure long-term growth with partnerships to expand |
| Support for Grief | Community Yoga and Funeral collaboration in the death care process | 300 people | A great model for a community support system |
| Neurodiverse/Physical Support | Photography for the book on the adaption of traditional aerial yoga for therapy | Aiming to publish in Jan 2026 | sell in excess of 5,000 copies |
| Cancer Care | Weekly classes to support local community cancer sufferers | 10-18 people | Seek support to make Cancer care class sustainable |
| Yoga for children and teens with disabilities and neuro-developmental disabilities | Online course portal for a program of daily practice for ADHD, Autism, and Anxiety based on Yoga Therapy | First 100 participants in 6 months | 1000 participants subscribed in 18 months |
Connect with your true self through yoga
Yoga for Good Foundation supports individuals and organisations in bringing their Yoga-based projects to communities for a meaningful cause. We honour the legacy of yoga traditions, inspiring everyone to seek a well-lived life and uphold the values and ethics of yoga’s basic principles.
Adaptation and collaboration help us reach more people, sharing the benefits of yoga and making a difference, especially when it’s needed most. I look forward to sharing the full stories of our latest Grants and continuing to encourage the development of new projects next year.
Written by Moira Nirvana Gordon
Executive Director Yoga For Good Foundation
Read more Yoga for Good Foundation articles.
Community yoga classes
We are passionate about sharing the joy of practising yoga and offering you an opportunity to connect with your true self on a regular basis.
View previous classes or book now for our next class.
Free
22nd January 2025 - 12:00 to 1:00pm
Reetu Verma – Transformative Yoga Community Class
Online Yoga Community Class Link
Meeting ID: 859 1833 4994
Passcode: 171949
Join Reetu for an immersive meditation session into the depths of our energy centres. Nourish the systems of your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, ready for the year ahead. Be guided by her inspiring voice to relax into meditation and reconnect with and balance the subtle energies within.
Reetu Verma has 25 years of experience as an academic, teacher and coach, providing support, help and guidance to thousands of people from all walks of life from all over the globe.
During a traumatic near-death experience, she experienced pure light and pure love and embarked on a transformational, personal healing journey. Inspired and totally committed to making a positive difference in the lives of others, helping them on their healing journey to live a healthier, happier life.
She founded Healing, Health and Happiness to expanded her teachings of personal development, into finding life purpose and spiritual growth. Reetu has developed a systematic, practical approach to bring more harmony and a sense of joy into life.
Free
3rd February 2025 - 12:00 to 1:00pm Sydney Time (9am WA time)
Nicky Smith – Dynamic Relaxation Yoga Community Class
Online Yoga Community Class Link
Meeting ID: 834 8185 1566
Passcode: 326861
Join Nicky to experience the Dru Yoga difference, finding the stillness within. Dru Yoga is a fresh approach to nurture your entire being, balance the nervous system and leave you feeling deeply connected and calm.
Stay cool and calm this Summer with Energy Block Release 7 or Dynamic Relaxation. This sequence is perfect for those hot days when you want to practice some slow yoga. Dynamic Relaxation is well suited for those with a busy mind and who have trouble settling into the stillness of relaxation. The focus is on the coordination of breath and movement in slow, subtle mindfulness, leaving you refreshed.
Nicky is a Dru Yoga Teacher, Dru Meditation Teacher, Dru Breath Coach and Mental Health Aware Yoga Teacher. Her business is True Equanimity Yoga, and her practice focuses on mental health and wellbeing or “innercise”. Nicky lives in Dalyellup, Western Australia and loves to spend her time walking in nature and fostering rescue kittens.
Free
13th March 2025 - 11:30am to 12:30nn
Melina Murphy – Loving Kindness Restorative Yoga Community Class
Online Yoga Community Class Link
Meeting ID: 838 7373 9503
Passcode: 767969
This loving-kindness yoga class is an extended version of Melina’s insight timer class, held weekly at 7 a.m. at the weekend and sponsored by YFG. The asana sequences are based on traditional yoga and guide our awareness to be super kind and loving to ourselves as we move through this restorative yoga practice.
We fall into Self-love as we move and stretch to open the body, mind and spirit to flow and dive into the deep well of happiness within.
Melina presented at our Annual Retreat 2024, where her joy brought us joy and laughter. She is a healer with thirty years of experience helping people create joyful wellbeing through counselling, herbal medicine, nutrition and yoga.
Melina fell in love with yoga as a teenager, and her passion is going strong. She has been teaching yoga since 2005 and has taught at festivals, in halls and rooms, at her local gym, online, and in her Natural Health Clinic on Djangadi Country.
Testimonials
Our sole mission is to create opportunities to do good for others through yoga.
And we’re making an impact.
A huge thank you to the Yoga For Good Foundation...
…for their incredible contribution to our Life Now Yoga and meditation programs!
This generous donation will mean we can buy new yoga equipment, run a new yoga class in Broome, and enhance our meditation program for cancer patients and their primary carers.
Cancer Council Western AustraliaSending out gratitude to the Yoga for Good Foundation.
Their grant is enabling me to offer FREE trauma informed therapeutic movement and relaxation to frontline mental health and social services staff in Bega.
Participants are really valuing the time out for themselves and experiencing integrated poly vagal theory. And I get to be in a teaching space, yay!
PremKranti CounsellingThe generous grant we've been awarded from the Yoga For Good Foundation...
…allows us to reach more underserved and vulnerable community groups who can benefit from a trauma-informed yoga and embodied mindfulness practice at zero cost to the participants.
Some of the community groups we’ll be serving in the current months include 000 Foundation, Men’s Walk and Talk and WAGEC.
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