Queer Yoga Edinburgh

The Pitch

Problem statement

Discrimination, homophobia and transphobia can have severe impacts on quality of life, physical and emotional wellbeing. Because of this LGBTQ+ people are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, loneliness, PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Our project welcomes LGBTQ+ folks to be a part of a community whilst doing an embodiment practice that can significantly improve mental wellbeing, in a trauma-informed setting. Traditional yoga settings can be intimidating for many people, especially for queer people with non-conforming gender or sexuality expression. Classes can also be inaccessible for those with mental / physical disability, those with low / no income and trauma survivors.

Solution

We support LGBTQ+ people to regularly practice yoga at an affordable cost (donation led). Accessibility and community are at the core of our group and we aim to make all of our classes trauma sensitive. Yoga and community has been proven to support trauma recovery, decreasing anxiety and emotional distress. By empowering students to have choice in their own embodiment and breathwork practice, they can access tools to regulate their nervous system whilst encouraging self acceptance and a sense of belonging. We create a space to heal together, within a supportive and accepting queer community. Funding our project would allow us to start a block of yoga classes at a new studio.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

We have grown a queer yoga community in Edinburgh with 464 unique attendees. We have a Facebook group of 300 members. We currently run 3 classes a week with optional social time after each and we have a community of 9 queer yoga teachers. We also hold social meet up events and retreats. Our group of teachers are trained and passionate about trauma informed yoga and centre the experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Our teachers have regular meetings to skill share, reflect and grow, considering how to best support community and make our classes safer and more accessible. We have seen how the group has helped those exploring gender, sexuality and identity alongside mobility or mental health issues.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

100 people

Who will benefit

Expected impact

Any funding received would go straight back into supporting the running of these classes. We would like to start a new yoga class, expanding our community. To get a new class started we will need financial support as we predict initially donations will be low. It’s important for us to have donation based attendance with free spaces available, so funding would be vital in allowing us to get these classes started. Donations from students would be saved during this time, meaning we could continue funding these classes for longer. We regularly receive feedback from the group, which we’d love to share, alongside number of attendees and % of repeat attendees.

Track record

Since starting our group we have had 464 unique attendees at classes, with 50% of those being repeat attendees. We’d like to share some feedback from attendees 1: 'I’m really grateful for the opportunity to come to queer yoga. I’ve struggled with identity my whole life and recently got diagnosed with autism and adhd, I’ve always struggled to feel like I fit in anywhere. Everyone knows that I’m a lesbian but I still try to hide it from the general population because I’m afraid of how people react and I’ve never been able to work up the courage to join the lgbt groups due to anxiety etc… I feel like the usual yoga or gym classes people look at you, judge you…I was so happy to find a judgment free, safe space' 2: ‘As a disabled queer person with social anxiety and sensory processing difficulties lots of queer spaces feel overwhelming to me. Queer yoga is great because it allows me to be in a space where I can meet new people at a pace that feels manageable.'