Recent work & A sample of projects
Afghan refugee resettlement
2021: Short consultancy assignment with The Afghanistan & Central Asian Association (ACAA) to help Afghan refugees settle and integrate into British society. Emily provided strategic advice on sustainable development for ACAA and its services. She also organised the charity’s approach to government relations, councils across London, the Mayor of London’s Office, companies and crowdfunding (over 10k raised). https://acaa.org.uk
Snowy White Owl Initiative
Emily was invited to be part of a small group of ten in Wyoming US to contribute to a new model of healing for healthcare professionals. This initiative was led by the founder of the Harvard Global Mental Health Trauma & Recovery Programme, Dr Richard Mollica.
OURMALA: A safe space
to breathe and heal for
for refugees in London
2010: Emily founded OURMALA to help refugees and asylum-seekers in London rebuild their lives. Doing so was part of her yoga/meditation practice off the mat.
OURMALA provided a safe space to breathe and heal through yoga and other support services, such as English classes and access to essentials.
Emily was dedicated to OURMALA for over a decade. She was a pioneer of yoga service in the UK, her work supported hundreds of women, men, young people, children and babies in the refugee community and later survivors and bereaved from the Grenfell Tower fire.
Her work has inspired great generosity in the wider community and she has been personally recognised for her leadership in the field.
To enable access to OURMALA’s programmes, all free to service users, the cost of travel was refunded and special consideration was given to language barriers, cultural and gender differences, awareness of the reality facing people who have been forced to become refugees and seek asylum, and the UK’s asylum-system.
Emily taught yoga, developed the approach, based on feedback from service users as well as specialist training, built the organisation, its team and services, brokered partnerships, raised funds, trained hundreds of teachers, and OURMALA’s model was replicated internationally.
Grenfell tower fire:
working with
survivors and bereaved
2018 - 2020: The NHS contacted Emily to ask if OURMALA could adapt its programme to support survivors and bereaved after the fire in 2017. Emily then developed a proposal in collaboration with the NHS and after the successful pilot project, a two year programme was then funded. At the start of the first lockdown, the yoga sessions switched to online.
Off the Mat, into the World: training
Healing yoga for refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced people. The goal of this intensive was to teach participants how to use yoga to serve most effectively and create a truly healing environment. Designed for yoga practitioners or teachers from any background, doctors, psychologists, therapists and programme coordinators.
Emily shared her teachings on OURMALA's specialist evidenced based yoga programme, sensitive to trauma, gender, cultural differences and the reality of under-served people. Participants also experienced an OURMALA yoga class, heard stories from people who were refugees seeking asylum about how yoga has helped them, and learned about the science and best practice.
with AMIR AMOR
FROM RUDIMENTAL
2016: Rudimental’s Amir Amor wrote a new track, dedicated to OURMALA: “Yayang”, representing the cycles of life. This was a personal project for Amir and a departure from the sound of his Platinum award-winning band, Rudimental. The track dropped at an event Emily hosted in 2016, which was then the largest mass yoga event ever to have been held in the UK with over 300 attendees at London’s Lindley Hall.
Yoga for Refugees
2016: YOGA FOR REFUGEES was a community gathering for the yogis of London and further afield, who came together to stand up for peace and welcome refugees. Over 300 attended, making this the largest ever mass yoga event to be held in the UK. Emily hosted the event on behalf of OURMALA
