International Program Highlight: Australia

” Earlier this year I applied to be considered for Impact Boom’s Elevate + Accelerator Program (funded by the Queensland Government) which aims to tackle social & environmental issues through the leadership of local entrepreneurs who are dedicated to making “change for good”.

This is a cohort of 13 dynamic social enterprises throughout South East Queensland. These social enterprises are led by purpose-led entrepreneurs, each of these enterprises are responding to a vast range of issues & challenges in their local communities and beyond.

I’m representing Yoga on the Inside, along with one of our most dedicated facilitators, Ana Laura Viglione. Through this program, we will learn more about what it takes to run a social enterprise and the skills needed to effectively ‘pitch’ to those that we want to attract to our services.

My overall goal during the next 6 months of this program is to refine the purpose of Yoga on the Inside, the work that we do, the people that we serve, and the impact that this work has amongst the participants we connect with.

During this process, we will also be able to highlight the work that we’ve done so far, as affiliate partners of Prison Yoga Project here in Australia, and the power of the support from PYP that we’ve been so honoured to have received, in abundance, since 2019. PYP’s support has meant that, so far, we’ve been able to implement 15 programs across 8 correctional facilities in 4 states of Australia to date- with newly interested correctional centres in the pipeline that we’ve initiated discussions with.I’m honoured and humbled to be a part of this cohort where we get to share and learn with one another and help each other succeed and grow for the betterment of the communities we ALL live in. “

This is a contributing blog written by Sonia Brown-Diaz (RYT-200).

Sonia Brown-Diaz (RYT-200) has been utilizing trauma-informed yoga techniques for over 17 years to heal from the profound sorrow and resulting PTSD that followed the stillbirth of her twin sons in 2003. In 2018, Sonia completed PYP training in Brixton and felt called to work with marginalized communities. She founded Yoga on the Inside and has introduced trauma-informed yoga classes and programs across Australia since early 2019.

You can hear more of Sonia’s personal journey on our webinar and podcast series. The episode is titled Culturally Inclusive Care With Australian Ambassador Sonia Brown-Diaz.