Giving Back
Supporting the wellbeing of not only our guests, but those whose wellbeing is impaired through poverty, lack of education or extreme circumstances across the globe, is key to our vision at Ashiyana. Below are a number of projects that we currently support.
If you would like to help us support any of the projects below, please email givingback@ashiyana.com
We assure you that 100% of all financial support goes directly to the chosen cause (or one of our choosing, if it has not been specified).
Moving Children Foundation
The Moving Children Foundation raises awareness to support movement for children around the world.
Movement through yoga, dance and play can make a significant contribution to a child’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. The foundation initiates projects with teachers, aid workers, parents and everyone else working with children to support them integrating movement into their daily routines. The projects are set up in areas where learning through yoga, dance and play can improve children’s lives.
In collaboration with Ashiyana, Moving Children is working with several schools and orphanages in Goa to provide a sustainable movement program for all children.
Shishu Bhavan : Child Day Care Centre
Shishu Bhavan (translated as 'a safe and loving place for children') was founded in 2014 by Renee Mallardo and Rupa Mandrekar to help disadvantaged children in Arpora, Goa, move into the education system, provide nutrition and hygiene, and basic healthcare.
The Child Day Care Centre provides much needed care for the pre-school aged children in the slums. Their mission is to help children by educating to the standard required to enter mainstream school at age 6. They help families with the required paperwork for registration and meet any costs attached.
In collaboration with Moving Children, Ashiyana is working with the teachers of Shishu Bhavan to provide a sustainable movement program for all the children at the centre.
Brighton Yoga Foundation
Brighton Yoga Foundation aims to make yoga accessible to everyone - so we can all enjoy the amazing benefits that it can bring. It provides year-round community yoga outreach activity. It offers small grants to those with great ideas for local specialist yoga projects. It has organised highly successful annual yoga festivals in Brighton city, U.K. since 2014. It helps the yoga community by providing a range of useful services that it needs.
Welfare for Animals in Goa (WAG)
Ashiyana Brazil is our expression of how a business can be a force for good through creating a virtuous loop of sustainability based on the 3 Rs of our R3volution; - Relaxation - Rehabilitation - Reforestation. With your help, we'll be able to open the retreat in our divine hide-away in "Alto Paraiso" (High Paradise) that will be the sister to our retreat in Goa, which has itself evolved into a social enterprise, supporting our staff and guests, the local community and the wider environment.
Ashiyana Nepal Fund
Om, Vikas*, Tek, Jiban, Ale (left to right in photo) and Kalpana (not pictured) cook the famously delicious food at Ashiyana Yoga Retreat Village. They live in the rural Dhading and Ghurka Districts of Nepal.
In April/May 2015, just before they were due to return to their large families, the two devastating earthquakes struck in Nepal - completely destroying all of their homes and damaging their crops.
We continue to support the rebuilding of their lives back in Nepal by contributing a portion of our profits as well as raising donations from workshops and events throughout Europe and India.
www.gofundme.com/AshiyanaNepal
* Vikas sadly passed away at the beginning of July 2016, from an infection he caught after suffering a motorbike accident near his home in rural Nepal. We continue to support his family with this project. We miss him deeply.
Please see our blog post: In Memory of Vikas
Double Dutch
The Double Dutch restaurant can be found just off the main road in Arambol, the next beach town north of our Centre in Goa. It’s renowned for its delicious variety of cakes and yummy food.
Lucie, the owner, cares for and donates a great part of her profits to children with disabilities. There is also a second hand Sunday market to which Ashiyana donates unwanted clothes, at the end of each season, left by guests and members of staff.
Sisterhood Foundation
The Sisterhood Foundation aims to give women and girls in the third world a brighter future. The objective is to provide courage, care, choices and change.
The Sisterhood Foundation is a Danish charity organisation founded by Tine Arentsen Willumsen with an International Founding Committee consisting of several women from all over the world. They share their common goal to help other women realise their own potential to provide for themselves and their families, creating a brighter and more prosperous future.
Ashiyana partners with the Sisterhood Foundation and supports their large scale fundraising events.
Satsang Foundation
The Satsang Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting the work of the spiritual master, Satyananda, who has dedicated his life to the service of Peace.
The Satsang Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting the work of the spiritual master, Satyananda, who has dedicated his life to the service of Peace. Ashiyana founder, Chris Nelson, has been attending silent Satsang retreats with Satyananda since 1999, and is committed to supporting the spreading of Satyananda’s message - discover your true nature and reside in peace.
The intention is to support Satyananda’s work in EU, as well as to enable him to start offering retreats and Satsang weekends in South America and beyond.
