Urban Yogis UK aims to raise £10,000 to Fund Yoga, Empowerment & Mental Health Awareness Programmes for young people across the UK. A team will climb the United Kingdom's three biggest mountains (3 Peaks: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon) in under 24 hours AND complete 300 Yoga postures along the journey.

Since 2020, the UK's number of young people suffering from mental health problems has significantly increased due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. In June 2021, research showed that one in six children aged between 5-16 were identified as having a possible mental health problem. That's five children out of a class of 30 and an increase of 50% compared to 2017.

In addition, nearly half of 17-19-year-olds with a diagnosable mental health disorder were found to have self-harmed or attempted suicide at some point.

Research shows that one-third of mental health problems in adulthood are directly linked to an adverse childhood experience (ACE) which is where Urban Yogis UK comes in.

ABOUT US

Urban Yogis UK supports young people and communities by providing Yoga, mindfulness practices and youth work interventions to help overcome barriers such as mental health, trauma, crime/exploitation and exclusion from education.

Yoga and mindfulness practices can help develop positive outlooks, viewpoints and life skills to help young people navigate life. It also has the physical benefits of improving mobility, flexibility and general fitness.

We understand that not everyone has the luxury of attending a yoga session or having support which is why Urban Yogis is working to make Yoga accessible to all, breaking down social, economic, gender, cultural and any other barriers that prevent people from practising.

OUR FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY

The Urban Yogis UK team members will complete the famous three peaks challenge in June 2023. Our team will not only complete the three peaks hike in under 24 hours, but to make this challenge tougher, they will perform 300 yoga poses on the mountains. In addition, our team will do 100 postures on each mountain, and we will get photos of every pose to share.

WHAT WE ARE FUNDRAISING FOR

The money raised from this challenge will provide a 16-week programme for young people aged 11-19, which will be entirely free for them to attend. The programme will empower, educate, and build mental health awareness using Yoga to improve psychological and physical well-being.

We will deliver the programmes in areas of deprivation in the UK where there needs to be more youth provision. Each session will be 1.5 hours, include Yoga and educational workshops, and provide a safe space for young people to share their thoughts and feelings.

At each session, we will be able to support 16 young people, and we hope to deliver programmes in London, Dorset and Devon initially with the plan to roll out more sessions across the UK as we grow. So if we reach our £10k goal, we will be able to deliver the programme in these three locations, which will help us to positively impact thousands of children's lives by working with them to improve their mental health.

All Urban Yogis UK programmes contain physical and mindfulness-based practices and youth work education within schools, communities and prisons. We also offer various services to communities, such as a therapeutic mentoring service, education & employment support, and courses for youth workers and yoga teachers.

To find out more about Urban Yogis UK, visit our website here.

We thank you for listening to our story and appreciate any donations you can make.