In the spirit of the practice of ‘doing not talking’, Tom Farrand from Good for Nothing finished his speaking slot at ‘Critical Tensions’ St Brides festival this morning with a live design challenge for the attendees and anyone beyond the conference. There is a live visual identity brief now open for the Hackney Yoga Project (HYP) an amazing pilot project developing a best practice model for working with yoga and the refugee and asylum-seeking community in Hackney, one of the most deprived areas in the UK. The mission is to improve the quality of life for these women through yoga practice, by creating a safe and respectful space and removing barriers to participation. The women HYP works with have been displaced from their homelands due to war and natural disaster and while they may not have much control in their lives right now, they are strong, funny, talented, intelligent women, who are determined to reclaim their independence. HYP are in desparate need of a visual identity to help bring their story and mission to life as they set out on a major fundraising push. here's the brief

1. Hackney Yoga Project GFN Brief St Brides
The story:
Hackney Yoga Project (HYP) is a pilot project developing a best practice model for working with
yoga and the refugee and asylum-seeking community in Hackney, one of the most deprived
areas in the UK. The mission is to improve the quality of life for these women through yoga practice,
by creating a safe and respectful space and removing barriers to participation (travel cost, childcare,
language and misperception being the main ones).
The women HYP works with have been displaced from their homelands due to war and natural
disaster and while they may not have much control in their lives right now, they are strong,
funny, talented, intelligent women, who are determined to reclaim their independence.
They come from Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Iran, India etc.
Many have experienced gender based violence and some, torture. Some are also destitute –
not street homeless but living off charity and friend’s hand-outs, as is the case for many women
in the UK asylum process.
Some rely on British Red Cross food parcels and free biscuits at free English language classes
for their sustenance. The hot seasonal lunch provided after yoga at HYP, for some, is their only
hot meal of the week.
Finding ways to reach the hard-to-reach women – African and Vietnamese women who have
been trafficked for prostitution or servitude, for example – is intrinsic to the work.
Female refugees are more likely to experience gender based violence than any other group.
Gender based violence includes female circumcision (‘cutting’ does not just take place overseas
– it happens now, in 2011, in the UK), rape, trafficking, psychological and sexual abuse.
Hackney Yoga Project takes place at the much loved community resource Hackney City Farm
and was set-up in March this year with funds via the farm from Big Lottery. The project founder
and yoga teacher, Emily, was teaching voluntary sessions for a British Red Cross group of
refugee and asylum-seeking women. They asked for more yoga, and Hackney Yoga Project
was born. Funds have also been awarded to the pilot by the UK’s governing body of yoga, the
British Wheel of Yoga.
HYP is now also running English lessons after the yoga, and a textile printing session. Policies
and procedures are in place for managing issues and incidents, which certainly do arise with

2. this vulnerable group, travel reimbursement, remit, cost management and duty of care, amongst
others.
The women are referred by organisations including the British Red Cross, Freedom from
Torture, Hackney Migrant Centre, Poppy Project, which works with trafficked women, Project
London and Refugee Council.
Yoga is a powerful and transformative practice with many widely recognised theraputic benefits,
including being more relaxed, having more energy, becoming stronger and more flexible in body
and mind, and improving self-esteem, confidence and perspective.
Hackney Yoga Project is supported by Hackney City Farm, Big Lottery, the British Wheel of
Yoga.
The Good for Nothing Brief
HYP is about to go on a major fundraising push and is in urgent need of a visual identity
to help them on this mission
The challenge is to create a visual identity, look and feel and design help for HYP which
expresses their story and mission in an engaging and soulful way.
Use design to help diffuse the ‘critical tension’ that exists for women labelled as refugees and
asylum seekers and the challenges that creates for them.
Design will initially need to roll out on the web using a platform which the HYP can easily
populate and update themselves e.g Wordpress/Tumblr
What we have to work with
“When good my mind, my health, I help the other women, I study. My heart is different. In this moment
it’s a strong hope moment for us. Now yoga helping us, then I help other women. There are a lot of
problems in the world… I don’t understand why. But yoga help me, it is very very good. My body, my
mind…. My legs pain, my head pain, everywhere pain, my back… When I exercise in the yoga class, I feel
free, my body free, my mind free like bird.”
“I always like the class and I enjoy the yoga - we love it and the class improves my English. It
helps me relax mentally, makes me feel good...”
“I love the yoga very, very much. I was in so much pain, my back, my leg, my head... no
sleeping... the yoga helps and I make friends. I like the vegetables at lunch!”
“Yoga helps me fight the world, in a positive way.”
“The yoga really helps. It is the only thing that helps my pain.”

3. http://hackneyyogaproject.blogspot.com/
To get involved with this brief, join the group here:

4. http://goodfornoth.ning.com/group/hackney-yoga-project
Contact:
goodfornothing@pipelineideas.com
Emily Brett: hackneyyogaproject@gmail.com