“It has been a disastrous period, but we have managed to be there for our community, to help in the ways we can, as much as we can. The tools we learned from you served us well.” – Roula Darwish, Beirut

Roula, one of the community yoga teachers Tools for Inner Peace trained in Lebanon, started an initiative for women and children who had been displaced to Beirut from the south. Here is how she went about creating a safe space at the Houna Yoga Center, which she manages:

“At first we had no other volunteer teachers to give classes, so I started to offer some simple trauma yoga practices to displaced women. Yoga nidra helped them to get rid of their fears and worries, to be more relaxed, more open. Then we started working with kids. We started with a small group, and then the group grew bigger and sometimes we had 30 kids.” 

Rima, also trained by Tools for Inner Peace, has been sharing her love and beautiful energy with displaced children. She puts her whole heart into helping others – despite her own ongoing cancer treatment and the burden of supporting her whole family since their home in Nabatiye, south Lebanon, was destroyed.

With the ceasefire deal announced last week, many of the 1.2 million displaced persons are heading back home. Many others have nowhere to return because their homes and villages have been destroyed. Roula and Rima will continue to offer a safe space for displaced women and children and anyone else suffering from trauma. We will be sharing more soon about how you can support them!