A Day Dedicated to the Lotus Project: Body, Poetry, and Inclusion

Friday, April 25, 2025, highlighted the Lotus Project with a day entirely devoted to its innovative approach combining yoga and poetry for supporting refugee audiences.

The morning opened with a friendly project presentation, detailing its partnership and Erasmus+ support, followed by a dissemination session led by Foteini Dimitriou for about a dozen professionals involved in inclusive arts education.

Modeled on the Athens workshop, the session included: a breathing icebreaker with a poetic prompt (“If my body could speak, it would say…”), chair yoga exercises promoting presence and relaxation, a sensory exploration of poetry through reading, recitation, and writing inspired by bodily sensations, then collaborative exercises blending movement, breath, voice, and writing around a Maya Angelou poem. The session ended with a collective sharing and breathing ritual.

After a break, a practical workshop brought together a local amateur group from Seine-Saint-Denis, combining yoga exercises, poetic readings, and creative writing.

The day concluded with a public presentation of the workshop results, coinciding with the official launch of the “Lotus Project” book. This event highlighted the participants’ voices and creations and raised awareness about the importance of inclusion through bodily and artistic expression.

This Parisian R-Lab helped disseminate an original and accessible method, promoted collective practice with a vulnerable audience, and showcased the transformative power of the arts for social inclusion of refugees.