What is the Lotus project?
The lotus is one of the symbols of India, the home of yoga. Lotuses take root in the mud and their long stems rise to the surface of the water towards the sun. For the people of India, this is a metaphor for life: from the dark mud we move towards a more conscious life.
The Lotus Project focuses on supporting migrants and refugees, with the aim of contributing to their well-being and mental health.
At its core, the project combines yoga and poetic writing as complementary practices. By bringing these two disciplines together, Lotus offers an innovative methodology that helps migrants and refugees strengthen resilience, develop self-expression, and share these tools within their communities.
The project specifically targets migrants and refugees hosted by partner organisations in France, Greece, and Germany. At the same time, it seeks to inspire youth workers, artists, and yoga teachers by providing them with open-source methodological tools adaptable to diverse contexts.
One of Lotus’s key features is the possibility for participants to receive certification in the Lotus Method. Those who wish may then become facilitators themselves, empowering others by transmitting what they have learned.
At the Lotus Project, we are dedicated to supporting migrants and refugees through creative, holistic, and empowering methods. Our mission focuses on:
- Promoting mental health and well-being through yoga, storytelling, and poetry.
- Enhancing skills and self-confidence in migrants and refugees.
- Providing youth workers, artists, and educators with innovative tools to design and lead meaningful activities.
- Fostering economic inclusion and employability through capacity-building and certification opportunities.
- Disseminating the Lotus Method internationally to encourage the exchange of best practices across Europe.
Lotus is not only a project but also a movement—an invitation to imagine new ways of fostering connection, creativity, and resilience in the face of displacement.
— Project partners
