“Creating environments for people who might not have had that opportunity before is really rewarding, it just feels like that's how it should be. It comes naturally to me. It's a no brainer.”

Access Sport’s Changing Places Bristol work focuses on transforming disabled and disadvantaged young people's lives through the power of inclusive community sport.

We’ve been supporting Soleil Salutations to deliver weekly, therapeutic yoga sessions in Hartcliffe, South Bristol for disabled and/or neurodivergent young people.

In the article below, Jazz explores why inclusion is at the heart of her yoga sessions and the impact being active can have on young disabled people.

Article by Jazz from Soleil Salutations

Growing up in a predominantly white area and being of mixed heritage, I didn’t really feel included. When I see people not being included or advocated for, it just really sparked something in me, and it makes me passionate about it because I've experienced it myself, perhaps in a slightly different way.

While studying at university, I started to meet and work with some autistic young people, and I just really saw how they were not included or able to access certain things. They weren't really being acknowledged because they didn’t communicate in the same way as everyone else. That was when I knew this was the population I wanted to work with.

I am a yoga teacher; a training play therapist and I have a Community Interest Company that offers sessions for children with special needs and disabilities. I offer yoga for disabled people and those with special educational needs. 

I've worked in special education for about nine years, predominantly with autistic people. During that time, I was using yoga for my own fitness and wellbeing, and I really saw the benefits of it. I also saw the benefits of using it with the children I was working with, and it inspired me.

As soon as I moved to Bristol, I looked for ways to share yoga while continuing to work in schools. When I first moved to Bristol, I wanted to get my name out there and tell people what I was offering. I initially found the Ignite Bristol directory and made contact with Access Sport through that. Access Sport helped me meet lots of other organisations that are doing similar things. I’ve grown my network and reached different families to join the groups. I don't think I would have had access to all of those people in that network without Access Sport.

I found that there really wasn't much for families during the holidays and the few available things had long waiting lists. A colleague and I decided to start setting up some holiday sessions for the young people we were working with. At the same time, we noticed lots of children really struggling within the school setting but really thriving when we would go outside or to forest school.

That’s when we set up the Community Interest Company, because we realised there was such a need for it, and it just grew from there. The response to it was amazing and we got great feedback. We started running more holiday sessions but realised we needed a way to make it sustainable. Now we're offering a weekly session for home-educated children, holiday sessions, and even occasional Sunday sessions.

Yoga has had such a powerful impact on the children and adults we work with. Often, there's a natural disconnect from their bodies, it may be because of their conditions or past experiences. If someone has experienced pain, they naturally disconnect from their body, whereas yoga really helps bring them back into it. It also improves things like coordination and helps different parts of the brain work together. So not only is it good for physical well-being, but it also strengthens neural connections as well. It's also really beneficial for the nervous system and helps with regulation. One of the most rewarding parts of this work is seeing their progress week after week. Seeing them realise their bodies can do things that they didn't necessarily know they could. You’ll see them do certain poses that they weren't able to do in the beginning, it’s incredible.

A young girl stands out to me in particular. She couldn't even step through the gate when she first came. She had been out of education because of anxiety and her past experiences. Being around others was incredibly difficult for her. Now, she participates in the sessions, stays for the full two hours, and has even started interacting with another child. Seeing that transformation is just amazing.

You just see their confidence build. When they become familiar with the space and they really feel like it's theirs, they can explore it in the way they need and express themselves. It’s really nice to see them coming back and getting more and more confident.

I think it's really important for the parents and carers to see what their children are capable of but also share that experience with them. Sometimes, they’ll notice something in a session – how their child responds to an activity – and take that knowledge home as a tool to support them. That's the ultimate aim for me: that either the parent, carer or the young person themselves finds something they can use in their daily life for support.

Creating environments for people who might not have had that opportunity before is really rewarding, it just feels like that's how it should be. It comes naturally to me. It's a no-brainer. It's something that should be happening. On a day to day, I'm just doing the work and it's not until I receive feedback from somebody or sit and reflect on it that I realise the impact it's having.