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Volunteer holidays: yoga retreats that give back to communities around the world

Non-profit travel company 109 World, named after the 109th, or guru bead, found on a Buddhist mala, offers trips to improve participants’ health and well-being and do some good for others

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The 109 World members combined their Yoga Girl retreat to Playa Gigante, Nicaragua, with working as volunteers to set up a local water distribution system there. Photo: Courtesy 109 World

Travelling is an escape but it can also be an opportunity.

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That is the thinking that led to a phone call that changed Brazilian entrepreneur Leticia Gonzalez-Reyes’ life, and is now impacting on the lives of individuals, and communities, worldwide.

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It all started back in 2015 when Colorado-based Gonzalez-Reyes and her friends Rachel Brathen (known on social media as Yoga Girl) and Olivia Rothschild were chatting about getting together to organise yoga retreats, with the added option of volunteer work for those interested.

“What we decided to do was to design these trips in a way that has these well-being aspects – you take care of yourself – but you also give back to the community you’re visiting,” says Gonzalez-Reyes. They named the non-profit travel company 109 World, after the 109th, or guru bead, found on a Buddhist mala.

The success of Yoga Girl – Brathen has 2.1 million followers on Instagram – also led them to question the role of social media “influencers”. They realised that many of them rarely ever make a real connection with their followers.

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Olivia Rothschild and Leticia Gonzalez-Reyes helping in Ecuador after the earthquake there. Photo: Courtesy 109 World
Olivia Rothschild and Leticia Gonzalez-Reyes helping in Ecuador after the earthquake there. Photo: Courtesy 109 World

They decided to partner with some of these influencers, bringing them along on their 109 World “global mission trips”. These have included a Yoga Girl retreat to Playa Gigante, Nicaragua, that also worked with the Project SEED organisation to set up a local water distribution system. There have been six trips in total so far, and more are being planned.

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