Manas Yoga × Humana Volunteers
Yoga doesn’t end at the studio door
At Manas, we have always believed that yoga is not a retreat from the world — it is a practice for living in it more fully, more honestly, and with greater courage. Seva, selfless service, is not a add-on to the practice. It is the practice. And it has always led outward.
That is why we have partnered with Humana Volunteers — an international development organisation running 10-month volunteer programmes in Africa and India. Because the people who show up on our mat are the same people who are capable of showing up in the world. We want to make that bridge as short as possible.
BEYOND LABELS. BEYOND BOUNDERIES.
YOGA for every BODY.
At Manas Yoga Vienna, we believe yoga isn’t just a practice—it’s a space where everyone belongs.
No matter your body type, identity, orientation, religious background, age, or experience level—there’s a mat waiting for you here.
Forget perfect poses and designer activewear. Our studio celebrates the beautiful diversity of human experience.
Our community isn’t about perfection—it’s about connection. Here, you’ll find a laid-back, genuinely friendly atmosphere (no pretentiousness allowed!).
Teachers meet you exactly where you are, classes are paced for deep experience, not rushed achievement
and fellow yogis who become friends beyond the studio walls.
WHY WE DO THIS
The philosophy behind the partnership.
Advaita Vedanta — the non-dual philosophy at the root of everything we teach at Manas — tells us that there is no separation between self and world. The suffering of another is not separate from us. The injustice we witness is not happening over there, to someone else. It is happening here, in the same fabric of awareness we practice inhabiting every time we come to the mat.
Karma Yoga, the yoga of action, asks us to act — fully, wholeheartedly, without clinging to outcomes. The Bhagavad Gita does not call us to perfect stillness. It calls us into the field.
Humana Volunteers sends people into the field — to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, and India — to work on environmental projects, community development, health, and education. Their work is rooted in the same values we teach: solidarity, sustainability, and the belief that a human life is most fully lived in service to something larger than itself.
The fact that India is both the origin of the philosophy we practice and one of Humana’s active destinations is not a coincidence we are willing to ignore. This partnership lives in that intersection.
WHO IS A HUMANA VOLUNTEER?
Humana Volunteers is a non-profit organisation working globally for sustainability, solidarity, and international development. You may know them from their second-hand stores in Vienna and across Europe — each store funds the programme described below.
Their 10-month international volunteer programme works like this: three months of intensive training at DRH Lindersvold in Denmark, six months of active project work in Africa or India, and one final month back in Denmark for reflection and awareness-raising. The six-month field stage is fully covered by Humana — flights, accommodation, meals, insurance, vaccinations, visa, and a monthly allowance. The total participant cost for the Denmark phases is €3,650, with up to €3,000 available as scholarship. In practice, that means many people join this programme for as little as €650 out of pocket.
Destinations include Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, and India. Projects focus on sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, health, and community and educational development. No specific qualifications are required — only genuine commitment, a medium level of English, and the willingness to spend ten months living and working in a community that is not your own.
The programme is open to adults from 18 years old. New cohorts start in October, January, April, and July.
HOW WE WORK TOGETHER
Four times a year, Manas and Humana bring the community together for an evening that moves between yoga practice, philosophy, and real conversation about what it means to act in the world.
THE EVENTS
Yoga as activism, four times a year.
Each quarterly evening follows the same basic arc: we begin on the mat, we move into conversation, and we end with the question that matters most — what are you prepared to do?
The first half of the evening is a 30-minute yoga practice, led by Erika, rooted in the philosophical theme of that quarter. The second half is a talk from either Elena (Humana’s German-speaking Volunteer Advisor, based in Madrid and visiting Vienna quarterly) or a returned Humana volunteer speaking directly from their experience in the field. We close with open Q&A and community circle — no sales pitch, no pressure, just honest conversation.
Every event is run as a donation class. We ask what you can give. The full amount goes to a Humana project we select each quarter — we’ll always tell you exactly where it goes and how much was raised.
YOGA BEFORE YOU GO
A workshop for people who have said yes.
You have been accepted into the Humana programme. You are going to Denmark in a few weeks, and then to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, or India for six months. You are probably simultaneously excited, terrified, and running out of time to prepare everything.
This workshop is for you.
Yoga Before You Go is a 90-minute practice session designed specifically for people on the threshold of major transition. We work with pranayama and breath regulation to support the nervous system under stress. We use grounding and somatic practices to build an embodied anchor you can return to — in a training centre in Denmark, on a project site in Zambia, in a quiet moment when it is three in the morning and you are not sure you made the right choice.
We also talk. We talk about what it means to show up fully in a community that is not your own, about how yoga philosophy reframes the experience of discomfort and uncertainty, and about what you can carry home with you that will not fit in a suitcase.
The workshop runs four times a year, timed to each Humana cohort departure. It is offered on a sliding scale.
To register or for group bookings for your cohort, contact us at office@manas-yoga.studio.
POST-RETURN INTEGRATION
Coming home is its own journey.
Ten months is a long time. You leave one version of yourself and come back changed in ways you will spend years understanding. The people around you are glad you are safe. They ask how it was. You say incredible. You say hard. You say I don’t really know how to explain it yet.
This circle is for that moment — and for every moment after it where you are still finding your way back.
Our post-return integration sessions are open circles for returned Humana volunteers. We begin with a short restorative practice, and then we sit together and we talk. There is no agenda and no requirement to perform a tidy narrative of growth and gratitude. You are welcome exactly as complicated as you actually are.
The sessions are free or donation-based. They are open to returned volunteers from any cohort, any year. We work with Humana to make sure everyone who comes back through the programme knows this space exists.
If you have recently returned and want to join, write to us at erika@manas-yoga.studio.
GET INVOLVED
Ready to take the next step?
Whether you are curious, committed, or already on your way — there is a place for you here.
