Prana ambassadors Olivia Hsu and Daila Ojeda explored the meaning of selfless service on a recent trip to Brazil where they used climbing and yoga to help build self-confidence and environmental awareness with at-risk youth.
“Our trip to Brazil was amazing,” said Daila. “There’s nothing like sharing an adventure with a bunch of kids. It was an incredible cultural experience climbing with children in the favelas and meeting people on the other side of the world.”
As part of the trip, Olivia and Daila visited Brazil’s Centro de Escalada Urbana that is running a grassroots program for disadvantaged youth from Rio de Janeiro’s many favelas (shantytowns).
Centro de Escalada Urbana is the first school of its kind in all of Brazil. They focus on making rock climbing more accessible, and they use it as an innovative and engaging tool to promote self-confidence, a healthy lifestyle, and respect for the environment.
There Olivia and Daila not only talked about the benefits of climbing and yoga, and they took the kids out to do it.
“Yoga is a way to balance out all activities in life including climbing,” said Olivia. “People of all ages and backgrounds can hang out and share this great experience. This trip made it possible for us to bring people together and offer our knowledge as professional athletes of the wellness and self-confidence that comes with climbing and yoga.”
Their climbs included Serra do Cipo and Pan de Azucar in Rio de Janeiro. While there, they also created a short film about their experience.