WELCOME TO
THE PNEUMANITY FOUNDATION
Empowering communities through the wisdom of breath
The Pneumanity Foundation is a not-for-profit initiative of Breathwork Africa, dedicated to making breathwork accessible as a universal tool for wellbeing - empowering individuals and communities to cultivate health, resilience, and human connection.
We believe that every person already holds the tools for healing and resilience within their own body - and that the breath is the most powerful of these.
Through education, research, and community partnerships, we bring breathwork practices to schools, healthcare systems, and grassroots organisations across Southern Africa - helping individuals reconnect with their innate capacity for calm, clarity, and connection, and communities to thrive from the inside out.
Why Breathwork matters
While wellbeing initiatives are multiplying across communities and organisations, conscious breathing is a vital often overlooked element.
More than a technique, it is the foundation of all wellbeing - the bridge between body and mind, science and spirit, self and community.
At the Pneumanity Foundation, we see breathwork not as a standalone method, but as a thread that weaves together all others, enhancing the impact of existing health, education, and community programs.
By teaching the science and wonder of conscious breathing, we help find a sense of agency and reconnect with their innate capacity for calm, clarity, connection and creativity. Breath is free, universal, and always available.
From Remembering to Imagining
What we do
Community Programs
Partnering with local facilitators to bring breath-based wellbeing practices to schools, clinics, and community organisations.
Practitioner Training
Supporting the training of breathwork practitioners to an international standard, creating sustainable impact through local leadership.
Research & Case Studies
Documenting and sharing stories of transformation, building evidence for breathwork as a practical, inclusive model of wellbeing.
Be part of this growing movement for conscious wellbeing.
Your support helps us train facilitators, run community programs, and continue our research across Southern Africa.
Donate to the Pneumanity Foundation
Enquire about how to donate
and receive a SARS Section 18A certificate
Donate by direct EFT
Bank Account Name:
PNEUMANITY FOUNDATION NPC
Bank Name:
First National Bank
Branch Code:
250655
Bank Account Number:
63016170126
Bank Address:
Fredman Drive, 4 Merchant Place, Sandown, Sandton, 2031, South Africa
Bank Swift Code: FIRNZAJJ
Recipient Address:
2 Rhodes Avenue, Parktown West, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa
KINDLY USE YOUR NAME AS REFERENCE
Advisory Board Members
The Advisory Board of the Pneumanity Foundation is composed of respected leaders, thinkers, and practitioners from diverse fields who share a commitment to human flourishing and collective wellbeing. Drawing on deep expertise in psychology, breathwork, education, social impact, and leadership, the board provides strategic guidance and wisdom to support the Foundation’s vision and initiatives. Their role is to ensure that Pneumanity’s work remains grounded, ethical, and responsive to the evolving needs of communities around the world.
Dr Yasmin Jessie Turton
Advisory Board Member
Dr Yasmin Jessie Turton has spent over thirty year in the social justice sector as a strategist, facilitator, and healer. Her work spans grassroots movements, NGOs, and community-based organisations, where she supports institutional strengthening, strategic development, and capacity-building for those serving marginalised communities. With a Doctorate (DLitt et Phil) in Social Work, Jessie’s scholarship centers on decolonisation and the integration of complementary healing practices. She completed the Advanced Breathwork Practitioner course in November 2020. She brings this lens into her facilitation, weaving breathwork and other embodied modalities into workshops and organisational processes. Her approach to organisational healing is grounded in relational practice, collective care, and transformative justice. A former academic with ten years in higher education, Jessie continues as a Senior Research Associate with the University of Johannesburg. Her work bridges rigorous analysis with intuitive, somatic wisdom - supporting organisations and movements not only to strategise, but to heal.
Fatima Newman
Advisory Board Member
Fatima Newman is a strategically minded executive with extensive experience across a range of industries, including but not limited to financial services, asset management, private banking, corporate finance, telecommunications and technology. She leads with an innovation mindset and systems thinking approach, loves working through complexities and implementing suitable, practical and fit for purpose solutions. Fatima strives for improvement through the application of sound and effective judgement and decision making. She has considered and navigated a broad range of complexity from an African and global standpoint and have led multiple transformation projects. Fatima is passionate about people and how talent and competencies are linked for optimal business growth and sustainability. She has held board, strategic and operational roles and loved her contribution entering new markets, turnaround successes, change programs and the extensive due diligence work this entailed. On a personal level, Fatima loves dance, movement, people and forming new relationships and most recently having discovered breath as a tool and resource for love and wellbeing!
Dr Gillian Godsell
Advisory Board Member
Dr Gillian Godsell is a retired academic, with degrees from Wits, Stellenbosch, Pretoria and Boston University. She has taught at UJ in the Faculty of Education, and at Wits in the Centre for Developing Business and the Wits School of Governance. Gillian has served on NPO boards across the fields of politics, education , literature and small business development. She has written two children’s books: a biography of Helen Suzman aimed at grades 7-9 and a collection of Advent stories for younger children. She has three daughters and three grandchildren, all living in Johannesburg, where Gillian and her husband Bobby also live. Gillian and Bobby celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 2025. They share a deep interest in politics and religion, and occasionally give public talks together. Gillian’s faith has deep roots in Christianity, and branches that stretch joyfully towards new interpretation, translation and understanding. Hope is the necessary underpinning.
Linda Vilakazi
Advisory Board Member
Linda Vilakazi is a conscientious, hardworking South African with vast knowledge in development work, governance, local government, and corporate sector advancement. She is a Wits University alumni, an Aspen Global Leadership Network Fellow - ALI South Africa, as well as a graduate of the Executive National Security Program. She also completed the Oxford certificate on Multidimensional Poverty Alleviation program. Having worked for the CSIR, City of Johannesburg and Wits University Education, Linda later joined Foundations that advanced her knowledge, expertise and experience in broader development work. From 2016 she led the O R Tambo Foundation as CEO leading to the successful countrywide celebration of O.R Tambo’s Centenary year, 2017. Thereafter she joined the Zanele Mbeki Development Trust to help launch the African Women in Dialogue, a platform that seeks to bring 1000 women from across the continent to dialogue, engage, learn and share over five days contributing to Africa’s development through the power of women. On the international platform, her highlight was when she addressed the UN Security Council (October 2019) on the role of women in peace and security. Linda currently chairs of the Thebe Foundation Board since 2011, who’s main objective is to uplift communities. She is also a member of the Telkom Foundation; a trustee of the Institute for Social Dialogue; co-founder of the South African Student Solidarity Foundation for Education (SASSFE); and a committee member of the UNESCO Education Committee SA. During Covid she was a Sounding Board Member of the UNDP COVID-19 Rapid Emergency Needs Assessment and the South Africa’s Future Economic Outlook 20. Linda is an independent consultant assisting various projects.