Hello everyone. My name is Brandie, born and raised in northeast Indiana, US with respect and recognition that this state sits on Kekionga, were the Miami, along with significant presence from the Potawatomi, Delaware (Lenape), and Shawnee, with groups like the Eel River, Wea, Kickapoo, and Kaskaskia also connected to land cessions and treaties in the region. I am a licensed massage therapist and energy worker of 20 years. I’m a certified instructor for the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Women Empowered self-defense program. For a couple years, I also did some life coaching. My first introduction to yoga was during my massage training. I have been a dabbler over the past 20 years, but never adopted a regular practice. Ever since my first introduction, I knew I wanted to teach yoga, but the timing and instructors never felt “right”... until I came across PYP. Being an athlete my entire life and a massage therapist (also a MVA with whiplash in 2008) has taken a toll on my body. Yoga is a way I can “be the change”. The trauma-informed approach fits perfectly with my massage practice and the women’s self-defense I teach. I also love that in PYP yoga is not used as an escape, which supports the life coaching I have done. After graduation, I will incorporate this into my current work and see what doors open. I’m open to opportunities where trauma-informed yoga is needed. Looking forward to experiencing the perfectness this cohort is and the profound healing we will all share.
In healing,
Brandie
Hi Everybody! My name is Lisa and I live in California. I've been an educator for 30 years and am now a Hospice volunteer and a group facilitator for individuals caring for loved ones with life-limiting illnesses. I myself care for my partner with cancer. I have been practicing yoga for about 8 years, and am so grateful to have found the PYP. I look forward to meeting you all on Thursday.
Hi everyone, my name is Elena Hughes. I'm joining from Lingít Aaní also known as Juneau, Alaska the land of the Taantʼá Ḵwáan and Saanya Ḵwáan Tlingit elders, and past, present and future generations. I'm Quechua from Peru and have resided in many places, but my heart is still in Brooklyn, NY. A former colleague of mine shared her experience with the Prison Yoga Project and suggested I reach out. I'm so happy to be a part of this community and bring all the wonderful knowledge to the youth I work with in the detention center.
Hello everyone, my name is Cindy.
I feel deeply called to this work. For a long time, I experienced a quiet but persistent inner knowing visions, feelings, and moments where I could see myself in prison spaces, supporting people in their healing. It was one of those callings that I couldn’t ignore, no matter how much I tried to rationalize it away.
I am currently a healer who focuses on generational trauma, and I’ve been doing this work for about seven years. One of my deepest intentions is to help people reconnect to their truth and move toward forgiveness of themselves, their stories, and their pasts.
When I came across this training, it resonated immediately. I felt a clear yes in my body and spirit. I believe that our systems are deeply in need of recovery and compassion, and I hope that through this training I can support those who are most in need, while also learning how to build stronger community and share these tools more widely.
I’m also at a point in my personal and professional growth where service and learning feel essential. I’m excited to deepen my understanding, expand my capacity, and walk this path alongside all of you.
I truly feel this journey will be grounding, heart-opening, and perspective-shifting, and I’m grateful to be here with you all.
Hi everyone! My name is Morgan Blanchard, and I’m joining you from Schaumburg, Illinois. My yoga journey has been nonlinear, I’ve practiced consistently at times and stepped away at others. As someone living in a larger body, I have deeply appreciated the inclusivity that yoga can offer through modifications, while also navigating moments of judgment in some yoga spaces for simply taking up the space my body requires and deserves.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently work in a jail, with previous experience at a Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. I strongly believe in yoga’s capacity for healing, emotional regulation, and creating safe, grounding spaces. In my work within corrections, I see yoga as a powerful form of reentry, one that offers something fundamentally different from many traditional correctional approaches.
I feel truly honored to be in this space with all of you and am excited to see what the coming months hold for us together!
Hi everyone,
My name is Susie and I'll be joining from Chattanooga, Tennessee. I'm very excited to be joining you all on this journey and am excited to have the time, space, and resources needed to really dive more deeply into my practice. Like many of you have mentioned, I have continued a lonlinear practice of yoga for many years, though in the last year I have been more consistent with daily meditations and practice. I also have started rock climbing in the last year and am enjoying the beautiful outdoor spaces Chattanooga is surrounded by. Though rock climbing is a great way to exercise, get outside, and push myself to overcome fears, it is also very physically demanding. Practicing yoga has been a way for me to slow down, feel grounded, and heal.
I teach writing and rhetoric at the local university and feel called to lead trauma-informed yoga sessions at not only the college, but in surrounding community spaces. My passion is working with teens and young adults and I hope to take what I learn and start a program for youth struggling with addiction, anxiety, and unhealed traumas. Yoga and mindfulness are intimately connected to the creative process of writing, and hopefully I can take some of what I learn to my students. Feeling very thankful to be on this journey.
Hi, I’m Maggie, joining you from Hanover, New Hampshire, a rural university town where Dartmouth College is. With respect and recognition that this beautiful state sits on N’dakinna, the unceded ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook, and Wabanaki Peoples, I’m grateful to be learning and living on this land. I was born in New Orleans and raised in San Francisco. I use she/her pronouns. I’m a mom of three (22, 20, and 12), and I’m a trad wife.
Yoga is one of the main ways I cope and function—it’s my medicine. I first practiced yoga with my mom growing up, and spent three months in rural India studying with Bikram Choudhury. Before I found a sustainable, regular practice, I was rushed to the hospital twice for what looked like anaphylaxis—only to learn there was no allergic reaction. My stress levels were simply through the roof. Those experiences helped me understand how much the nervous system holds, and how much breath work, movement and meditation can support healing. I have an ACE score of 3–4, and I strongly relate to the idea that “the body keeps the score.”
I currently teach both inside and outside, and I’m humbly honored to be part of this training. I’m here to deepen my trauma-informed skills and learn how to offer yoga in a way that centers dignity, safety, and choice. The light in me sees the light in you. Namaste 🙏🏼
@musschethotmail-com Hi Tim! I have bad knees as well. I was a gymnast and have been told I'll need new knees in about 10 years. I'm very careful with my practice and there are some poses I cannot do, which is OK. Looking forward to meeting you virtually. Sincerely, Lisa
@trista-powell1987gmail-com Hi Trista I cry during yoga as well. Sincerely, Lisa
Hi everyone,
My name is Renee, from Calgary, Alberta (Canada) - I am the Programs Supervisor at the Youth and Adult Female prison and have worked in corrections for 16 1/2 years. PYP came in to the centre a few years ago and I have loved to see the support it's offered to the clients in our centre. I have been doing my own practice for many years as a way to unwind and stay grounded working in a stressful field. I am excited to get more knowledge and expand that practice!
Looking forward to getting to know you all! I will attend the lives as much as possible, but the timelines for Western Canada line up with work hours, so I will connect with all of you as much as I can!
@elenakategmail-com Hi Elena I too lived in NYC for many years and miss it. Tlingit art is incredible. Stunning. I have visited Alaska and my head almost exploded from the majestic, natural beauty and the interesting and friendly people. Sincerely, Lisa
@susiefriesgmail-com Hi Susie, ❤️ Chattanooga, TN is one of my favorite places in America. Sincerely, Lisa
My name is Taylor (he/him), and I’m joining from San Diego, California—on the unceded ancestral lands of the Kumeyaay people.
I’m coming to this training through lived experience, spiritual awakening, and ongoing practice. I was recently released on December 3rd after 26 months of incarceration, a period that became a profound turning point in my life. Before that time, much of my life was shaped by unresolved trauma, loss, and grief beginning in early childhood—experiences I didn’t have the language, safety, or support to express. Over time, this unprocessed pain led me deeper into addiction, moving from alcohol to drugs and eventually into crime.
Nearly a year before my incarceration, I experienced a life-altering moment after an accidental overdose in which I died and was left on the side of the road. Surviving that experience marked the beginning of a spiritual awakening—a moment of choice, like a phoenix rising from the ashes—though I wasn’t yet able to fully break free from the life I was living. It wasn’t until incarceration that I found consistent access to meditation, breathwork, and yoga, practices that helped me reconnect to my body, regulate my nervous system, and begin to heal in ways I hadn’t known were possible.
What’s calling me to this training is a deep commitment to this path—not only for my own continued healing, but to responsibly support others who are navigating trauma, addiction, incarceration, and re-entry. I’m here to deepen my understanding, humility, and capacity to hold space with care, integrity, and respect for lived experience.
I’m grateful to be part of this learning community and to walk alongside others who are committed to trauma-informed, accessible, and compassionate practice. I’m very much looking forward to the weeks ahead.
Hi all, my name is Lucy and I'm writing this from Austin, Texas. I am grateful to be here and to learn with you all. I wanted to be a part of this program to learn how to feel more peace in my own self and, hopefully, to help others learn to do the same,