Stories of Impact
How Yoga Can Change A Life
Over the past twelve years, we have helped thousands of people access the therapeutic benefits of yoga.
Many of our beneficiaries came to yoga to cope with unthinkable challenges — a cancer diagnosis, a lifetime of incarceration, systemic bias and oppression. We believe every one of these individuals has an important story to tell — about their lives, the adversity they’ve faced, and the unique role yoga played in their growth and healing.
Yoga 4 Change: An Interview with Susie Rokosch
Susie Rokosch turned to yoga as a desperate attempt to manage chronic pain and health complications from a car accident. Now, she works with Yoga 4 Change to share the therapeutic effects of the practice with others.
International Yoga Nonprofits Collaborate to Address Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
Give Back Yoga has joined forces with the International Association of Yoga Therapists in a first-of-its-kind initiative to help address COVID.
How To Be In Service: An Interview with Rajni Tripathi
Executive Director of Yoga Service Council, Rajni Tripathi, shares what it means to be in the line of service, the relationship between the helper and the enabler, and why service has nothing to with you.
Yoga for Youth in the Justice System: An Interview with Mary Lynn Fitton
Mary Lynn Fitton, Founder of The Art of Yoga Project, shares what motivates her to do this work, how yoga can heal and empower youth in the justice system, and how science and art can work together.
Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: An Interview with Garth McLean
Since his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 1996, Garth McLean has managed his condition with yoga. In this inspiring interview, Garth shares his experience of the effects of yoga, and why he describes his diagnosis as “a blessing.”
An Interview with Dr. Nicole Schnackenberg
In this heartfelt interview, Nicole reflects on her yoga journey: what stimulated (and sustains) her appetite for yoga, and how her personal therapeutic work informs and supports her ability to offer a therapeutic space to others.
In Loving Memory: Rama Jyoti Vernon
We here at Give Back Yoga Foundation are remembering Rama Jyoti Vernon, dedicated yoga practitioner and teacher, peace activist, and “Mother of Contemporary Yoga in the US,” with love and gratitude.
Yoga, Race, and Spiritual Activism: An Interview with Dr. Gail Parker
Gail's forthcoming book, Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race-Based Stress and Trauma, could not be more relevant given our racialized world.
Childhood Cancer Kids: Sierra’s Story
I was diagnosed with cancer when I was five years old. Yoga helped me get through it. Now, I want to study how yoga can help kids feel better during treatment and help them deal with stress afterwards.
Yoga isn’t something I do. It’s something I am.
From yoga sessions surrounded by long needle pines, to teaching yoga to young “problem” kids. This is the story of how yoga transformed (and became) my life.
How Transcendental Meditation And A Physical Injury Led Me To Yoga Service
From Transcendental Meditation and physical injury, to a sampler yoga class and a “eureka!” moment. This is how the seeds of the Give Back Yoga Foundation were sown—and how my yoga service journey began.
Yoga For Musicians: How Yoga Helped Me Make Music Again
After pain forced me to quit my dream career as a professional musician, yoga was the reason I started playing music again. Now, I help other New Orlean musicians create comfort and ease in their body through the transformative nature of yoga.
Yoga Helped Me Heal After Brain Surgery
When my brain grew too big for my skull, I had to have brain surgery. The months that followed were one of the most difficult periods of my life; they challenged me physically, mentally, and emotionally. Yoga helped me to create a new reality.
The Seva Yoga Project: Creating Access to Yoga
When I was forced to return to the small town life I had fled from, I vowed to create what I was looking for when I left. I wanted to introduce alternative life choices to those who were suffering; I wanted to teach yoga. There was one problem: I had never even taken a yoga class.
How I Found Unity, Gratitude, and Hope Through Yoga Service
My yoga service journey was birthed from an article on yoga for veterans, which I read while my son was on tour in Afghanistan. Then, I discovered the gifts of giving back...
Cancer Stole My Sense of Self. Yoga Gave It Back.
My breast cancer diagnosis forced me deeper into my previously established connection to the practice of yoga and its benefits. Yoga gave me ME back.
The Lies We Tell Ourselves: Yoga As A Path to The Truth
I spent most of my life with the mantra, “God doesn’t love me.” Then I found my way to a yoga class.
Practicing Yoga as a Form of Social Justice and Self-Care
Yoga can be a powerful practice to uncover and interrupt the ways in which racism and privilege negatively impact our community.
Yoga and Trauma Recovery for First Responders
After twenty years as a firefighter, I found myself in a very dark place. Yoga opened my world to the possibilities of healing and growth.
Yoga For Cancer: Tari Prinster
At age fifty-three, the wind got knocked out of me when I heard these words: “You have cancer—invasive ductal carcinoma.”
Shining a Light on the Health and Wellness of Black Men
Some of life’s experiences are unforgettable, forever seared into our consciousness. For me, it was 9/12/15. What should have been an otherwise ordinary fall day was anything but.
Life After A Car Accident: How I Fell In Love With Yoga
I fell in love with what yoga was doing not only for my physical recovery, but also within my mind and spirit. An inner awakening.
The Give Back Yoga Foundation announces plans to open a branch in the United Kingdom.
In 2019, our board approved an initiative to expand operations to the United Kingdom. The initiative will be spearheaded by UK Operations Director, Chelsea Roff.