This year, Exhale to Inhale celebrates our 10 YEAR anniversary.
Join us for a yearlong look back as we plan for the next 3 years of strategic growth.
Stories
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Celebrating 10 Years of Being Together in Community
#10
Celebrating 10 Years of Being Together in Community
“There is no greater gift in life than feeling safe in one’s body- so congratulations to Exhale to Inhale for providing the tools for people in order to accomplish this goal- my wish is that you are able to double the people you help each year.”
— Supporter of Exhale to Inhale
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Over the course of this project – in which we captured the history and impact of Exhale to Inhale’s first ten years – we kept coming back to one key thing: This incredible community.
Since day one, Exhale to Inhale has been championed, supported, and made possible through the incredible work of our community. You have made it possible for us to pivot, learn, and grow our offerings to best support the changing needs of our community – something we’re so proud of and humbled by.
Because of you and your continued belief in our work, we’ve been able to launch free weekly Zoom classes, create bi-lingual classes and teacher trainings, establish a fellowship program, and publish pioneering trauma-informed yoga research. We’ve been able to train 1000 leaders in trauma-informed yoga and sponsor 140 full and partial training scholarships. We’ve held 7,400 trauma-informed classes for survivors which have seen over 45,000 registrations.
As a tiny organization, to have this amount of impact is incredible and has been made possible because of people like you.
Your donations, volunteering your time, joining our events, and sharing our work – every action you have taken has led to this ten year anniversary. So today, we celebrate you and all you have brought to this work. We’re so proud to be in community with you.
At this year’s gala, many of you shared why this work is so important to you and your responses blew us away. Now, as we move into another year of survivor advocacy together, we’re keeping your answers close at heart.
As our 10 year anniversary comes to a close, we’d love to hear from you! How has Exhale to Inhale made an impact on you? We’d love to hear your answers here and look forward to all the impact we’ll make in the future together!
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#9
How Young Professionals Helped Shape Exhale to Inhale
“The Young Professional Network created a community that is not only supporting the organization, but supporting one another on their own journeys and with their own experiences. This group comes from very diverse professional backgrounds and have become such an important part of the fabric of Exhale to Inhale.”
— Maggie LaRocca, Executive Director
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Youth voices have been a core part of Exhale to Inhale since the beginning.
Founded by Zoë LePage when LePage was a senior in college, Exhale to Inhale’s early growth and community was primarily made up of young advocates, wellness professionals, and board members. It was their passion, innovation, and dedication to growing this non-profit that is the reason we’re now celebrating 10 years of healing impact today.
In 2017, Exhale to Inhale founded their Young Professional Board (YPB) – a community of like-minded individuals dedicated to furthering the organization’s reach and resources via fundraising, event organizing, and volunteer support. Currently holding 14 members, the YPN is a vital part of the Exhale to Inhale tapestry, and continues to bring innovative ideas and opportunities to the Exhale to Inhale team on how to reach even more survivors with their trauma-informed services.
“The youth perspective, and goal of recognizing young people, is often left out of philanthropy. But as an organization founded by a young person, we’re so passionate about fostering and involving the next generation of philanthropic leaders in our work,” shares Exhale to Inhale Executive Director Maggie LaRocca.
“The Young Professional Network created a community that is not only supporting the organization, but supporting one another on their own journeys and with their own experiences. This group comes from very diverse professional backgrounds and have become such an important part of the fabric of Exhale to Inhale.”
For this piece, members of our YPN community shared their own experiences with this community and why it’s such an important part of their lives.
Interested in joining Exhale to Inhale’s YPN? Membership is open on an ongoing basis with application details found here.
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#8
Room for Growth: How Exhale to Inhale's Pivot to Online Services Led to their Strategic Plan
“This strategic planning moment was a huge one for us as a small non-profit because it was a shift from what we had known worked to taking a risk on something new. But what we’ve learned is that having an online component to our work has only helped make our offerings more accessible and further our work creating a world where every survivor has access to trauma-informed yoga.”
— Maggie LaRocca, Executive Director
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In March 2020, as the world went into its first pandemic lockdown, Exhale to Inhale faced their biggest challenge yet: How to continue serving trauma-informed yoga resources to survivors in this changing, unknown landscape.
The team made the decision to pivot online – an entirely new venture for the small non-profit. Within weeks, they launched A Space to Breathe, a virtual platform hosting weekly trauma-informed yoga classes from Exhale to Inhale staff.
“After launching our live virtual classes, we realized that suddenly anyone who identified with our mission could come practice with us – which allowed us to reach so many more survivors than before. No special equipment or attire necessary, and if people didn’t want to be seen, they could turn their camera off.” shares Exhale to Inhale Executive Director Maggie LaRocca.
With classes launched, Exhale to Inhale started transitioning partner classes, trainings, and their fellowship program online – giving specific thought to how to foster community and safety in this digital space.
At the time, this transition seemed a quick solution to meeting the changing needs of Exhale to Inhale’s survivor community. But as the months progressed, Exhale to Inhale saw the growing benefits of making their resources accessible online.
“We know that stigma around seeking help – and even responding to the term survivor – can prevent individuals impacted by violence from getting support,” adds LaRocca.
As a class member shared, “Exhale to Inhale's trauma-informed virtual yoga class has provided me with a moment of peace and reflection in my otherwise chaotic week. The weekly practice aids me in healing my relationship with my body and is helping me relearn how to sit with my physical feelings.”
Exhale to Inhale found online classes empowered more trauma-informed choice making, allowed more survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to join in community –and from the comfort of their own homes, no less! – and increased the amount of classes the non-profit was able to produce.
In 2013, Exhale to Inhale offered 14 classes while in 2022 – in huge part to shifting online – the small non-profit was able to host 2400 classes annually.
For community members, having regular access to online classes was deeply impactful. One ETI member shared:
“The ETI classes and community events have made a big impact on my healing journey. It’s given me a place of community and support without judgment. The online classes are one of the few accessible safe spaces to experience yoga as someone who exists in a larger body as a person of color.”
“Online classes remove the barrier of needing to afford a studio/gym membership, finding practical travel options to a studio space, and also allows for anonymity – being able to turn off camera and still participate – and safety –if you’re in an environment where your movement is restricted or you’re unable to travel etc.”
By 2022, the organization was at a crossroads: Revert back to their original course and focus on developing in-person partner relationships in New York or take their services in a digital direction and make Exhale to Inhale’s training, public classes, and partner classes available to anyone anywhere.
They listened to their community and their partners. They underwent their first ever strategic planning through a grant from Here to Be Foundation. Keeping their mission front of mind, Exhale to Inhale made the crucial decision to move forward in a hybrid capacity, with the goal of serving 1500 unique class participants by the end of 2023 – a goal the organization is proud to have achieved.
This immense growth has been seen across the board of Exhale to Inhale’s work: In 2013, ETI launched with five partners. Now, ten years later, they’re on track to have over 60 active partners.
Today, Exhale to Inhale offers weekly public yoga classes available for sign up on their website and virtual trauma-informed trainings available throughout the year. In their first year of launch, ETI supported 40 students through their training program which in 2022, had grown to training over 1800 participants.
And as they continue to scale as a small non-profit, they remain committed to adapting to community and partner changing needs.
“Our goal is to support as many survivors as possible and create resources that are accessible to as many as possible,” shares LaRocca.
“This strategic planning moment was a huge one for us as a small non-profit because it was a shift from what we had known worked to taking a risk on something new. But what we’ve learned is that having an online component to our work has only helped make our offerings more accessible and further our work creating a world where every survivor has access to trauma-informed yoga.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#7
Post Pandemic: The Moment of Key Growth for Exhale to Inhale
“Our community is absolutely amazing, and what I want people to know, whether it’s time or money, there is a big impact for every dollar or hour people give. Every dollar builds upon itself and for smaller nonprofits like us, it’s so deeply important.”
— Wael Younan, Board Vice President and Treasurer
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At the end of 2019, Exhale to Inhale’s Vice President and Treasurer Wael Younan began to hear rumblings from within the finance sector of a global virus gaining traction.
The Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, Younan had recently transitioned from Exhale to Inhale volunteer – running a half marathon on behalf of the organization – to board member and then Treasurer.
His long-time volunteer work raising money for non-profit organizations and causes within New York City had caught the attention of Lululemon, who in 2019, made him a Lululemon ambassador – a fortuitous opportunity where he met Exhale to Inhale founder, Zoë LePage.
He loved Exhale to Inhale’s mission and within months, found himself at the helm of helping the non-profit enhance their financial foundation – a challenge complicated by the pandemic.
“At the time,” Younan remembers. “We were still a fairly young non-profit so the pandemic was a real test for us. To come out stronger financially is solely due to the dedication of our community. As an entire board, what we were facing was making the quick transition to moving all our services online, discussions around the need for establishing a reserve or rainy day fund, and most urgently, hiring the next Executive Director.”
Since its founding, Exhale to Inhale’s services have always been free to survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
This has made donations, corporate sponsorships, and events vital to sustaining the organization – a challenge board member and former Board President Bomsinae Kim knows better than anyone.
A former Executive Director of numerous nonprofits in New York City, Kim holds over 20 years of experience helping small organizations level up and grow. A passionate yogi and long-time survivor advocate, Kim was immediately drawn to the work of Exhale to Inhale and joined the board in 2018.
She immediately set to work transferring her knowledge – helping to establish a Young Professionals Network, hosting events aimed at getting Exhale to Inhale’s name out there, and in 2019, organizing the nonprofit’s inaugural gala – now, their main source of fundraising for the year.
“A lot of smaller nonprofits have great missions and are well-intentioned but the founders and organizers don’t have the experience of running a nonprofit. I loved Exhale to Inhale’s mission from the start, and knew I wanted to be a part of its growth,” shares Kim.
When she came in, Exhale to Inhale was five years old and in need of support being taken to the next level. It needed a board structure, management structure, and something like the gala to drive buzz and funds towards the organization.
The initial 2019 Gala is what Exhale to Inhale now credits with getting them through the pandemic.
As the pandemic escalated, Exhale to Inhale made the decision to scale back in 2020 in order to create a reserve fund that, in emergency, would cover the nonprofit’s operational costs for at least six months. During that same time, they hired their now Executive Director Maggie LaRocca who worked to develop a diversified funding plan to help the organization grow.
With Exhale to Inhale’s work pivoting completely online during this time, it also allowed for opportunities to connect with audiences outside of New York City – both through weekly virtual classes and trauma-informed teaching trainings.
"While 2020 brought many challenges, it also showed the courage of our community,” says Exhale to Inhale Executive Director Maggie LaRocca. “It also brought the ability to think of our programs in a new way, the persistence of our board and supporters to help us through difficult times, and for survivors, their ability to persevere and continue to find healing. Because of that, we grew in this difficult time."
These virtual offerings remained a part of Exhale to Inhale’s services as the organization transitioned back into in-person in 2022. Today, the organization has only continued to grow its available programs and offerings – publishing premiere research on the impacts of trauma-informed yoga, launching a pilot program within New York City colleges, and continuing to develop ways to uplift through work to broader networks.
For both Kim – who now lives in Seoul, South Korea – and Younan, the future for the organization remains bright with possibilities.
“For the next ten years, the board wants to continue growing the organization – reaching more survivors and establishing Exhale to Inhale’s trauma-informed teacher training and services as a go-to,” says Kim.
“This goes hand and hand with fundraising but growing the organization’s visibility and profile so anyone in the realm of trauma-informed yoga and healing – they know about Exhale to Inhale.”
Younan similarly shares his excitement over Exhale to Inhale’s future plans and a deep gratitude to the community that continues to support the nonprofit’s impactful work.
“Our community is absolutely amazing,” Younan says. “And what I want people to know, whether it’s time or money, there is a big impact for every dollar or hour people give. Every dollar builds upon itself and for smaller nonprofits like us, it’s so deeply important.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#6
An Impactful Decision: Launching ETI's Fellowship Program
“The importance of trauma-informed yoga – yes, it accommodates folks who have trauma, but it also just helps accommodate people. It helps create spaces that are more welcoming, more inclusive, and learn how to use language that is respectful, accepting, and allows people to be who they are without having to hide or create any sort of labels.”
— Jenna Conner, Trainer and Wellness Instructor
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In late 2019, as Exhale to Inhale considered the future sustainability of its program's knowledge base and service of survivors, they embarked upon an initiative to create a Fellowship Program. The program would ensure that the next generation of [survivor] leaders were prepared to deliver its education to a wider group of domestic violence agencies and nonprofits.
“We knew we needed to expand the number of trainers we had available in order to keep growing our organization,” shares Chief Program Officer Aditi Davray. “Instead of everything falling onto one person, having a group of trainers would allow us to provide even more training support in the community.”
Exhale to Inhale’s diverse portfolio of trauma-informed trainings for wellness professionals is not only one of its most coveted and fundamental sources of support, it also funds the organization's ability to provide free yoga classes for survivors in the community.
During this time, under the collaborative planning of Zoe LePage, Tara Tonini and Aditi Davray, ETI launched its first ever fellowship program. Based on information from community members, they identified five candidates — all who had previously completed ETI’s trauma-informed teacher training and were actively teaching classes in the community.
Fellows included Matty Espino, Jenna Conner, Sophia Holly, Amy Apgar, and Julie Fernandez. Upon graduation, they would not only be certified to lead training programs for the organization, but as a group, tasked with evolving the organization’s teaching curriculum throughout the year.
They couldn’t contain their excitement when offered the opportunity.
“The first Exhale to Inhale training I took helped plant the seed of everything trauma-informed for me,” recalls ETI trainer and wellness instructor Matty Espino. “This fellowship helped water that seed. And see it grow and help understand all aspects – the science, methodology, the principles – and reinforce everything that ETI does with a great understanding of the why.”
ETI’s Director of Community Partnerships Sophia Holly couldn’t agree more.
"This fellowship program compensated five trainers and gave us an opportunity to learn in 2020 - a year when everything shutdown and there was lots of uncertainty. It provided all of us a safe way to anchor."
Originally, the fellowship was meant to be an in-person program but had to quickly be adapted online due to pandemic restrictions. In some ways, this made the cohort even closer as they each worked through the 140 hours of training over the 12-month period, hosted by numerous experts in the field — including long-time consultant to the organization Lisa Danylchuk.
“The fellowship program came out of a real vision of sustainability. What would it look like for Exhale to Inhale to have an entire training department and people who could support one another so one trainer isn’t having to shoulder this alone?” shares Danylchuk.
The fellows officially graduated to lead trainers in December 2020 and three years later, are all still deeply involved with the organization — leading trainings and workshops, teaching trauma informed yoga classes in both public and shelter spaces.
Over the past year, ETI has trained over 260 trauma-informed care professionals via its training and workshops, offered over 2,400 classes, partnered with over 50 national nonprofits and served over 1500 unique clients. Outside of trainings, the fellows continue to support the update of ETI's classes curriculum, training manual, and continuing education sessions based on new research and feedback from the community.
“The importance of trauma-informed yoga – yes, it accommodates folks who have trauma, but it also just helps accommodate people,” reflects ETI trainer and wellness instructor Jenna Conner. “It helps create spaces that are more welcoming, more inclusive, and learn how to use language that is respectful, accepting, and allows people to be who they are without having to hide or create any sort of labels.”
As a group, these fellows have learned to lean on one another, bringing their own experiences and style to the work.
While the program itself was a significant investment for ETI in a year when there was lots of uncertainty due to the public health emergency, the fellowship program has been core in allowing the organization to fulfill its mission. That’s wholly due to the incredible passion and dedication each fellow continues to bring to this work — and their dedication to making yoga a safer space for survivors.
“As yoga teachers, we are in a unique position to either cause further harm or help to repair harm, and hopefully having this knowledge helps us repair by providing students tools to heal,” says ETI trainer and wellness instructor Amy Apgar. “Being trauma informed is really being people informed. So, understanding the science behind trauma's effects on the mind-body system can help make sense of some big, tough things - that’s both comforting and useful in practicing compassion for self and others.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#5
Flamingo’s Pivotal Role in Growing Exhale to Inhale’s Scholarship Program
“Flamingo's Social Impact Team have been true collaborators who approach our relationship with integrity, transparency, and courage. When we first started working together, given that Exhale to Inhale was a start-up, Maggie Hureau had the ability to envision what this organization could be, and for that vision and trust, we’re forever grateful.”
— Aditi Davray, Chief Program Officer
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Flamingo’s Pivotal Role in Growing Exhale to Inhale’s Scholarship Program
When Flamingo first opened as a women’s shaving and body care company in 2018, they launched with the pledge to give one percent of their profits to non-profit organizations. It was Flamingo’s way of putting action behind the company’s social impact mission which unequivocally champions women, their bodies, and their choices.
Since its founding, Maggie Hureau – Head of Social Impact at Harry’s Inc, Flamingo's parent company – has been relentless in curating a social impact portfolio that centers action, education, and healing.
In 2019, Hureau – intrigued by Exhale to Inhale’s trauma-informed approach – set up a call with the non-profit after hearing about their work from a friend.
“When we were developing the Flamingo brand, what was deeply important to us was having social impact. We kept coming back to the concepts of bodies and choice – women having choice to engage in their shaving routines and body care – and from there, began looking for organizations similarly focused on empowering women’s relationships with their bodies,” shares Hureau.
“Once we started to talk with Zoe [Exhale to Inhale’s founder] and dig into Exhale to Inhale’s work, it became clear we would be a really good partner to help them grow their impact.”
Those initial calls planted the seeds for what would become one of the most pivotal partnerships in Exhale to Inhale’s history.
Within a month of their initial call, Exhale to Inhale became Flamingo’s first non-profit partner, a relationship that over the years has launched and grown Exhale to Inhale’s Scholarship Program.
Because of Flamingo’s early investment, the scholarship program was restructured to better reflect the needs of the community Exhale to Inhale aims to serve – centering its mission on access, representation, and equity.
This investment also allowed the organization to address the challenges felt within the yoga world of compensating teachers for the full breadth of their work – including trainings, commuting, and their role holding space and serving as the regulating anchors to folks who have experienced gender-based violence. In partnership with Flamingo, Exhale to Inhale was able to action this goal by beginning to compensate teaching staff and honor their efforts.
“Our relationship with Flamingo has always been deeply collaborative, and this has allowed us to candidly share our needs as an organization in various stages of growth, and the challenges we’re looking to solve,” shares Exhale to Inhale’s Chief Program Officer, Aditi Davray.
Since Flamingo’s investment in 2019, Exhale to Inhale has:
Trained over 1000 leaders in trauma-informed yoga
Awarded 95 full scholarships
Awarded 80 full scholarships to trauma-informed yoga foundational workshops
Awarded another 60 partial scholarships to actively disperse access to BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] community members.
Along with scholarships, Flamingo has helped Exhale to Inhale’s teachers bring over 7,400 classes to survivors, with the organization seeing over 45,000 registrations for classes alone. Because of this pivotal investment, Exhale to Inhale has served an average 63% of survivors through the scholarship program, over 80% non-Caucasian candidates and consistently prioritized access to education to over 70% of folks with an annual income below 40K just this past year.
The size of Flamingo’s investment in Exhale to Inhale over the years – along with their hands of support – has been pivotal in the development and growth of the non-profit. It has allowed for the hiring of full-time and part-time staff, greater outreach to teachers within the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities, the opportunity to offer free services to partners and free online classes to the public, and Exhale to Inhale’s ability to now serve more than 70 community-based partners.
“The establishment of this scholarship has had a huge impact on our community and Flamingo has been pivotal in that,” reflects Davray.
“Flamingo's Social Impact Team have been true collaborators who approach our relationship with integrity, transparency, and courage. When we first started working together, given that Exhale to Inhale was a start-up, Maggie Hureau had the ability to envision what this organization could be, and for that vision and trust, we’re forever grateful.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
Capturing the Early Days of Exhale to Inhale With Those Who Helped Shape It
#4
“I have continued to be sustained in this work from hearing people say, on more than one occasion, that yoga saved their life. I love the practice of yoga and it felt like people who needed it most were people that didn’t necessarily have access to it – a challenge Exhale to Inhale has worked to change over the last ten years.”
— Amy Tobin
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What does it take to start an organization like Exhale to Inhale? In this story, we uplift one of our founding board members, Amy Tobin, and one of our first teachers, Jeesoo Park. Both of these women – along with countless other volunteers and supporters – gave so much of their time and hearts to set the foundation of Exhale to Inhale. We would not be the organization we are without their incredible work.
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When Exhale to Inhale’s founder Zoe LePage first approached Amy Tobin with the idea of starting Exhale to Inhale, Tobin knew she was hearing something truly special.
She, along with Founding Board Members, Kate Mitchell, Victoria Ramos, Jodie Rufty, and Sarah Platt Finger would help support the organization’s launch into the community in 2013.
In the early years, the board remained tiny but mighty, involved in every aspect of building out the organization. Together, they opened Exhale to Inhale’s first bank account, built the website, filed for non-profit status, planned events, created the bylaws, fundraised, organized the board members, advertised, wrote the training manual, and more.
“Those were the years when no one had a title,” remembers Tobin fondly. “We were a working board of six with Kate [Mitchell] and I making things happen for the organization and our amazing teacher trainer Tara Tonini bringing in partners and training our volunteer teachers. It was a time where we wore all the hats.”
In 2016, Tobin was named President of the Board of Directors, a role she held until 2019, supporting the transition of Exhale to Inhale’s board into a governing body as Exhale to Inhale hired their first employee.
But in those early years, all roles were volunteer including Exhale to Inhale’s growing roster of trauma-informed teachers – many of which Tobin helped recruit.
It was during this time that journalist and yoga teacher Jeesoo Park reached out to Exhale to Inhale after discovering the organization during a search for volunteer yoga opportunities in New York City.
Within months, Park was sitting in her first trauma-informed teacher training hosted by Tonini. Today, Park is one of Exhale to Inhale’s longest running teachers. She has worked with the organization teaching in emergency shelters, hospitals, and yoga studios, and since the pandemic, recorded video classes for Exhale to Inhale to share with partners.
“Based on statistics alone, more often than not there are going to be students in my yoga classes who have experienced some sort of violation. I use my trauma-informed training in every class I teach with a lot of choice-making language, body-ownership language, and encouraging yogis to make their own decisions based on how their bodies feel,” explains Park.
In her time teaching in person, Park quickly saw the positive impact Exhale to Inhale’s trauma-informed yoga training was having on survivors in her class – an effect Tobin was continuing to see across the organization’s work as well. For some, trauma-informed yoga classes inspired new confidence and reconnection with their bodies. For others, this meant finally finding a space that felt safe enough to fall asleep and get some much needed rest. While Park continues to teach within Exhale to Inhale, she’s also brought elements of trauma-informed training into yoga classes across the city.
“I was worried at first it would alienate people who were used to the intensity of New York City workout classes, but it’s done just the opposite. People often come up to me and say my class was challenging, yet they still felt like it was okay if they couldn’t do everything.”
Tobin and Park are among many of the volunteers in Exhale to Inhale’s legacy who helped expand and adapt this organization alongside the efforts of other influential members – including Sarah Platt Finger – to meet the changing needs of survivor communities.
Finger, now Director of Chopra Yoga, recalls, “I learned so much during my time as a board member at Exhale to Inhale and some of the insights on trauma are tools that I still integrate into my yoga classes today. I believe that every yoga teacher should be equipped with the knowledge of how to teach trauma-informed yoga in some capacity. The work is that important and the cases are that pervasive.”
Today, Exhale to Inhale has over 17 teachers leading classes through the organization and has trained over 1,234 teachers and allies since 2016. Many of the volunteers from the early days remain involved in the organization’s growth today.
“As someone who once had their hands in absolutely every aspect of this organization, I’m so proud that it’s ten years and the organization is thriving and serving people,” reflects Tobin. “I am sustained in this work from hearing people say, on more than one occasion, that yoga saved their life. I love the practice of yoga and it felt like people who needed it most were people that didn’t necessarily have access to it – a challenge Exhale to Inhale has worked to change over the last ten years.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#3
Exhale to Inhale Research Proves the Impact of Trauma-Informed Yoga on Survivor Healing
”Trauma-informed yoga isn’t just a practice that benefits people across a single class, but also it’s a capacity-building intervention … Participants are gaining skills they can then use outside of class to help in other contexts – such as when they’re feeling emotionally triggered or dysregulated.”
— Sarah Beranbaum
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When it comes to current research on the impact of trauma-informed practices, data is scarce. Data on survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence interacting with shelters and agencies? Even scarcer.
This is due to a number of factors – difficulty figuring out how to evaluate the nuanced experience of survivor healing, lack of capacity for organizations and nonprofits working with survivor populations, and the length of time to complete a full data collection.
Early on, Exhale to Inhale knew the impact this type of data would have for their organization, but quickly learned as research began, just how important this could be in showing the impact of trauma-informed practices as a whole.
In 2017, Sarah Beranbaum was approached by Exhale to Inhale’s founder Zoë LePage with the idea of creating a survey participants could take following an Exhale to Inhale class. At the time, Beranbaum was a volunteer teacher with Exhale to Inhale, as well as a Masters student in Clinical Psychology, making her the perfect fit to help get this project off the ground.
To start, the survey would focus on three areas: Stress, agency, and body sensations. The goal: To understand the ways in which trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness practices impact practitioners on and off the mat.
Were survivors finding these skills transferable to the stresses and challenges they faced in their daily lives? Was the trauma-informed practice of encouraging individual decision making empowering participant’s sense of agency off the mat? Did this trauma-informed practice provide a sense of safety for survivors to better tune into their own bodies?
Transitioning to become Exhale to Inhale’s program evaluation consultant, Beranbaum launched Exhale to Inhale’s survey in 2018. She defined Exhale to Inhale’s trauma-informed yoga as a survivor-centered, capacity-building program that addresses mental and physical health. In analyzing the data, Beranbaum found that trauma-informed yoga significantly helped equip survivors and affiliated staff with body-based coping skills and strengthened agency.
From before to after an Exhale to Inhale trauma-informed yoga class, there is a 96% reduction in participant stress, a 91% reduction in anxiety, and an 86% reduction in bodily aches. Furthermore, there is a 6x increase in calmness and a 12x increase in participants feeling energized from before to after trauma-informed yoga.
Beranbaum realized these findings – which were collected over four years and included 500 responses – would be of great impact and interest beyond just Exhale to Inhale. She encouraged the non-profit to publish this research in an academic paper – which she wrote and submitted in collaboration with Exhale to Inhale and her research advisor Dr. Wendy D’Andrea to the Violence Against Women journal.
“Working with individuals who are in domestic violence shelters and collecting data on this vulnerable population is very difficult due to factors related to safety and security,” shares Beranbaum. “Through these 500 responses, and an analysis of their data, we’re able to contribute really important data to the broader community, and enhance the validity and the way people see trauma-informed programs.”
While working on the academic paper, Beranbaum’s research led her to realize just how little research is available at the intersection of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, and trauma-informed yoga practices provided by community-based services. Few published papers came up in her search and those that did, had less than 20 responses cited for their data, making Exhale to Inhale’s 500+ responses a huge stepping stone forward in validating the impact of these programs.
“One of the findings from this survey I found particularly interesting was that trauma-informed yoga isn’t just a practice that benefits people across a single class, but also it’s a capacity-building intervention,” explains Beranbaum. “Participants are gaining skills they can then use outside of class to help in other contexts – such as when they’re feeling emotionally triggered or dysregulated.”
She expands, "These trauma-informed classes are not just an additional calming hour for survivors or staff, but a highly valuable intervention that provides people with skills they can use when they’re within the shelter system or different agencies, and continue using after they leave.”
Today, Beranbaum is a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology at The New School for Social Research where she studies the impact of trauma-informed practices in communities. The survey she helped establish at Exhale to Inhale continues to run, expanding to include a few more topics, and continuing Exhale to Inhale’s mission of combining data with participant testimonials to show the full impact of this trauma-informed work.
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
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“Our curriculum allows the space for survivors to make their own choices – that’s the most important thing – and we do this through creating a safe environment, structures, and foundations for practitioners to rediscover – or discover for the first time – their own bodies and relationships to them.”
— Julie Fernandez
Growing Exhale to Inhale Through Survivor Leadership and Language Access
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In 2014, two years after first starting her career as a yoga teacher, Julie Fernandez found herself typing “sexual assault survivor” and “yoga” into Google. Originally, she hadn’t even intended to teach yoga, but after feeling the benefits of the practice herself as a survivor, she became deeply passionate about spreading the practice to as many as possible.
Her Google search led her to Exhale to Inhale’s landing page and within a month, Fernandez was teaching classes with Exhale to Inhale’s partner organizations – adding to her already overflowing teaching roster of foster care and community centers, eating disorder centers, and teaching yoga to little kids with special needs.
Today, Fernandez is one of the foremost experts in the field of trauma-informed yoga, with credentials in Expressive Movement Therapies from Tamalpa Institute, Somatic Experiencing from Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute with Dave Berger, Trauma-Informed Yoga from The Trauma Center in Massachusetts, Yoga for Trauma with Lisa Danylchuk, Trauma-Informed Yoga with Hala Khouri and Kyra Haglund, Dynamic Mindfulness with Niroga Institute and Outreach Yoga with Connection Coalition.
“As trauma-informed yoga teachers, we’re here to deliver tools that survivors can take off the mat and into their lives,” Fernandez proudly shares. “You learn about yourself, you feel empowered, you access your inner strength and resilience, and you apply it to your day to day.”
A year after its founding, it became important for Exhale to Inhale to create an official curriculum that would support its teachers with content and structures in which to hold their classes. As Fernandez recalls, “When I first started with Exhale to Inhale, there wasn’t really a training, it was a book the team shared but all it did was pique my curiosity and inspire me to begin studying on my own.”
In 2014, Exhale to Inhale published their first ever training manual and the next year, hosted their first ever training – a major milestone made possible through the incredible work of Tara Tonini, Exhale to Inhale’s first ever Director of Curriculum and Mentoring.
“I learned so much from Tara including from the importance of language to how to create a safe space,” remembers Fernandez when she first joined Exhale to Inhale. “Her leadership was admirable and I especially appreciated her support in helping me find my unique voice as a leader.”
Over the years, the organization has worked hard to create dynamic and evolving curriculums and trainings that fit the needs of all practitioners and teachers. Very early on, Exhale to Inhale identified a lack of accessibility for communities of color and non-English speaking communities to participate in their trauma-informed classes and trainings. When Fernandez joined, she immediately began teaching bilingual classes – though she was the only Spanish speaking teacher for a very long time. In 2015, after her move to Los Angeles, Fernandez began running classes and teacher trainings from the west coast – making it her mission to hire more bilingual teachers and translate ETI’s curriculum into Spanish.
In 2020, as demand for the training program grew, Exhale to Inhale launched its first ever Fellowship Program, a 140-hour train -the -trainer program that included experts in the field to help carry on the foundation of the training program. Fernandez was chosen as one of the five fellows in this inaugural training and simultaneously promoted to the role of Lead Trainer – a position focused on evolving and teaching the organization’s many different curriculums including a 16-hour certification training and a variety of short foundational workshops.
Today, Fernandez serves as the organization’s Director of Curriculum Development and Mentorship where she’s been passionate about keeping the curriculum ever evolving – including the inclusion of new neurobiology research, addressing the intersections of yoga and social justice, and updating with new trauma-informed learnings and practices.
Today, Exhale to Inhale offers a variety of trainings and curriculum options for yoga professionals, mental health professionals, social workers, human service workers, and more. Information on how to request a training, and the schedule of all upcoming trainings (many led by Fernandez), can be found here.
“For me as a survivor, I understand the importance of this work personally and the importance of sharing it. Having me in the role of Curriculum Mentor also shows the alignment Exhale to Inhale has with our mission and being in this position, I am a leading example that this work works,” shares Fernandez. “This work is so fulfilling because seeing survivors, hearing their stories, really inspires me to continue sharing this work. Even in my own healing, it inspires me to continue to heal so I can continue to show up and make an impact.”
Alongside her role with Exhale to Inhale, Fernandez works as a Somatic Trauma Therapist through her private practice Metta Healing Arts, a lead Trauma Recovery Specialist on the multimodal team at Hope Integrative Psychiatry in Los Angeles, and is currently a candidate at Meridian University for a M.A. in Psychology with concentration in Expressive and Movement Arts.
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
#1
How Exhale to Inhale Brought Trauma-Informed Yoga to NYC
“This whole journey with Exhale to Inhale started from that simple place of wanting to share tools and practices for helping people feel safe in their bodies.”
— Zoë LePage
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During a gap year between high school and college, Zoë LePage found herself curiously reading a sign for yoga teacher training. While going through a difficult time the year before, LePage’s mom had convinced her to visit the studio where she regularly practiced. As that first class began, LePage was surprised by the calm it brought into her body.
She decided to sign up for the training and began commuting into the city three nights a week – though she told herself at the time she had no interest in teaching. But in 2010, while a sophomore at Barnard College, LePage found herself wanting to help her fellow students cope with the stress of undergrad and began teaching classes on Saturday mornings in the school’s engineering building.
“My own experience of yoga taught me that sometimes, when things are hard to talk about and it's hard to catch your breath, moving on a yoga mat is sometimes the best way to refind yourself,” shares LePage.
Her senior year, LePage created the program Exhale to Inhale as an assignment for a social impact class. With the idea of bringing trauma-informed yoga to organizations serving survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence in New York, LePage began collaborating with her first three partners by spring of 2013, including Connect in Harlem, Food First in Brooklyn, and Hope’s Door in Westchester.
“I have loved ones who are survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and that gave me an awareness into just how prevalent this particular form of trauma is,” explains LePage about the organization’s mission. “To me, it often felt like people wanted to keep a distance from this type of trauma, like it’s happening ‘out there,’ when in reality it’s happening to individuals all over in our communities.”
She soon found there was a demand for this type of yoga, which brought trauma-informed poses and practices into spaces where survivors could easily access them. While at the time, research surrounding trauma-informed yoga was still relatively new, LePage and the teachers she began recruiting could see the healing effects this tailored practice was providing survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Starting in 2019, Exhale to Inhale began collecting data in collaboration with the New School of Psychology on the impact of their methodology, discovering participants in their classes reported a 26% decrease in stress, a 29% decrease in bodily pain, and a 21% increase in a sense of agency.
“Yoga always made me feel strong and safe in my body from day one,” shares LePage. “Those are the words that have always felt very clear to me. While talking with loved ones over the years who had experienced domestic violence and sexual assault, those are the same feelings they expressed looking for. So this whole journey with Exhale to Inhale started from that simple place of wanting to share helpful tools and practices for helping people feel strong in their bodies.”
As graduation approached, LePage found herself with a big decision to make. She had a full-time job lined up in consulting but also saw the impact Exhale to Inhale was having in the community and knew she couldn’t stop this work. So she moved forward to pursue both, working full-time, and bringing Exhale to Inhale to life during the evenings and weekends.
Looking back, LePage knows this level of impact would not be possible without the support of the many friends, partners, and family members who believed in Exhale to Inhale from its infancy. With their support and help, LePage registered Exhale to Inhale as a non-profit. She hired her first employee and later, team. She assembled a board of directors who helped fundraise and secure valuable partnerships to continue Exhale to Inhale’s work, and helped the organization transition into providing online classes and trainings during the pandemic. She learned as she went, and surrounded herself with a team equally as passionate about providing trauma-informed yoga to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence as her.
In 2020, LePage transitioned to being a board member, hiring Maggie LaRocca as Exhale to Inhale’s next Executive Director. While still involved in the organization, LePage has been proud to step back and see the organization continue on.
“The most proud moments for me have always been around the community here at Exhale to Inhale,” shares LePage. “When I made the decision to step down as Executive Director, I felt empowered to do so because I believed so much in the programs we had put into place, the people sitting around the table – Maggie, our incredible staff, the board, our partner organizations – that I knew Exhale to Inhale no longer needed me to hold it together. I could transition to be a board member and it would be okay. In fact, it would be even better than before. I feel so proud that I set this into motion but it’s not mine, it’s the community that made this possible.”
This year, Exhale to Inhale turns 10 years old, a massive accomplishment for the organization. In those 10 years, Exhale to Inhale has gone on to work with 50+ nonprofit partners serving survivors in New York City and six states, train over 1,000 yoga teachers and allies in trauma informed yoga and show the impact of trauma informed yoga as a tool for healing through one of the largest samples of community-based data.
“I couldn’t even imagine sitting in that college class thinking that this would be something that would go so far,” says LePage. “I just knew that it needed to exist in the world, and it didn’t yet so I started from there. Over time, some of our strategies have changed and we’ve certainly experienced milestone moments, but at its core, Exhale to Inhale has always been rooted in the simple idea that survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence should have access to yoga designed to support healing.”
Written by Carly Lanning, trauma-informed journalist and founder of Voices Editorial.
Exhale to Inhale has only been able to keep growing and provide services to even more survivors in the city thanks to our amazing community. We are so grateful for you.
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