By Meredith Phipps

“I got a job!” The excitement in the client’s voice was palpable even over Zoom. We had started yoga therapy sessions months before, when her life circumstances made holding a job unmanageable. But on this day, there was victory in her voice, victory in her whole demeanor.

Experiences like these drew me to become a yoga therapist, and they’re the reason I stay. Every session is a sacred movement toward wholeness for the person in front of us—in the celebratory moments and in the difficult ones.

Mapping new routes through trauma recovery

Because we are forging a path for an emerging healthcare practice, earning a living as a yoga therapist usually does not come from stepping into a ready-made role.

In my case, personal healing through yoga and somatic therapy inspired me to step into trauma-recovery work. For 9 years, that grounding has supported my work with trauma survivors, especially within the military community. Yoga therapy is an embodied practice that uses breath, movement, and awareness to help tune into your internal signals and gently retrain the body to feel safe again. My joy is helping clients rediscover that safety, connection, and awe in their own bodies.

Breaking down barriers through nonprofit support

I have also met many people who needed and wanted embodied practices as part of trauma recovery but could not afford care that wasn’t subsidized by third-party insurance or who faced other cultural or personal barriers to accessing yoga therapy.

Making yoga therapy accessible to all is part of the foundation of our growing profession, and I recognized a diverse population in need—people like the woman on Zoom, whose financial and geographical circumstances prevented her from receiving the embodied care she needed.

My colleague Sara Wise, MS, MBA, MSHA, C-IAYT, saw the need as well and started the nonprofit Empowered Wellness Group after the Master of Science in Yoga Therapy degree we’d completed together. The design was simple: Remove the barriers to care in trauma recovery by providing low-cost telehealth yoga therapy to survivors in need. Shortly after I had begun working in private practice, she invited me to join her, and we began connecting people in need with skilled volunteers.

Reenvisioning what makes healing possible

The low-cost model makes yoga therapy possible for clients who would otherwise have no way to afford it, opening the door to support that might otherwise feel out of reach. Participants pay a minimal session fee, which helps cover costs such as operational expenses. Telehealth appointments make care geographically accessible by removing location barriers, especially for those without yoga therapists in their immediate area.

For many people, money and location aren’t the only barriers—cultural beliefs, family pressures, or oppressive environments can make seeking help feel unsafe, which is why access to truly private support matters. Empowered Wellness Group offers what we refer to as low-profile care. Participation isn’t tracked, shared, or reported without the client’s explicit permission. For many, that privacy makes the difference between seeking help and staying silent.

We offer every client six low-cost yoga therapy sessions with a volunteer from our IAYT community. After the initial sessions, our team collaborates to extend their sessions, refer them to additional providers, or help empower them to take the next appropriate step in their recovery. Yoga therapy organizations like ours offer a pathway to healing that meets survivors exactly where they are and honors the dignity of their circumstances, privacy, and lived experience.

The woman on Zoom is just one story among many, a reminder that when care is affordable, private, and within reach, people reclaim pieces of their lives they may have thought were lost forever.

This is the work of an emerging field—meeting uncertainty with innovation. Our profession continues to grow because we’re willing to build what doesn’t yet exist, one thoughtful step at a time.

Meredith Phipps, MS, C-IAYT, is a yoga therapist with nearly 10 years of experience supporting people through trauma, anxiety, and aging. She serves on the board of Empowered Wellness Group and has spent the past 3 years providing one?to?one care in studios, clinics, and online.