The Give Back Yoga Foundation

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The Give Back Yoga Foundation

Yoga can change a life. The Give Back Yoga Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the United States and a registered charity in the United Kingdom.

We help yoga teachers, health workers, and charitable organizations bring to individuals facing illness, hardship, and inequality. Over the past thirteen years, we have offered yoga to people in prisons, hospitals, and mental health centers. We have trained over ten thousand yoga teachers and healthcare workers, awarded more than $400,000 (USD) in grants, and distributed more than 20,000 mats to kickstart programs in communities where there are barriers to access healthcare. OUR MISSION
Our mission is to bring the therapeutic benefits of yoga to people facing illness and hardship. We help yoga teachers, healthcare workers, and charitable organizations offer yoga to people facing addiction, cancer, eating disorders, incarceration, and post-traumatic stress. We also work with community partners to increase access to yoga for populations that face systemic bias and prejudice. HOW WE WORK
We support a broad spectrum of the yoga service movement; from teachers leading classes in their local communities, to seedling yoga service projects, to established not-for-profit organizations. Our strategy includes three key initiatives:

START-UP SUPPLIES
We send free yoga mats to yoga teachers and healthcare workers to lead not-for-profit yoga projects in their local communities. SMALL GRANTS
We provide funding to yoga teachers and small organizations to kickstart not-for-profit yoga projects. RESEARCH & EDUCATION
We work in collaboration with academic institutions to conduct and disseminate research on the benefits of yoga for individuals facing illness and hardship.

10/10/2026

Yoga doesn't just feel good. The research shows it changes how we handle stress, emotions, and even the brain itself. 🧠

For , we're sharing a few minutes with Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa of Harvard Medical School, one of the leading researchers in yoga science, who has been studying yoga since 2001.

In this clip, he explains why chronic stress matters so much for our health, how yoga builds the capacity to stay steady when things get hard, and how meditation can quiet negative thought loops and, over time, even change brain structure.

This is why yoga service matters. The teachers and yoga therapists we support bring these tools to people carrying the heaviest loads: in recovery centers, hospitals, shelters, schools, and prisons. That's love in practice.

🎥 Watch Dr. Khalsa's full talk on stress, resilience, and burnout on our YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/RDQ6ZnKBdWk
💛 Save this for a day you need the reminder, and share it with someone who does.

10/09/2026

400+ yoga service programs said yes. ❤️

This fall, more than 400 established programs applied for a 2026 Yoga Service Grant. These are teachers and yoga therapists already showing up in prisons, hospitals, schools, and shelters, week after week.

They've said yes to their communities. Now we want to say yes back to as many of them as we can.

That's where you come in. Every gift to Give Back Yoga Foundation helps fund the mats, grants, and training that keep these classes going.

👉 Give today: https://givebackyoga.org/sayyes

🧘 Want to do more? Host a Say Yes class or event, and we'll send you a ready-to-go promo kit with graphics, sample emails, and captions.

Say yes. One class. One mat. One breath at a time.

10/08/2026

Applications are closed, and now the careful part begins. 📖

Thank you again to the more than 400 yoga service programs who applied. Here's what happens next:

🔵 October–November: Our reviewers take a close look at each program, its community, and its plan.
✉️ November 21: All applicants hear from us by email.
📣 December 1: We announce the 2026 Yoga Service Grant recipients.

Each application represents years of showing up for communities that need it most. Reading every one with care is how we honor that work. That's love in practice, too.

Applied? Save this post so you know when to watch your inbox, and add [email protected] to your contacts so our note doesn't land in spam. 💌

10/04/2026

"Love is an action, never simply a feeling." — bell hooks

Welcome to October and our theme for the month: Love In Practice.

We just closed our 2026 Yoga Service Grant cycle, and reading through the applications is a clear example of this quote. The programs that applied don't treat love as a feeling. They show up every week in recovery rooms, classrooms, hospitals, and community spaces, often with very few resources, because the people they serve are counting on them.

That's what love looks like when it has a mat under it: consistent, practical, and present.

This month we'll be sharing what that looks like in practice, and we'd love for you to come along. 🧡

Save this one for the days when love feels more like a choice than a feeling, and share it with someone whose love you can see in what they do.

10/02/2026

THANK YOU. 💛

The 2026 Yoga Service Grant window is closed, and we're blown away: 426 applications from yoga teachers and therapists in 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Yoga in schools, prisons, hospitals, shelters, libraries, and parks. Programs for veterans, cancer survivors, people in recovery, seniors, kids, caregivers, and so many more. Brand-new pilots and programs that have been showing up for years.

More than 8 in 10 applicants serve low-income communities. Nearly three-quarters serve trauma survivors. Every one of them is love in practice.

To every teacher and program who applied: thank you for the work you do. We're reading each application now, and we'll announce this year's recipients in December.

09/30/2026

Today's the day. What a month it's been — thank you to everyone who has applied and shared. Applications for the 2026 Yoga Service Grant close tonight at 11:59 PM PT. If you're leading an ongoing yoga service project, don't wait until the last minute — apply now. Link here: https://givebackyoga.org/yoga-service-grant

09/29/2026

One day left. If you're a yoga teacher or therapist leading an ongoing service project, tomorrow is your last chance to apply for the 2026 Yoga Service Grant. Link here: https://givebackyoga.org/yoga-service-grant

09/28/2026

48 hours left.

Over the past month of the 2026 Yoga Service Grant application window, we've heard from teachers doing extraordinary work: yoga inside correctional facilities, ASL-interpreted classes for the Deaf community, chair yoga for seniors, programs supporting veterans and their families, yoga woven into schools, and community centers opening their doors to the practice.

If this is you and you haven't applied yet, now's the time. Applications close September 30. Link here: https://givebackyoga.org/yoga-service-grant

09/25/2026

Meet Alexxa Casanova, a 2025 Yoga Service Grant recipient. Alexxa is a Kumeyaay Chicana yoga instructor bringing trauma-informed yoga directly into tribal spaces across San Diego County through her project, LIT YOGA (Let's Inspire Tribes Yoga) — serving elders, youth, and individuals in recovery.

Her advice for other teachers considering this work: "Build relationships first and listen to community needs. Start small, remain consistent, and center the community in every step of the work."

Applications for the 2026 Yoga Service Grant close September 30. Link in the comments below.

09/23/2026

190+ applications and counting. With one week left in the 2026 Yoga Service Grant application window, we're seeing yoga service work from every part of the country — a rural outreach program in Hawaii, bilingual community classes in Texas, yoga integrated into dozens of Pennsylvania schools, programming spanning libraries, schools, and correctional facilities in Ohio, and donation-based classes reaching underserved communities in North Carolina.

If you're leading an ongoing yoga service project, applications remain open through September 30. Link in the comments below.

Address

Boulder, CO

Website

http://givebackyoga.org/

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