Lisa Ellisen Founder of Soul Yoga and the Soul Yoga Foundation
Our speaker for March 12, 2026 was Lisa Ellisen, founder of Soul Yoga and Soul Yoga Foundation. Soul Yoga Foundation is a 501c3 organization focused on supporting physical, mental, and emotional health through trauma-informed yoga programs. Lisa’s path to yoga teaching was unintentional but became her life's purpose despite initial resistance and personal challenges. She first encountered yoga in Sun Valley, Idaho in 1996 when her boss required her to attend yoga training to get a paycheck. She has been teaching since 2001 and opened her own studio to support her young family in 2012. She founded Soul Yoga Foundation in 2023.
In 2024, the Foundation reached over 6,000 students across 14 schools with 4 teachers, expanding from 4 schools in 2023. The Foundation’s programs target youth in schools, high school athletes, first responders, incarcerated youth, and families, addressing mental health challenges including high teen suicide rates in Sonoma County. The organization has trained 80 yoga teachers through 200-hour and 300-hour certification programs, with the ninth cohort currently in progress. The school program funding primarily comes from PTAs, but efforts are underway to expand fundraising to provide free programs to schools facing budget cuts.
The 2017 fires catalyzed Lisa's shift from fitness-focused yoga to the trauma-informed practices that now form the foundation of her teaching. Prior to 2017 many of her students were educators who reported children were "frozen in fear" and showing unprecedented behaviors after the fires. She began volunteering in classrooms and learning about trauma and the body. She listed trauma symptoms in youth, including anxiety, clinginess, fear, hyperactivity, aggression, difficulty relating to others, repetitive play, sadness, developmental regression, lack of attention, and psychosomatic complaints. She described trauma-informed yoga as incorporating grounding activities, mindful poses, safe and predictable environments, deep diaphragmatic breathing, and attunement to recognize anxiety signs.
The model and inspiration for Soul Yoga Foundation was the Africa Yoga Project, which trains young people to teach yoga in orphanages, prisons, and slums around Nairobi. She hosted Project teachers in 2016 and 2017. Lisa also teaches yoga to local high school athletes, such as the Montgomery High football and track teams. Yoga is great for injury prevention and recovery, mobility, flexibility, enhanced strength and balance, mental toughness, and breathing regulation. Lisa mentioned that many elite athletes practice yoga, including LeBron James, Tom Brady, George Kittle, and Noval Djokovic.
Thank you, Lisa, for the very informative presentation. Special thanks for the early morning mindfulness and breathing exercises!
