Meet the Team Behind: Veterans Yoga Project

Veterans Yoga Project supports the recovery and resilience among veterans, military families, and communities with free classes that strengthen the body and mind. Learn more about their work here!

What is the story behind VYP? 

VYP began when Dr. Daniel J. Libby, a Yale University fellow, was providing psychotherapy to veterans recovering from PTSD. He found that those who developed empowering self-regulating practices had better outcomes and moved through PTSD faster. We started as a training workshop delivered by a psychologist and yoga teacher that was intended to help other yoga teachers have the skills and knowledge to effectively teach veterans. Our services have since expanded to include our own classes, and our community has grown to include caregivers, healthcare workers, and more. 

What do your programs entail? 

We have a 200-hour yoga teacher training that was designed by the military community, for the military community. Our mindful resilience for trauma recovery training is an evidence-based, clinically-tested yoga program that was developed specifically for veterans recovering from PTSD and other psychological difficulties. It’s a program that has been successfully integrated into mental health and addiction treatment sites across the US and Canada. For caregivers, we have a “compassion fatigue” program to help them overcome emotional exhaustion in healthy ways. 

Can you tell me about the veterans you work with? 

Our veterans and military families are our communities’ best assets, and we want everyone to have access to a full range of mind-body practices that support efforts to be leaders in their own lives. Last year, over 33,000 veterans, service members, healthcare workers, and their families participated in our mindful resilience yoga classes. We’ve trained over 2,200 individuals to teach yoga, and provided over 1,200 training scholarships to veterans, service members, and military families. Our programs are founded on the belief that every person has something to offer, and the talented people we work with are passionate, hardworking, and dedicated to serving their communities. 

What does a typical class look like?

We believe that yoga should be accessible to all, and we have guiding principles to ensure all participants feel supported in every class. Each class is designed to be safe and welcoming, and is set in a trauma-sensitive environment. We offer structured, reliable guidance so that students know what to expect, and we make classes available to all physical abilities. We encourage a sense of calmness and stability with teachers who lead with a mindful, authentic presence. Every class brings us closer to a stronger, more resilient future for veterans and their families.