Dear friends + community ~

I was recently awarded a 50% scholarship to study at the Institute of Applied Somatics in Barcelona this August—a two-week immersive and comprehensive training on the nervous system that will deepen my work with trauma-informed yoga and somatic healing.

This opportunity is part of my commitment to making healing spaces more accessible to people who’ve been pushed to the margins of traditional wellness spaces—including incarcerated people and their families, Black and Indigenous people, people of the global majority, queer and trans people, people living with addiction, chronic illness, and chronic pain, and others navigating systemic harm. As a trans person who has experienced trauma and grew up navigating poverty, housing instability, addiction, domestic violence, and lack of mental health resources, I understand how life-changing accessible care can be.

Trauma-informed yoga and somatic healing have both provided me with clarity on the way my own trauma has impacted my mind and body—allowing me to reestablish agency for myself and reconnect to who I am at my core—and the tools I need to live in a capitalist society that is not designed for embodied connection with ourselves or each other.

I have been studying with Prison Yoga Project since October 2024 with generous assistance from their scholarship program and will graduate in June 2025 with over 200 hours of training. As a freelancer in manual labor who works to survive in NYC, like many, many others here, I am humbly asking for your support in funding this trip.

This program offers tools and knowledge that will provide me with an even deeper understanding of trauma and the body that I hope to integrate into future work in prisons and beyond, and share with my communities in New York and Texas.

I want to live in a better world—one that centers care rather than punishment—and this is the work I feel called to as an abolitionist who believes that deep healing cannot happen without community.

Upon completion of this training, I will have certification from both Yoga Alliance and the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine, with continued support from both Prison Yoga Project and IOAS, and continued education from many fellow movement practitioners and alternative healers that I look to for wisdom and guidance <3

While the scholarship covers half the tuition, I am fundraising for:

Remaining tuition: $1,998.50

Round trip flight: around $670 (fluctuating)

Lodging for 2 weeks: ~$1,200

Help with groceries: ~$100

Partial support for unpaid time off work: ~$1,000

A goal of $5,000 will help me cover remaining tuition, a round trip flight, a place to stay near my training in Barcelona, a portion of food costs, and half of my lost income during this period away from work.

If you’re able to give—or even just share this with someone who might be moved to—any support means the world. Thank you for seeing me, and believing in this work as part of the struggle for liberation and a more equitable world. I know I’m not alone in this dream.

Love,

Zach