Charlie Harrison

Community Partner

Behavioral Fitness

Community Partner Charlie Harrison (she/her):My yoga practice encompasses the classes that I take and the classes that I teach as well as how I live in the world. I try to bring the lessons of yoga to my everyday life. In my classes I focus on making the practice accessible to the people that have come to class that day. I am interested in helping everyone breathe deeper, find balance, calm their nervous systems and generally relieve discomfort. I teach a Slow Flow class that allows students to feel their bodies while the mind settles into either the stillness or the flow. My classes are taught through a trauma informed lens and I use lots of variations to create accessibility for people at any stage in their yoga practice. After I completed my first teacher training, I then trained to teach yoga to folks with PTS(D) and TBIs. My first teaching position was teaching Veterans with PTSD at the Concord Vet Center. I then taught in-patient classes at the VA Hospital on the PTS(D)/TBI unit and to amputees. For 4 years I had 2 classes a week for Veterans at the VA Hospital in Martinez, Ca.In 2017 I took additional training to teach First Responders and Fire Fighters. We brought yoga into fire stations throughout the Bay Area. I have taught to the Marin, San Bruno, Rohnert Park, Daly City and South San Francisco Fire Departments and EMS. Alameda was my fire department for 3 ½ years. I have taught yoga to the new recruits for CAL Fire Academy in Ione, Ca for the last 2 years.In 2018, I took JoAnn Lyons training to teach yoga to people with disabilities and chronic conditions.  After the pandemic I returned to assisting and teaching for Piedmont Yoga Community (PYC). I joined the Board of Directors for PYC which funds these classes in 2023.