The Art of Yoga Project

The Art of Yoga Project is a United States nonprofit initiative focused on bringing mindfulness-based practices to young people affected by trauma, inequity, violence, abuse, and involvement with systems such as juvenile justice and residential care. Its work is designed not simply as recreational yoga instruction, but as a structured support model combining yoga, meditation, and expressive arts with trauma-informed teaching. The stated purpose is to help youth develop self-awareness, emotional regulation, resilience, and a more positive sense of personal agency. The project was founded in 2002 by Mary Lynn Fitton, a yoga teacher and nurse practitioner. Fitton’s professional experience exposed her to teenage girls dealing with body-image difficulties, teen pregnancy, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and self-harming behavior. She developed the project around the idea that yoga could offer a practical and accessible way to help young people reconnect with their bodies, increase self-esteem, and interrupt destructive cycles of behavior. The organization became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2005. AYP’s program model is explicitly trauma-informed. It draws on the ChildTrauma Academy’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, which organizes activities according to the developmental and regulatory needs of people affected by trauma. In broad terms, classes move from regulation to relationship to reasoning. Early activities emphasize sensory integration, grounding, breathing, movement, and nervous-system regulation. Once participants are more settled, relational and expressive activities support connection and emotional processing. Later activities can engage reflection, learning, and cognitive choice. This sequence is intended to meet participants at their current level of emotional regulation rather than expecting them to begin with abstract discussion or conventional classroom concentration. The organization’s teaching is delivered by specially trained, trauma-informed instructors in settings serving youth. Its approach recognizes that many participants may experience chronic stress and may respond to difficult circumstances through hyperarousal, anger, withdrawal, dissociation, or other protective behaviors. The project therefore presents yoga and mindfulness as tools for safety, self-regulation, and empowerment rather than as performance-oriented fitness products. Expressive arts broaden the model beyond physical postures and provide additional ways for participants to communicate and explore their experiences. According to impact information associated with the project, AYP has delivered more than 15,000 classes to over 10,000 unique young people since its inception. Its quarterly surveys have reported that at least 80 percent of youth consistently identified improvements in interpersonal skills, prosocial behavior, and emotional regulation outside class. Qualitative accounts describe participants gaining opportunities to feel calm and safe, manage anger and other difficult emotions, remain present in their bodies, and develop more hopeful views of themselves. Case studies also associate participation with more positive behavior choices and improved relationships with family members, peers, teachers, and care providers. The Art of Yoga Project is best understood as a social-impact service organization rather than a conventional consumer yoga brand. Its central offering is a therapeutic and educational program delivered through partnerships with institutions and youth-serving systems. The organization’s broader positioning is that mindfulness-based practices should be available to young people who are often excluded from wellness resources, and that carefully adapted movement and creative practices can complement other forms of care, rehabilitation, and education.

The Art of Yoga Project emerged from Mary Lynn Fitton’s experience as both a yoga teacher and nurse practitioner. In her work with adolescent girls, Fitton encountered recurring problems involving body image, abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, self-harm, and low self-esteem. Many of the young people she observed were connected to systems such as juvenile justice or other forms of institutional care. She concluded that a combination of yoga and creative activity could provide an accessible way to help participants develop physical awareness, emotional control, and a stronger sense of self. Fitton founded the project in 2002. From the beginning, the organization was aimed at youth whose needs were shaped by trauma and social marginalization, rather than at a general commercial fitness audience. Its classes combined yoga with meditation and expressive arts. The intended benefits included calming the nervous system, improving self-awareness, strengthening interpersonal skills, and supporting more constructive responses to anger, fear, and distress. The organization formally became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2005. The project’s later model incorporated concepts from the ChildTrauma Academy’s evidence-based Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics. This framework proposes that interventions for traumatized people should follow the sequence in which different regulatory and cognitive capacities develop. AYP translated that idea into a class structure often summarized as “regulate, relate, reason.” Participants first engage in grounding, sensory, breathing, and movement activities intended to support regulation of the body and survival responses. Relational exercises then help create safety and connection. Cognitive and reflective activities follow once participants are better prepared to learn, express themselves, and consider choices. This sequencing became a defining feature of AYP’s trauma-informed approach. Rather than treating concentration, compliance, or emotional calm as prerequisites for participation, the program uses movement and mindfulness to help participants reach a more regulated state. The inclusion of expressive arts gives youth another channel for communicating experiences that may be difficult to discuss directly. The overall model treats yoga as a complementary therapeutic and developmental practice, not merely as exercise or physical performance. The organization has worked with systems and institutions serving vulnerable young people and has presented its work as part of a wider effort to make mindfulness-based practices accessible to populations that frequently lack access to conventional wellness programs. Its teachers are described as specially trained in trauma-informed practice, reflecting the need to adapt instruction for participants who may have experienced chronic stress, violence, abuse, or instability. Impact figures associated with the project report more than 15,000 classes delivered to over 10,000 unique youth. Quarterly surveys have indicated that at least 80 percent of respondents consistently reported gains in interpersonal skills, prosocial behavior, and emotional regulation beyond the classroom. Qualitative reports describe participants learning ways to calm themselves, manage anger and difficult emotions, remain present rather than dissociate, and develop more hopeful and positive views of themselves. Case studies have also linked the program with positive behavior choices and improved relationships with family, peers, teachers, and care providers. Public attention to the program included coverage in the Palo Alto Weekly in 2007 and Yoga Journal in the same year. These accounts focused on the use of yoga and art with girls involved in the juvenile-justice system and on the program’s emphasis on rehabilitation, self-calming, accountability, and personal expression. The Art of Yoga Project’s historical identity therefore rests on the intersection of yoga instruction, trauma-informed care, youth empowerment, and institutional collaboration.

• 2007

  Coverage of the youth rehabilitation program

  [1]The Art of Yoga Projecten.wikipedia.org

  The project received coverage in the Palo Alto Weekly and Yoga Journal for using yoga and art with struggling teenage girls, including youth involved with the justice system.

• 2005

  501(c)(3) nonprofit status

  [1]The Art of Yoga Projecten.wikipedia.org

  The organization became a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, formalizing its institutional structure and charitable mission.

• 2002

  The project is founded

  [1]The Art of Yoga Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Yoga teacher and nurse practitioner Mary Lynn Fitton founded The Art of Yoga Project after observing trauma, abuse, body-image problems, and self-harming behavior among adolescent girls.

• Reported program reach exceeds 15,000 classes

  [1]The Art of Yoga Projecten.wikipedia.org

  Impact information associated with the organization reports more than 15,000 classes delivered to over 10,000 unique young people since inception.

A trauma-informed nonprofit wellness and youth-development organization that adapts yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and expressive arts for marginalized and system-involved young people.

• Youth wellness and therapeutic education · 2002

  Trauma-informed yoga classes

  Structured yoga instruction adapted for system-involved and marginalized youth who may have experienced trauma, abuse, chronic stress, or instability. Classes emphasize grounding, body awareness, breathing, movement, and self-regulation rather than performance or physical mastery. Teachers are trained to create predictable, safe, and supportive environments.

• Mindfulness education · 2002

  Mindfulness and meditation

  Mindfulness and meditation practices are used to help participants notice thoughts, sensations, and emotions without immediately reacting to them. Within the project’s trauma-informed model, these practices support emotional regulation and present-moment awareness and are introduced in ways intended to respect the needs of youth affected by trauma.

• Creative youth development · 2002

  Expressive arts

  Expressive-arts activities complement movement and meditation by giving young people nonverbal and creative ways to explore feelings, identity, relationships, and personal experiences. The arts component is part of the project’s broader effort to support self-expression, connection, empowerment, and recovery.

• Trauma-informed program model

  Neurosequentially informed curriculum

  The organization’s class sequencing draws on the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and the related three-stage progression of regulate, relate, and reason. Activities begin with sensory and nervous-system regulation, move toward relational engagement, and then support reflection and cognitive learning.

1. 1The Art of Yoga Projecten.wikipedia.org
2. 2The Art of Yoga Project official websitetheartofyogaproject.org