About Chia-Ti (she/her)

After almost two decades, my purpose remains steadfast: to share wellness with those who don’t have easy access to or resources for it. Teaching in and learning from the communities that I have been fortunate to be a part of gives me so much joy and meaning. I teach with and lead trainings for the Lineage Project, which provides inner strength resources for young people. I am also on faculty with the Garrison Institute's Contemplative-Based Resilience (CBR) Project, which gives humanitarian aid workers tools to cope with burnout and vicarious trauma. I provide mindfulness and resilience building consulting to individuals and companies. I run an annual yoga and arts program in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and established an educational fund program that supports Haitian children to attend school. I started this community care program after my initial trip to Haiti in 2010, providing art therapy to earthquake survivors and their families. I have presented at Mindfulness in America, been featured on podcasts, and speak on panels and conferences. My yoga videos are available through YogaBody and FMTV/Gaia.

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I feel so blessed to be able to share wellness with others – especially because I didn’t set out to become a yoga teacher at all. In my early twenties, I was performing poetry professionally in New York City and decided to go to Beijing to learn Mandarin for a year. Only for a year, and then I would come back and continue making art and performing. Who knew I would leave China early, travel through Southeast Asia for 5 months, and ultimately end up in an ashram in southern India? I spent 6 life-changing months in India, and I will be forever grateful for whatever divine hand that guided me to this path. When I returned to New York, I was able to start teaching yoga right away. My very first gig was teaching 9th graders at a public high school in the Bronx. Appropriately, the school was called Discovery HS. Not only have I discovered so much about myself personally on my own spiritual journey, but I continue to uncover the interconnectedness of social justice, trauma consciousness, and resilience building. All of these factors contribute to healing and to growth. Yes, it’s inner work. And, it is also collective care.

Now, I feel like I’ve come full circle back to my roots in storytelling. As I continue to do more public speaking, I hope my own stories of healing, belonging, and flourishing resonates with others. May we, collectively, start to liberate each other from ignorance and suffering, and move towards growth.

One love.