Ellie Grace
Trauma–Informed Yoga Teacher Trainer, Medical Lecturer & Meditation GuideA scholar as much as a practitioner, Ellie has spent more than a decade bringing yoga into spaces where it is most needed – with medical students, health clinics, veterans’ programmes and the wider community. Her work weaves together neuroscience, yoga philosophy and somatic movement with her own lived experience, creating teaching that is both deeply informed and quietly transformative.
A teacher who is inspired by the capacity for yoga to create social change in education, social care and healthcare
Approach
Ellie teaches with the calm precision of someone who has studied deeply, and the warmth of someone who has done the personal work. Her classes and trainings hold space for what students actually carry: the nervous system before the pose, the breath before the sequence, the person before the practitioner. She is direct without being dogmatic, and her authority is quiet and gentle, earned through study, returned to through practice.
Ellie is a gifted teacher with an ability to guide through such an expansive topic with depth and grace. Carla, UK – Trauma–Informed Yoga Training
Early years
Ellie found yoga at a time of traumatic grief in her late 20s, when she lost her father and her boyfriend within the space of 7 months.
She became fascinated with how and why meditation and yoga helped her to heal through turmoil and went on a mission to uncover how the body, mind and psyche hold onto, transmute and transform through stupendous emotional pain.
Breath, movement and meditation helped her to find a stillness and healing that, over time, changed the course of her life, and she now offers what she learned to those also seeking healing.
Training & influences
Ellie’s path led her west to Loyola Marymount University in California, where she completed an MA in Yoga Studies and turned her academic attention to one of the most difficult questions yoga can ask: how do we work with grief, with trauma, with the residue of experiences the body remembers even when the mind would rather forget? Her research drew her into the company of teachers and clinicians working at the edge of this enquiry specifically at UCLA with veterans recovering from PTSD, with the Prison Yoga Project, and in clinical and educational settings where the science of the nervous system meets the slow patience of the practice. What runs through it all is a refusal to choose between the contemplative and the empirical; for her, yoga is both art and science.
Teaching today
Today Ellie offers yoga teacher trainings in trauma–informed practice and yoga as a tool for social change, lectures medical students across the UK on yoga neurophysiology and student wellbeing, and works with private clients seeking to overcome traumatic experiences. She is also a popular meditation teacher with over 20,000 followers on Insight Timer where she shares meditations on subjects from sleep, anxiety and stress to loneliness, courage and heartbreak. Across all of it, the through–line is the same: yoga as an evidence–based, ethically grounded, deeply human practice, which belongs as much in a clinic or a classroom as it does in the studio.
Meeting and learning from Ellie was a transformative experience. I now feel like I have the ability to bring yoga to wider groups of people and truly make a difference. Trauma–Informed Yoga Graduate
Specialisms
Yoga Neuroscience · Yin Yoga · Yoga & Mental Health · Yoga for PTSD & Recovery · Yoga Ethics & Social Change
What Ellie Grace's students say
"Ellie’s knowledge is founded and deep – she has quite simply done the work and shares it with such grace and generosity. Her fascination with the brain and the neuroscience of trauma really clicked with me and equipped me with not just practical knowledge, but the clinical and scientific ‘why’."
Helen C · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"I now understand that I’ve naturally been embodying a trauma–informed style, but I didn’t before have the language to name how I was teaching. Meeting and learning from Ellie was a transformative experience. I now feel like I have the ability to bring yoga to wider groups of people and truly make a difference."
Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"On my handbook during the course, I noticed that I wrote “this is my world”. Deeply informative, practical and affirming. It’s of course TIY, but what spoke to me loudly was that this is how yoga should be taught – as an informed, caring, professional practitioner. Thank you for sharing this important knowledge and teaching complex ideas in such grounded language."
Georgie · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"The trauma–informed yoga training with Ellie was such a special experience. Ellie brings so much warmth and enthusiasm to her teaching, and has a knack for being able to make the overwhelming topics feel accessible. I’m so grateful to Ellie for creating a cosy and supportive container for us all to pursue our unique paths together."
Laura · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"I really loved that Ellie also included modules for self–care as yoga teachers, topics that aren’t spoken about near enough, and did so in an insightful and empowering way."
Laura · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"Ellie is a gifted teacher with the ability to guide through such an expansive topic with such depth and grace. This Trauma–Informed Yoga course has really helped inform the direction of my continued studies. A brilliant reawakening."
Carla · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"Ellie is a natural teacher, passing information over with patience, clarity and detail. More importantly, she encouraged us along the way, giving us clear indications on how to use our passion and ideas. I come to the end of it with… the confidence that I have the tools to create something beautiful."
Silvia · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"Ellie provided detailed resources in a variety of different mediums. Ellie is very knowledgeable and shared her experiences working within a variety of different group settings. I loved Ellie’s approach and ethics regarding her teachings and enjoyed the sense of community she created."
Lisa · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"I felt a spark deeply ignite inside as we engaged in the material on this course and learnt more about how trauma affects the mind and body and ways in which we can alleviate this. Ellie delivered the information in a loving and compassionate way, allowing us to pause and reflect or ask questions as they organically came up."
Laura V · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student"It is this, coupled with her academic acumen and warm inclusive nature as a person, that stands this mentorship among the best training I have ever done."
Helen C, UK · Trauma–Informed Yoga Student
Interested in training with Ellie Grace?
Whether you're considering one of our trainings, a specialist CPD, or simply want to ask a question — we'd love to hear from you.