Domestic and sexual violence is not just something that happens to others. With 1 in 3 women in the United States, and 1 in 7 men being survivors of this type of violence, it’s trauma has likely impacted your sister, your daughter, your mother, and/or someone else you love.
Exhale to Inhale was founded in 2013 by Zoë LePage, while a senior at Barnard College. Someone she loved deeply was a long-ago survivor of domestic violence, and in college several of her close friends were sexually assaulted. Witnessing the trauma her loved ones struggled with - long after the physical effects of the violence had faded - Zoë felt compelled to do something. Since yoga had served as a therapeutic tool for her, she suspected it would be helpful for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Zoë knew intuitively what research has since shown - that yoga can reduce many of the symptoms of trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She founded Exhale to Inhale to honor her loved ones and named it based on the idea that sometimes we have to let go of that which is no longer serving us, in order to inhale new possibilities.