Our Story

The Sattva Project started when a group of yoga practitioners, united by their experiences with trauma, incarceration, and addiction, envisioned a way to improve access to yoga for those who would benefit most. Through collaboration with nonprofit leaders, recovery professionals, and community advocates, that vision became a reality. Today, the Sattva Project offers weekly yoga classes in partnership with organizations supporting individuals affected by trauma, incarceration, and addiction. With ongoing growth—including free community classes and new partnerships—we remain dedicated to expanding access to healing, connection, and inner growth through yoga. The Sattva Project is based on this belief: that everyone deserves the chance to return to their true nature and experience a sense of wholeness.

Our Mission

To make yoga accessible to all–fostering healing, harmony, community, and personal transformation.

Our Vision

We envision a world where yoga is truly accessible to all. Rooted in authenticity, compassion, connection, and belonging, we create welcoming spaces for individuals to reconnect with their true selves, cultivate self-love, and build meaningful relationships. Through free and “give what you can” yoga classes in jails, rehabilitation centers, day reporting centers, and under-resourced communities, we offer tools for stress relief, resilience, and self-discovery. By nurturing both personal empowerment and collective well-being, we support every individual’s journey toward inner peace and a more connected, compassionate world.

Our Values

We value authenticity, compassion, connection, and belonging. These are the gifts of seeking sattva-balance and harmony in our lives.

Authenticity

Embracing our true selves, shedding our masks, living in alignment with our inner nature, and cultivating our presence. The practice of yoga provides a sense of stability, calm, and inner peace. It offers a “return to self.” From this foundation of groundedness, a renewed sense of self-love emerges.

This authenticity, once accessed, reveals itself as love — both for oneself and for others.

We believe that authenticity is foundational to

peace within ourselves and in the world.

Compassion

When we learn to open our hearts to self-compassion and humbly soften into a state of grace for the present moment, we feel a sense of inner peace and wholeheartedness. The practice of yoga helps us to see ourselves with grace. We become aware of the suffering we cause ourselves, as well as the suffering of others, and develop a willingness to help.

Compassion leads to meaningful and caring relationships, the progressive realization of worthy goals, and an internal freedom from both the physical and mental pain and stress of embodied life. It is also the underpinning of creating a life embedded in peace and of benefit to others.

We believe that yoga teaches a love for self and that love for self equals love for others.

Connection

Connecting with ourselves and others on a sensory level allows us to get underneath the stories and viewpoints in our lives and connect as human beings. That feeling of connection is called emotional intimacy, and it is the foundation of all healthy relationships.

Connection is important for our mental and physical health. It creates feelings of belonging, of being loved and valued. Being connected to others helps protect against illness and dis-ease in the body/mind. It offers personal resilience.

We believe that the practice of yoga offers a path to greater interconnection with all beings.

Belonging

Yoga means “union.” Through mindfulness, we open ourselves to feelings of deeper connection and belonging…to ourselves, our communities, and the world. A sense of belonging helps manage stress, loneliness, and other behavioral issues. It is a social determinant of well-being and is crucial for the continuity and prosperity of the community.

When we feel we are interconnected,

we act with others in mind, too.

Everyone benefits and grows stronger together.

When we reach out, in support of and in service to each other, we are empowered. We recognize the priceless gift we have received. When we share our learnings, experiences, and efforts with others, we share our hope and strength. Giving back instills purpose and meaning into our lives.

We believe that cultivating spaces of belonging creates ripples of selfless service to others.

Meet the Team

  • Tracy Madigan

    EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

  • Ramzy Alahmad

    PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DIRECTORS

  • MJ Evans

    DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS