LIT Yoga: Building Community Care Through Trauma-Informed Yoga

Alexxa Casanova | 2025 Yoga Service Award Recipient

Bringing yoga directly to tribal communities in Southern California

For many people, healing begins with feeling safe, supported, and connected.

That is the heart of the work Alexxa Casanova brings to tribal communities across San Diego County through LIT Yoga, which stands for Let’s Inspire Tribes Yoga.

Alexxa is a Kumeyaay Chicana yoga instructor and community health professional who combines her background in Native public health with her own healing journey through yoga. Her work focuses on making yoga accessible, culturally respectful, and trauma-informed for Native communities.

Meeting People Where They Are

Instead of asking people to travel to yoga studios, Alexxa brings yoga directly into trusted community spaces.

She teaches in wellness centers, elder programs, youth groups, treatment facilities, and community events. By partnering with tribal organizations, participants can access yoga in familiar places where they already feel comfortable and supported.

This approach removes many common barriers to wellness programs, including transportation, cost, and lack of access to culturally relevant services.

Participants include Kumeyaay and Luiseño elders, youth, families, and individuals in recovery. Many live in rural areas and face health disparities, isolation, trauma, and limited opportunities for movement and stress relief.

Supporting Mental Health Through Movement and Connection

Alexxa’s classes focus on more than physical movement. They create space for people to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and feel part of a community.

Participants have shared that yoga has helped reduce stress, improve sleep, lower anxiety, and ease pain. Youth participants report feeling calmer and more confident. Individuals in recovery say yoga helps them manage anxiety and cravings.

Many participants continue returning to classes week after week. That consistency has helped build strong relationships and trust within the community.

“She said she felt hopeful and stronger, which reinforced how powerful accessible movement and community care can be.”

One moment especially stayed with Alexxa. After regularly attending chair yoga classes, one elder shared that she was able to get up from the floor without pain for the first time in years.

For Alexxa, moments like this show the deep connection between movement, mental well-being, and community support.

Building Trust Through Consistency

Providing services across rural communities comes with challenges. Alexxa drives weekly from her home in Menifee to tribal communities throughout San Diego County. Limited space, travel time, and coordinating schedules across programs can all make the work difficult.

Still, she continues showing up.

She adapts classes to fit any environment, brings portable equipment, and works closely with tribal partners to support ongoing programming.

Over time, that consistency has helped create strong bonds within her classes.

“I have a class of consistent elders for about a year now,” Alexxa shared. “Our bond is great.”

Advice for Other Yoga Service Leaders

Alexxa encourages other yoga teachers interested in community work to begin with listening and relationship building.

“Build relationships first and listen to community needs,” she shared. “Be trauma-informed, stay adaptable, and focus on accessibility and trust.”

Her advice is simple but powerful:

“Start small, remain consistent, and center the community in every step of the work.”

Through LIT Yoga, Alexxa continues to create spaces where people feel seen, supported, and connected. Her work reminds us that yoga can be a powerful tool for mental health, healing, and community care when it is rooted in trust and accessibility.

Connect with Alexxa here:

IG: @alexxa.casanova | @letsinspiretribes