Paula Wild (E-RYT 500, YACEP, MSc, WFR) has been guiding wilderness trips and offering yoga classes and trainings from a perspective of accessibility and inclusion for over a decade. Paula’s intention is to provide opportunities for more people to explore and enjoy the wild world within, AND around us. She believes that the tools yoga and time in nature offer are the most effective ways to connect with our own inner wisdom and expand our potential in the world.
Paula holds over 1,000 hours of yoga teacher training certifications and became a certified Yoga Therapist in 2015 through Niroga Institute, which promotes equity through trauma-informed mindfulness practice and education in Oakland, CA. She also holds a Masters Degree in International Agricultural Development from UC-Davis, a certificate in Permaculture Design from the Regenerative Design Institute, and has studied extensively with Joanna Macy in the Work That Reconnects. Paula has been facilitating the Work That Reconnects in various contexts since 2016. She is inspired and driven by the connections between adventure, wilderness travel, the practices of yoga and mindfulness, and the design of sustainable livelihoods. Paula is currently serving as the Program Manager and Lead Instructor for the Balanced Rock Foundation's online WildYoga Teacher Training.
Paula is deeply committed to exploring topics of social and environmental justice in the wilderness as well as on and off the yoga mat. She was a part of establishing the Mariposa, CA chapter of SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice), and offered weekly yoga classes at the Mariposa Heritage House – Drop-In Recovery Support Center through 2018. From 2019-2020, Paula was a Program Specialist at the Esalen Institute, and sat on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee there. She is deeply committed to inquiring; with compassion, honesty and humility, how we can do better to create just, equitable and liberated spaces; within ourselves, in all of our relationships, and within the institutions we are a part of.
Websites: wildawakewellness.com & balancedrock.org