Check Out Megan Davis’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Davis. 

Hi Megan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Hello! I am a social worker turned yogi and my mission is to offer yoga and mindfulness as tools to inspire connection, empowerment, and (re) evolution. My vision is a world in which we all have the space to feel held and free at the same time. 

Outside of my personal healing journey (which continues to evolve), yoga changed the trajectory of my career. I was a school-based community mental health therapist for over 15 years in Cleveland, Ohio. I witnessed daily the effects of trauma and toxic stress on mental wellness, development, learning + connection. The one thing that was missing in my clinical practice for years was the mind-body connection. Right around the time that I invested in my first yoga teacher training, I attended a program with Bessel van der Kolk, on trauma and the body. I started to incorporate movement and breathing exercises into therapy sessions, and some of my clients and I created a yoga club at school. Something special was happening; it was like a million light bulbs went off at once. I knew from then on, I absolutely had to share these ancient practices with as many people as I could, and that holding space for empowerment + resilience was my calling.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh, of course! For me, one of the biggest challenges has been to honor my own humanity and allow myself to show up as authentically as I can. Sharing my own challenges with mental health, being honest about hard days, and always remembering that my education (and privilege) does not make me an authority over anyone else’s life, is super important to me. Healing is NOT a linear journey or even a destination! To hold the truth that I am also on the journey, despite my role as a leader in the trauma-informed wellness space, is critical…as well as to disrupt harmful messages in the wellness community such as, we must “always be healing”, or always “doing the work”. Building resilience, connection, and emotional health is also about joy, play, relaxing, and inviting FUN into our lives! 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For the last ten years, I have integrated yoga and mindfulness into clinical spaces, special education classrooms, alcohol and drug treatment centers, yoga studios + holistic health organizations. I lead + serve from a science-based, resilience-focused lens and hold compassionate space for ALL bodies. All of my work is offered through the lens of a trauma-informed framework, which includes transparency, choice, consent, cultural awareness, empowerment, antiracism, and more. My background as a social worker and decades of training in mental health, combined with my yoga and somatics education offers me a unique niche where I am able to integrate skills and techniques from multiple disciplines into the spaces that I hold.

Currently, I am the Executive Director of ZENworks Yoga, a local non-profit and leader in school-based wellness. I also co-lead the yoga teacher training immersion program at Harvest Yoga + Wellness Studio in Cuyahoga Falls. I am in the process of curating the first trauma-informed care service directory in NEO, which is currently housed on my website.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Taking risks can be a wonderful practice! I definitely took a risk by leaving my full-time job as a school-based therapist 9 years ago, to pursue the integration of yoga into my work with the world. I took a risk when I jumped into my first yoga teacher training 10 years ago with almost zero experience, and then again 4 years later when I started my second teacher training with a 3-week-old baby girl! 

Leaps of faith, running before we walk…I’m all for it as long as it comes from a centered, embodied place, and we can hold possibility for multiple outcomes without attachment or judgement.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.megandavisyoga.com
• Instagram: @mdavisyoga