Today we’d like to introduce you to Bethanie Meredith.
Hi Bethanie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My personal history is supremely relevant as the backdrop of why I founded the non-profit, “Healing At The Hands of Almighty” (we call it H.A.T.H.A.).
My story is a vital contributing factor of who I’ve become, the reason I became a yoga teacher, and the driving force of this foundation, established in 2022.
So, a bit of backstory: I was raised in East San Diego, CA and I was a really “bad kid” with no moral compass. My dad left our family when I was 2 and my single Mom worked up to 3 jobs at a time, unable to be home much. Child Support Enforcement Agencies weren’t really a thing in the 70s and 80s, so she was doing the best she could. She had 3 kids (I was the only daughter) and my rebellious, strong-willed nature was too much for my mother.
As an adolescent and young teenager, my behaviors and experiences included:
· Drug Use
· Drug Sales
· Sexual Promiscuity
· Incarceration
· Theft
· Violence
· Gang Activity
· Foster Care
… and many other points on the ACE score chart (shout out if you know what that is).
Tough Love and Law Enforcement forced my mother’s hand and I became a ward of the court in the State of California at age 15.
After 5 foster homes in 3 years, I met with a recruiter before I graduated El Cajon Valley High School at 18 years old and “aged out” of foster care. I realized my life trajectory was headed into a destructive pattern and fortunately, I had not destroyed my brain cells too much. My ASVAB score qualified me to join the US Air Force so I had to quit using drugs before I could enlist. I left for boot camp in Texas in 1989. I also left the only family I knew, to start a new life. I never looked back.
While serving active duty in the USAF, I developed personal accountability, self-motivation, and conservative values. I was married at 19 and we were pregnant before the end of that same year. I was then honorably discharged and joined my husband at Clark Air Base in the Philippines where, after the birth of my first child in 1990, I experienced the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. During this traumatic, catastrophic natural disaster I thought I was going to die with my infant daughter in my arms. Thankfully, I was safely evacuated and sent back to the states, but this event prompted me to start searching for spiritual anchoring. What would have happened to me if I died!?
Being raised with no spiritual/religious guidance, I searched for answers to the questions that were stirring in my soul. I studied every religion and spiritual path I could find. Once I returned to the US, I moved to Northeast Ohio with my husband’s family and with some guidance from my brother/sister-in-law, I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1991 and have done my best to follow HIM ever since.
I had 2 more children in my early 20’s as I got to know Jesus and became very involved in church ministry, serving consistently for almost 25 years. I experienced great value and joy by “pouring out” my life for God and His people.
In 2010, however, my world as I knew it came crashing down around me when my husband of 20 years left our family. I found myself no longer able to pour out ANYTHING – because I felt empty, depressed, anxious, suicidal, betrayed, and fearful of my future. I resigned from all lay-ministry and barely made it to work each day because I didn’t want to get out of bed. My divorce was finalized in November of 2010 and after many months of deep, dark, depression, I was encouraged to practice some “self-care.” I recognized my need for recovery; I needed healing. I needed to re-learn how to connect with my Creator. I needed to be able to hear His voice of unconditional love again and to re-experience His nurturing hand.
Christ-centered yoga was a new group meeting at my home church that offered “mind, body, spirit” connection to Jesus, so I attended simply as a get-away. During the following 12 months, I received so many benefits from my yoga practice, I couldn’t wait to share it! I completed yoga teacher training in November 2011 and started sharing my yoga practice publicly as a teacher for my own LLC.
Since my professional background was in social services, as my public practice grew and my colleagues learned how I was helping people with their mind, body, and spiritual healing, more local organizations were seeking my services – But I could not keep up. Many of those organizations did not have funding available and there is only so much pro-bono work a single mother could do. I managed as best I could, serving freely in my community while working full time for various service agencies and non-profits.
In 2013, I met an amazing man who saw my passion and we fell in love. He proposed in 2014, we were married in 2015, and in 2016 he said, “Go follow your dream!”…And so I did!
Because many are unaware that professional, trauma-trained yoga teachers spend HUNDREDS of hours and THOUSANDS of dollars to be great servants, it is not a profession one chooses for the money. But these services are desperately needed and terribly under-funded.
So, in 2022, I was prompted to start this non-profit to reach MORE people with this practice. I JUST KNEW I was not the only yoga teacher who was serving their community and simply needed a little financial support.
As a result, “Healing At The Hands of Almighty” was born!
As of September, 2025, we have yoga teachers who serve clients in 8 different states at various agencies, including:
· Incarcerated youth in Phoenix, AZ
· Elderly dementia patients in Ashland, Ohio
· At Risk grade-schoolers in Ohio, Texas, and Colorado
· Incarcerated youth in Youngstown and Mansfield, Ohio
· Sex Trafficking victims in Ohio and Tennessee
· First responders in Maryland
· Low-income community members in Pittsburgh, PA
· Children’s Advocacy Workers near Chicago, IL
· Foster Kids and their families in Youngstown, Ohio
I’m thrilled to see the clients H.A.T.H.A. serves are people just like me!!! I am blown away and honored to be a teeny part in helping them along THEIR healing journey!
So, here is the summary of my story: I am a Christ Follower, in love with my Healing Creator. I am a Wife, Mom, Grandmother, Native Californian, Air Force Veteran, trauma survivor, and a social services advocate. I am a full-time yoga teacher and non-profit administrator, living in NE Ohio with my incredibly supportive husband and 3 dogs. We have 5 adult children and 6 grandchildren and I am so grateful to be continually shaped by the Hand of God.
I have no idea why God’s grace has been so generously poured out for me. I should have been dead; killed or overdosed as a teenager, considering my reckless choices. And I could have died like thousands of others during that natural disaster in 1991. But all I can come up with is ONE REASON:
LOVE.
I was made to love.
Love God and Love People.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth? Ha! Hardly.
The struggles are plenty and ongoing, but for now I’ll just offer this short answer – Funding.
3 years ago, I was so anxious to spread the word and start a team of trauma-informed yoga teachers, I began fundraising for H.A.T.H.A. in baby steps. I actually started with raffling off bottles of essential oils! It seems ridiculous to me now, considering the needs of the organization – I just couldn’t wait to support the mission. But, as many of your readers know, just the legal fees of starting a non-profit can cost upwards of $5,000. When I announced my intention to my circle of friends, though, the support came quickly. The legal fees were covered in 2022 by generous donors and by friends doing their own fundraisers! Since then, we’ve grown so much and it’s hard to keep the revenue consistent. Grants are difficult to attain and although NO ONE ELSE is doing what we do, the pool of applicants keeps growing and is therefore competitive. Our volunteer Directors and our small staff are always brainstorming at each meeting to keep our expert providers and their clients practicing yoga consistently!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Healing At The Hands of Almighty?
Our Mission Statement: Teaching people, through the practice of yoga, to connect their heart, soul, mind, and strength with their Healing Creator.
H.A.T.H.A.’s vision is to support communities nationwide by serving local organizations who could benefit from yoga, mindful resilience, and trauma-sensitive movement. We are committed to supporting and promoting wellness, mindfulness, and holistic health through accessible yoga practices for underserved populations who are clients of local community service organizations.
H.A.T.H.A.’s unique model is two-pronged.
1. We support the professionally trained and trauma-informed yoga teacher who is (or would like to be) serving their community in organizations who lack funding to pay for these services for their populations.
These populations may include programs for
children
inmates
elderly
addiction clients
mental health clients
first responders
healthcare workers
2. H.A.T.H.A. supports service organizations (referred to above) who would like to offer these services but lack funding. We can often link them with a teacher in our nationwide network of professionally trained and trusted providers at no cost to that organization.
We have providers who are actively serving in 8 states and the number of people those providers have served has TRIPLED in the last 12 months, reaching almost 1,000 souls in 2025 alone!
And the testimonials from the clients we serve are powerful!
“I feel like I am breathing for the first time in a long time. Not only is physical space created with movement but mental space as well.” ~ First Responder
“I love the stretching and balancing we do in the class. The teacher is calming and kind. It is relaxing and a positive atmosphere. Very thankful for this class!” – Elderly Chair Yoga Client
“As a H.A.T.H.A. provider, I am honored to be a yoga teacher for a domestic violence shelter. I work with the advocates who endure vicarious trauma and have also been invited to facilitate one-time practices for NAMI who was working with college transitions. THANK YOU H.A.T.H.A. for supporting yoga teachers that bring options to underserved communities and groups.” – Yoga Teacher
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
As I mentioned earlier in the interview, I had a really tough upbringing: Single mom, no boundaries, tough neighborhood, and lots of negative influences took my childhood away early. I was sassy and quick witted, street smart but carelessly defiant. My time spent using and selling drugs, then being incarcerated, then moving around in multiple foster homes made me hard-hearted. I had spent too much time handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser for a young teenager. I had been abused in every imaginable way in those years and I cannot describe the depth of “lostness” I felt. My hope of a future in goodness and productivity was completely absent.
But God! By His Grace, I am still here and doing my best to serve Him and all of His children, as we are all created in His Image. He is Healer, He is Creator, and He is Almighty.
Pricing:
- Donations to the non-profit are greatly beneficial and welcome in any denomination. Please visit: www.hathanp.org/give
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hathanp.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/h.a.t.h.a._yoga/#
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HATHAnonprofityoga
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/h-a-t-h-a-healing-at-the-hands-of-almighty/
- Other: https://omella.com/ts76c
