Yoga for Veterans

Gail Pickens-Barger, teaches Veterans Yoga, through the Veterans Yoga Project online and in-person for the Texas and Southeast Texas Region.

GAIL PICKENS-BARGER | NEDERLAND, TX

Gail Pickens-Barger is a yoga teacher with over 24 years of teaching experience.

She first used yoga during the birth and pregnancy of her first child.  Fifteen years later, became a yoga teacher.  Gail’s 200 hours were through YogaFit International Training Systems, and more recently her 500-hour certificate was through Lex Gillan’s The Yoga Institute.  Gail recently finished a Yoga Nidra course through Wise Owl Yoga and the Mindful Resilience for Trauma Recovery through the Veterans Yoga Project. Currently, Gail is a Certified Low Back Care Yoga Teacher through the Yoga Vista Academy. She recently finished her Chair Yoga Dance training and is currently pursuing her yoga training for cancer recovery.

In addition to teaching a weekly beginner yoga class and a chair tai chi class, Gail teaches online Beginners Yoga for back pain relief for Veterans Yoga Project, on Wednesdays at 1 PM Central Time.

Gail originally came into contact with the Veterans Yoga Project, after reading an article on Baxter Bell’s Yoga for Healthy Aging Website.  In the article, it talked specifically about volunteering to provide a free yoga class for veterans and to raise funds to support the Veterans Yoga Project during Veterans Gratitude Week.  Gail likes to do karma yoga for raising funds for local food missions, raised funds for church playground equipment, Girl Scouts, and such, and the providing free class for veterans and raising funds seemed like a worthwhile effort.

Since 2016, Gail has hosted several classes to benefit the Veterans Gratitude Week for VYP.

More recently Gail was contacted by the local VA to present chair yoga to the vets in the Beaumont/Orange Texas area.  In doing so, Gail came into contact with Brianna Renner, who assisted her tremendously in providing a class format, that would present the 5 tools that VYP uses in providing classes.

Gail has gone on to doing the Mindful Resilience training provided by Veterans Yoga Project and teaches regularly for the Veterans Yoga Project both online and in-person.