Kahlila Kramer

I first started doing yoga as a child and became serious about it at age 16 when I studied with an amazing Hatha yoga teacher named Sita Rose, who was also a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist. She gave me the first inklings of how one could combine talk therapy with body-based modalities. I moved to New York in 1998, during the AIDS epidemic, and worked in the Bronx as a medical assistant with Citywide Needle Exchange and Mt. Sinai Hospital. I was very interested in health care inequities and providing care to marginalized communities. I began working at the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center in Manhattan, an LGBTQ clinic providing free services to low-income and uninsured people. There, I was an HIV counselor and case manager. The rates of HIV infections were very high and I found that I was working with people through a very pivotal moment in their lives and there was often trauma associated with the counseling session. I wanted to go deeper into understanding trauma so at age 30, I was admitted into John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and received my master’s degree in Forensic Psychology. During field work for my degree I worked with Safe Horizon in the Domestic Violence program, and for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. There, I provided counseling and victims services for the Sex Crimes and Crimes Against Children Bureaus.

After my son was born in 2007, I left the DA’s office, but still wanted a way to work with people but from a more body-centered approach. I remembered the work that I had done back in Berkeley with Sita Rose and started my own investigations into mind-body connections. I received my personal trainer certification through AFAA and went on to complete my 200-hour yoga teacher training through YogaFit. I really enjoyed the YogaFit model because it starts from a place of working safely in the body—in each person’s individual body and not a one-size-fits-all model. After completing the 200-hour training I was working one-on-one with clients doing yoga, Pilates, and strength training and my interest in trauma-sensitive yoga deepened. I returned to YogaFit and completed their 100-hour Yoga for Warriors, a trauma-sensitive yoga certification. I am now studying Reiki and have completed my Reiki Level 1 certification. I also completed Movement for Trauma Level 1 with Jane Clapp.

Each of my sessions is curated to fit the needs of my client on that particular day. I utilize my training in yoga, Pilates, dance, and movement to create a personalized one-hour session. In my private studio space, my clients and I usually work barefoot on a mat with yoga props when appropriate. With some clients we do more strength training; for others, we do mostly gentle yoga and mindfulness practices. I am interested in the basics of functional movement and breath, believing in the power of simply sitting still,  being open, asking questions, offering choices, and going slowly.

I provide one-on-one sessions, semi-privates, and small group classes.  I work from my home, in clients’ homes, and at a yoga studio in Brooklyn. I approach each session from a place of compassion. I work in a non-judgmental way, helping my clients to have self-acceptance and love for their bodies. I work with clients who have experienced trauma and approach all sessions in a trauma-sensitive manner.

I have worked with people who have experienced sexual violence and trauma through my work as an HIV counselor and case manager. Then after graduating with my master’s degree in Forensic Psychology I worked at Safe Horizon in the domestic violence program and then went to work at the Kings County District Attorney’s office as a counselor and advocate in the Sex Crimes and Crimes Against Children’s bureaus.  I worked closely with people coming through the criminal justice system as survivors of recent sexual assault or intimate partner violence, providing counseling and advocacy. I assisted clients in navigating the grand jury and preparing to testify at trial. I also ran an alternative-to-incarceration group for women arrested for sex work. I saw first-hand the violence in their lives.  The women I counseled were often victims of sex trafficking who had no autonomy over their bodies. We worked together on gentle yoga and movement and for one moment in the day, they felt in control of their bodies and breath.

Ultimately after the birth of my first child, which brought up some of my own past history of feeling unsafe and out of control in my own body, I felt the need to leave the DA’s office and find a new way to work with clients. I got my personal trainer certification and a 200-hour yoga teacher training. I began doing yoga and core work with small groups of new moms, some of whom were dealing with post-partum depression. This led to completing another 100-hour trauma-informed yoga training. I now work mostly with private clients, many of whom have histories of trauma, doing yoga, movement and meditation.