Gabrielle Congrave Baggenstoss

She has been practicing on and off since age 13, with a serious daily practice since 2013. She trained in the Himalayan Tradition & SomaYoga, then completed a 6 month Kundalini Yoga apprenticeship with a local teacher. In 2017 Gabrielle received her certification in Trauma Sensitive Yoga at Your Yoga in MPLS. In 2018 she completed her Level One Certification (220 hours) in Kundalini Yoga at the Kundalini Collective in Minneapolis, and hit her 1,000 hour mark to become an ERYT-200 & YACEP. She received her certification in Yin Yoga from Radiant Life Yoga in Minneapolis shortly after. Areas of additional study include trauma, Ayurveda, trauma informed care & spaces, racial & economic justice, mudras, somatics, and energetic anatomy. Gabrielle is a strong believer in the fusion of sacred movement and artistic creation in the treatment of trauma. She teaches in a deeply authentic manner; having seen what abusers can do to a yoga community (or any other community for that matter) her practice both personally and a teacher has evolved greatly. Gabrielle is a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation/trafficking and addiction - she worked in the Minnesota Safe Harbor network in a variety of roles (youth counselor, program coordinator, and Regional Navigator), from late 2018 to late 2021. During that time she taught primarily to survivors of sexual trauma. She works as a survivor consultant and will return to teaching publicly in January of 2022 at CoreHealth Nutrition & Yoga in Bemidji. While in the Safe Harbor network, Gabrielle designed trauma informed yoga and creative writing groups for the youth at a residential program she was employed at. The groups were not only popular they were incredibly healing for the youth. Gabrielle used this exact same combination- yoga and creative writing- to heal from her own trauma, and modeled the groups after that. She also designed a trauma informed somatic training that can be altered to serve either teachers and providers, and is drafting the official curriculum for both. She is a huge fan of Bessel Van Der Kolk, Stephen Porges, and Janina Fisher (to name just a few). Gabrielle is currently working on her CCTS-S and CFTP. She is in the process of revising her memoirs, which will examine through poetry, prose, and visual art, her experiences in both the sex trade and the nonprofit industrial complex.