Photo by M. Kaplan
Jill Tuleya, MA, C-IAYT, E-RYT-500
Jill Tuleya (pronounced too-LAY-uh) began teaching trauma-informed yoga in prisons, alcohol and drug recovery centers and women’s shelters in 2006 as a volunteer with Living Yoga. A Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (2015), certified and registered Yoga Teacher at the E-RYT 200 (2010, 2013) and E-RYT 500 level (2015), Cancer Exercise Specialist with the Cancer Exercise Training Institute (2013), Integrated Movement Therapy practitioner through Samarya (2015), Patient and Family Advisory Board member for Providence Glisan Family Medical Center (2016), Yoga Alliance Certified Education Provider (2019) and certified Health and Wellness Coach through Duke Integrative Medicine (2022), Jill has a long and storied history with yoga and wellness as a teacher, trainer, coach and mentor. She has worked with thousands of clients facing cancer, addiction, recovery, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, respiratory disorders, sleep disorders, trauma, loss, grief, generalized anxiety and panic disorders and other physical, emotional, mental and spiritual concerns.
Recruited into the Exercise Science program at Portland Community College (PCC) in 2012, Jill developed and led Professional Activities: Mind Body Disciplines courses training wellness industry pre-professionals in mindfulness-based exercise and fitness leadership. In 2018, Jill co-developed Oregon’s first for-credit Yoga Teacher Certificate program at PCC with her friend and colleague, Dr. Alma Eaton, creating opportunities to diversify leadership in the yoga industry. Launching the program in 2020, Jill carried forward her wisdom in trauma-informed and accessible yoga instruction to her students and became the program’s Yoga Practicum Coordinator, leveraging job opportunities for dozens of students by connecting them to local industry partners.
In 2019, Jill received inter-departmental grant funding from PCC to attend the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education’s conference “Radical Well-Being in Higher Education: Approaches for Renewal, Justice and Sustainability” to study and report the efficacy of mindfulness programming across a broad range of higher education institutions. Her findings helped her develop a 10-week program, Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom, to train and individually mentor over 50 PCC staff and faculty in science based, culturally responsive, learner focused mindfulness teaching strategies to promote student wellbeing and academic achievement. During this time, Jill also co-founded PCC’s Wellness Advocacy Consortium and facilitated district-wide mindfulness events for over 100 staff and faculty to promote wellbeing throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and to foster connections in the workplace.
Certified with the National Council for Mental Wellbeing as a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Adult, Youth and Higher Education instructor, Jill is currently teaching courses through PCC’s Child and Family Studies department and Community Education and serving as the MHFA Coordinator for the Family and Human Services program. She will begin teaching Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Trainings and Oregon Counseling on Access to Lethal Means courses at PCC in 2024. Recently, Jill was also invited to teach in PCC’s 200-level Ayurvedic Yoga Health Program and looks forward to sharing her knowledge of Ayurveda and yoga with students.
Jill’s teaching style is lighthearted, insightful, accessible, trauma sensitive, creative, transparent, motivational and deeply practical. Visit https://www.pcc.edu/staff/jill-tuleya15/ for more information.
