In this episode, we chat with Lulu's mentor and yoga teacher, Gina de la Chesnaye. She is an alumna of the 2016 Harvard Global Mental Health Trauma and Recovery Certificate Program with a global cohort representing six continents.

In 2019 Gina helped establish Nachan, a nonprofit that provides mindfulness-based practices to the women and children living in the Katwe and Kisenyi slums of Kampala, Uganda and trauma-informed training to social workers, street counselors and caregivers in East Africa. Twice weekly, Nachan trainers share practices with the women so they can learn how to regulate their nervous systems which have been adversely affected due to past and current traumatic events. Nachan also provides food and psycho-social support during the group meetings as well as medical care, vaccination outreach for Hepatitis and Typhoid and prevention education for HIV/AIDS. Nachan promotes the ability to move beyond surviving into thriving.

She has recently been invited to be a Fellow of The Mind/Brain Center for War and Humanity as well as a Mental Health / Wellness faculty member of The Canadian International Medical Relief Organization where she will help to research specific mental health issues associated with trauma and offer mind-body practices for the survivors and caregivers of the war in Syria.

Gina has been a competitive kickboxer and still actively trains martial arts. She is a contributing writer and photographer to The Huffington Post, has written numerous articles on mindfulness, yoga, meditation, and Buddhism.

Support Nachan on:

https://second-response.networkforgood.com/

Connect with Gina on:

Instagram @gdelachesnaye

http://www.gdelachesnaye.com/