Dave is the founder of Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) for the Justice Resource Institute in Massachusetts, where he coined the term “trauma-sensitive yoga”. From 2009-2011, he was responsible for curriculum development, supervision and oversight of the yoga intervention component of the first of its kind, NIH funded study to assess the utility of yoga for survivors of trauma. Dave has developed, conducted, and supervised TCTSY groups for rape crisis centers, domestic violence programs, residential programs for youth, active duty military personnel, survivors of terrorism, and Veterans Administration centers and clinics and more. He is the co-author of Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, released in 2011 by North Atlantic Books and Author of, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy (Norton, 2015). In 2018, Dave Emerson co-founded the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI.

Sydney is a licensed clinical social worker. She has worked in schools, mental health agencies, and private practice providing support and psychotherapy to adults, couples, and families. Her areas of interest and research have included brain-based mindfulness, trauma interventions, diversity, equity and inclusion, grief and loss issues, holistic wellness, and professional self-care. Sydney is committed to advancing social justice through providing more opportunities for diverse and underrepresented populations to gain more access to the healing power of yoga, sensorimotor practices and mindfulness.  Sydney has completed intensive training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with Jon Kabat-Zinn, and a certification in Mindful Self-Compassion training from the University of California. Sydney has also completed a mindfulness leadership training developed at Google to foster peak performance for employees called “Engage” from the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute in San Francisco. Currently, Sydney is a professor at The University of Kansas-Edwards Campus. Through her business, The Insight Studio, she offers trainings, workshops and programs in workplace mindfulness, brain-based mindfulness for stress relief, social justice yoga/movement and trauma-sensitive yoga with at-risk children in the schools. She provides trauma-sensitive yoga classes at the Kansas City VA for veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, trauma-sensitive yoga/movement private and group sessions, and yoga for stress-relief group and individual sessions.