Meet our first Woman Wednesday of the year, Melissa Aguirre of @melmarieyoga! Melissa is a certified yoga therapist, educator, author, poet, stress management specialist, mother, army wife, multi-studio owner and more. Before moving to San Antonio, she worked at Fort Bragg, providing yoga therapy to service members and leading retreats for veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project. Combining her expertise and experience, Melissa partnered with the United Services Organization and opened the first ever yoga studio on a U.S. military base at the Vogel Resiliency Center here at Fort Sam Houston.

Her practice focuses on healing through Mind Body Medicine, narrative psychology and other integrative evidence-based modalities for holistic wellness. Melissa trains and certifies yoga teachers in the community to lead classes offering lessons learned and healing on the yoga mat that go beyond the physical but into psycho-emotional wellbeing. With her program for military spouses, Melissa’s focuses on addressing their challenges to help them discover community, cultivate and nourish deeper self-purpose and support them in career development.

Melissa is now also contributing to medical research with the military and medical community, exploring integrative non-physical interventions as a cost-effective and proven methods in developing adaptive strategies for resilience and growth through trauma.

Melissa’s advice for other women pursuing their passions and juggling life is to tune into what you need and to trust your intuition. Listening to our bodies is imperative to our success, nothing is so important that calls you to not take care of yourself. You won’t do a good job if you are operating from a place of scarcity and sickness.

Check out Melissa’s page for more on her experience, writing, and future plans. She is definitely a San Antonio woman doing big things in our community!