Case study
Global Wellness Institute
The Global Wellness Institute is a leading nonprofit educational organization driving research and advocacy globally, dedicated to empowering wellness worldwide.
As a trusted hub for insight and strategy across sectors, GWI plays a pivotal role in shaping the $4.7 trillion global wellness economy—informing the work of healthcare providers, policy advocates, researchers, and business leaders around the world.
Advancing wellness as a therapeutic system of care
A long-time GWI ambassador and initiative chair, Bija’s relationship with the institute centers on a deep commitment to position and promote ancient practices as credible tools for addressing modern health challenges, with a specific focus on Yoga Therapy as an evidence-based science and system of care.
The Opportunity
While the wellness industry has grown exponentially in popularity and scale, many of its most powerful modalities—including yoga, meditation and breathing—have become oversimplified and commodified and lost their true ethos.
Bija stepped into this moment with a vision. Known as a leading expert in wellness, yoga and Yoga Therapy—and one of the field’s most skilled practitioners and advocates—Bija partnered with the Global Wellness Institute to restore these misunderstood systems through education, rigor and scientific research.
In 2019, Bija launched the GWI Yoga Therapy Initiative to increase mainstream awareness of Yoga Therapy’s holistic benefits and drive adoption of its therapeutic value and applications in diverse industries and settings.
The Work
Over the past five years, as Chair of the GWI Yoga Therapy Initiative, Bija has led a group of international experts to advance and expand the role of Yoga Therapy in the modern health landscape.
Bija has shaped the initiative’s vision and strategy, guided its content and led the launch of The Yoga Therapy Renaissance: A New Wellness Modality for the 21st Century, the initiative’s first public-facing publication.
Revered by global industry leaders, this comprehensive eBook:
- Reframes Yoga Therapy as an evidence-based, whole-person approach to wellness
- Advances a new paradigm of integrative care—bridging ancient wisdom with modern science
- Clarifies the distinction between modern yoga practice and therapeutic applications
- Highlights research and case-studies to support stress, chronic illness, addiction, aging and systemic health challenges
- Elevates Yoga Therapy as a profession, rooted in personalized care, goal-setting and lifestyle-based protocols—adaptable to individuals, workplaces and healthcare systems
Reach and Resonance
Bija and the GWI Yoga Therapy Initiative continue to bridge research, culture and lived experience—offering a grounded, evidence-based narrative for why Yoga Therapy matters in the 21st century. Building on this work and the publication of The Yoga Therapy Renaissance: A New Wellness Modality for the 21st Century, Bija has sparked new conversations, championed proactive approaches to health and wellbeing and created space for a more accessible, culturally attuned understanding of what wellness truly requires.