Community Love: A Tribute to Those Who Support and Uplift Our Communities featuring Katie Blecker, disabled grief, loss + death care guide, yoga facilitator, artist, educator
There are some people whose presence stays with you long after your first meeting—people who gently, consistently reshape how you understand care, community, and what it means to truly show up for others. Katie Blecker is one of those people.
Our paths first crossed during the Advanced Yoga Teacher Training at VSOHA. As a student, Katie was grounded, curious and very intentional. Later that same year, she attended a Yoga Outreach training with me where we dove deeper into accessible and community-centered yoga practices.
Not long after, our worlds overlapped again—this time at Ocean and Crow Yoga Studio. We were both teaching there and, in that time, I came to see that Katie and I held a lot of the same values.
Katie (she/her) is a queer, disabled, and chronically ill multidisciplinary artist whose work lives at the intersection of creative expression, community care, and embodied practice. Her offerings span adaptive yoga, mindfulness, grief care, and death work—each one shaped by lived experience and a deep commitment to accessibility and inclusion.
She trains yoga teachers in accessibility and anti-ableism, leads adaptive classes, and supports individuals and communities as a certified End of Life Doula. Much of her work takes place online, expanding access to those who are often excluded from traditional wellness spaces.
One of the most impactful expressions of Katie’s work right now is through Fully Woven, where she has been leading the Disability Grief Gathering Cohort.
This peer-based circle is designed specifically for people who identify as disabled or chronically ill. It centers on:
Community building
Education and shared understanding
Emotional processing
Expanding capacity to hold both grief and ease
In a culture that often overlooks or minimizes disability grief, this offering creates something rare: a space where grief is not rushed, fixed, or silenced—but witnessed, held, and integrated. The next cohort intake is expected later this spring, continuing to grow a community rooted in care, honesty, and mutual support.
In addition to her work with Fully Woven, Katie co-runs the Cosy Yoga Club alongside her friend Audrey—an online yoga studio built with intention and integrity.
Their mission is simple but profound: to foster a genuine sense of belonging while honoring the ethics and spirit of yoga.
Cosy Yoga Club is:
Disability and illness affirming
2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive
Neurodivergent-friendly
Open to all backgrounds and experience levels
What makes Katie’s work so impactful is that she doesn’t position herself as an authority removed from others—she is in it, alongside the communities she serves. She reminds us that community care isn’t something we deliver—it’s something we build together.