Kaylie Wright’s path into health and fitness didn’t begin with a desire to teach, but with a need to survive.
Originally from Union City, Tennessee, Kaylie moved to Memphis in 2010 in search of a fresh start after an unimaginable loss. At just 18, she lost both of her parents within a short period of time, shattering her support system during one of the most formative stages of life. “I didn’t know how to do anything,” she says. “I was at an age of really trying to figure out who I was, and without the support of my parents, it felt impossible to find the right path,” she remembers.
After enrolling at UT Martin, Wright realized she needed to step back and reassess everything. She relocated to Memphis, carrying grief, uncertainty, and a deep sense of isolation. Antidepressants led to a rapid weight gain of nearly 100 pounds in four months, and with it came emotional numbness. “I knew something had to change,” she recalls. That moment became the catalyst for her transformation.
Therapy was the first step in Kaylie’s healing. Working with her therapist, Kaylie began learning how to set boundaries, process trauma, and reconnect with herself. She later enrolled in hair school, graduating in 2014 and building a career at Ryan Patrick Salon. “Those years of therapy really prepared me to become an unofficial therapist with my clients at the salon,” Kaylie jokes.
After feeling the positive effects of therapy and recentering her mental health, Kaylie found yoga helped her to connect her mind and body. She began practicing regularly, and eventually completed her yoga teacher training in 2020. Meditation soon followed, opening the door to a more spiritual and somatic approach to healing. “I didn’t even know if I loved myself back then,” Kaylie admits. “Yoga and meditation taught me how to pause, how to feel, and how to honor what I’d been through instead of being ashamed of it.”
With a family history of muscular dystrophy and the emotional toll of her mother’s suicide, Kaylie learned early that caring for both mind and body was not optional. Her practice evolved beyond yoga alone when she joined Higher, a high–energy, strength–based workout studio that complements her mental health work. “Yoga clears me out. Higher amps me up,” she says. “Both are for mental health. Breathwork and movement help get stuck energy out of the body and bring you back into alignment,” she says.
Today, Kaylie teaches yoga at mind/body HAUS, a space she describes as her chosen family. “Community is the center point of everything I do,” she says. “I want people to arrive exactly as they are and feel safe being vulnerable.” Her classes emphasize inclusivity, emotional awareness, and the idea that healing doesn’t have to happen alone. Having once felt secluded and lonely during the holidays, she now finds joy in building community, especially through teaching holiday yoga classes that feel like gathering with family.
When she’s not teaching, Kaylie dreams of competing in a HYROX competition and continuing to grow both physically and spiritually. She has recently completed Reiki certification, which focuses on energetic healing. She hopes to bring this new knowledge into her yoga teaching, and even bring Yin Yoga classes back to mind/body HAUS. Her journey from grief to grounding, from isolation to community, stands as proof that healing can be found through movement, breath, and belonging.
Find Kaylie’s teaching schedule at mindbodyhaus.com.
By Zoe Harrison
Photo by Tindall Stephens
