Grace Millsap

Grace Millsap is a yoga teacher, retreat leader and teacher trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina, known for yoga that blends science, Yogic philosophy and what she calls a quest for magic and joy. She describes herself as a student first, honors asana as one tool of many, and says she is always willing to evolve and (un)learn. She works from the land of Catawba and Sugaree.

Before teaching full time, Grace spent five years as a scientist, conducting research for UNC-Chapel Hill at the intersection of nutrition, genetics and neuroscience. She holds two college degrees: psychology from Appalachian State University and biology from UNC-Charlotte. She completed her first yoga teacher training in 2013 and began drawing connections between modern science and Yogic philosophy right away. In 2016 she was laid off from the lab job and started teaching full time. Her passions, in her words, are rooted in science and equality, and they shape both her teaching and how she shows up in the world.

Grace studies and teaches from a long lineage that holds life to be inherently beautiful and the path of Yoga to be a tool set for navigating its twists and turns. She names the Tantra and Himalayan Traditions of Sri Vidya as her specific lineage. Alongside multiple yoga teacher trainings she has completed Ayurveda certifications. In 2018 she became a 500-hour ERYT, having completed over 500 hours of trainings and 2000 hours of teaching, and in 2023 she became a Licensed Massage Therapist. She launched Elemental School Yoga in 2019 and co-owns MoonWolf, where she teaches.

Her classes include power flow, slow flow, vinyasa flow, Yoga Nidra, restorative yoga and Deep Stretch Yoga, offered both standard and heated. Students describe a tranquil environment, creative and playful sequences, and metaphors woven through the class. She also teaches at community venues around Charlotte, offers private sessions, and leads workshops such as Asana Foundations, which prepares newcomers to join classes with ease and confidence. For those who want to go deeper, she offers a 200-hour yoga teacher training and a teacher mentorship program.

Retreats are a large part of Grace's work. In 2017 she co-led her first international retreat in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. Since then she has taken groups to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala in April 2025, where they stayed at Villa Sumaya, took lancha rides across the lake and joined a fire ceremony. In August 2025 she led a summer camp on the South Pacific coast of Costa Rica, in Uvita, and in March 2026 she led a week at Samadhi Sacred Valley in Peru, where the group hiked to sacred ruins, harvested potatoes and corn for their meals, and took part in an Andes reforestation project. Her retreat offerings have also included Spain, Thailand and a return to Costa Rica.

Grace's work is open to a wide range of people: those who want to travel with like-minded people, those who want to practice in their own neighborhood, and those who want to go into what she calls the rabbit hole of yoga. She is also public about her own social location and about ethics in the yoga community. She has written on the topic for Yoga Journal, and on the nervous system and yoga practice for YogaVibes. She has spoken on the Rebel Movement, Wildish Wise Women and Peaceful Power podcasts, including on the doshas and on teaching when the world is falling apart.

Away from the mat, she reads, lounges with her dog Fizzgig, and plots new ways to disrupt the status quo.