Emily’s training and certifications include:

• Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance

• Neuro Somatic Intelligence Certified Practitioner

• Prenatal and Youth Yoga Ed Certified

• Thai Yoga Massage for Adaptive Yoga Certified

• Yoga Nidra Certified Teacher

• Holistic Health Coach with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition

• Embodied Movement for Trauma Teacher

• Breath as Medicine Certified

• Bio and Neurofeedback Certified Specialist

• former Wilderness EMT and Wilderness First Responder

• Whitewater Kayak Level IV Instructor with Swiftwater Rescue

Emily Hightower 

I have spent more than 25 years exploring the relationship between stress, embodiment, nervous system health, human performance, healing, and the natural world.

My work began in wilderness medicine, whitewater guiding, and outdoor leadership, where I learned early how human beings respond under pressure; physically, emotionally, and relationally. Those experiences shaped a lifelong study of breath, adaptation, resilience, recovery, and what allows people not only to endure challenge, but to remain connected to themselves within it.

Over the years, my work has evolved through thousands of hours of direct experience with a wide range of populations, including combat veterans, first responders, elite athletes, executives, clinicians, neurology patients, and individuals navigating profound life transitions and chronic stress exposure.

I have shared more than 16,000 hours of contact time through somatic yoga, nervous system education, medicinal breathwork, immersive experiences in nature, and resilience training. My background includes advanced studies in pranayama, Neuro Somatic Intelligence, adaptive yoga, biofeedback, stress physiology, integrative nutrition, and embodied approaches to performance and recovery.

From 2022–2025, I partnered with Brian MacKenzie at SH//FT, where I contributed to behavioral health and stress performance programs, worked alongside Dr. Andy Galpin’s Rapid Health Optimization teams, and facilitated live resilience training events for military, fire, and law enforcement communities.

Today, Intrinsic represents the ongoing evolution of my work; an integration of physiology, breath, embodiment, nature, meaningful challenge, and deep respect for the adaptive intelligence of the human system.

I currently live and work from a conservation property in the Rocky Mountains of Western Colorado, where I continue to study the relationship between nervous system health, recovery, nature, and human potential