Naomi Tuinstra, M.Ed.

Naomi began her career as a high school science teacher in underserved communities across Los Angeles. Working alongside her students gave her a close view of how educational systems shape opportunity, and her graduate work in urban education gave her frameworks for understanding what she was seeing. Together, these experiences shaped a lasting commitment to equity and justice at every level of education.
 

After moving into higher education, she has served as a Bilingual Financial Aid Counselor and Financial Literacy Program Coordinator, an Advising Specialist with TRiO Student Support Services, and a Senior Instructor in the College of Education at Eastern Oregon University. While at EOU, she expanded her work as an educator to include mindfulness, meditation, and yoga, designing and launching the university's first Yoga and Mindfulness program for students. She then moved to Oregon State University, where she taught in the Mind Body Program in the College of Health and in the College of Education.
 

Across her work, Naomi integrates trauma-informed contemplative practices and remains focused on accessibility in educational spaces. She moves through the world in an otherly-abled body and teaches from that place. Her teaching approach is focused on adapting content to work for each person, meeting them where they are at in each moment, rather than adherence to a single yoga pose or methodology. Her aim is to create space for students to slow down and listen to what their body, mind, and spirit might be saying, and to hold space with others for collective learning and growth.

• Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA Master of Education, Urban Education, 2010 Bilingual Concentration in Language and Culture (Spanish) Thesis: The Effect of Choice on Student Achievement in Minority Student Populations
   
• Oregon State University Honors College, Corvallis, OR Honors Bachelor of Science, Environmental Science, 2008 Honors Bachelor of Arts, International Studies, 2008

• Assistant Teaching Professor, 2026–present, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Department of Teaching and Learning
  Instructor, 2023–2025, Oregon State University, College of Education 
• Instructor, 2022–2025, Oregon State University, College of Health, Mind Body Program
• Senior Instructor, 2016–2021, Eastern Oregon University, College of Education
• Co-founder, Coordinator, and Instructor, [dates], Eastern Oregon University, Yoga and Mindfulness Program, College of Science, Technology, Mathematics and Health Sciences
• Advising Specialist, 2016–2017, Eastern Oregon University, TRiO Student Support Services
• Financial Literacy Coordinator and Bilingual Financial Aid Counselor (Spanish), 2015–2016, Eastern Oregon University, Financial Aid
• Science Teacher, Chemistry and AP Environmental Science, 2012–2014, Environmental Charter High School, Lawndale, CA
• Science Teacher, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science, 2011–2012, Colegio New City High School, Long Beach, CA
• Physics Teacher, 2010–2011, Ánimo Locke 3 Charter High School, Los Angeles, CA
• Science Teacher, 2008–2010, David Starr Jordan High School, LAUSD, Los Angeles, CA

Tuinstra, N. (2019, November). Mindfulness as a social justice tool in education. Ninth Annual International Conference on Education and Social Justice, Honolulu, HI.
Tuinstra, N. (2016, October). Mindfulness for tough conversations: Using contemplative practices to navigate conversations around diversity, inclusion, and equity. Workshop presented at the National Association of Educational Opportunity Programs Regional Conference, Boise, ID.
Tuinstra, N. (2016, October). Moving through Addiction and Recovery with Yoga. Workshop presented at the Ninth Annual Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (ACMHE) Conference, Scotts Valley, CA.

• Integrating Trauma-Sensitive Principles into Yoga Teaching, 2018
• Yoga of 12 Step Recovery, Certified Leader and Space Holder, 2017
• Diversity Training for Yoga Teachers: Recognizing the Personal, Historical, and Institutional on the Way to Oneness, 2017
• Yoga Alliance, 200-Hour Certified Yoga Teacher, 2016