Nurses experience heavy workloads, high stress environments, and exposure to physical and psychological stress which negatively impacts nurses’ physical and mental health, leading to burnout with the potential to compromise the quality of care (Cocchiara et al., 2019). Yoga in the workplace has been cited as a strategy to mitigate these harmful effects, with benefits including lowered stress, greater relaxation, and increased productivity through improved focus and concentration (Cocchiara et al., 2019). Cohen et al. (2023) concluded that promoting overall health through yoga contributes to a healthier workforce by increasing well-being, engagement, resilience, and reducing burnout.
Renee Cortes, MSN, RN, sought to implement yoga at Kaiser Permanente San Rafael (KP SRF) as a constructive way to address the stress inherent in the workplace. She convened a small group of like-minded employees from her unit who met informally and participated in yoga in various locations across the medical center. Cortes felt the yoga helped her decompress physically and mentally, making her more grounded and better equipped to proceed with her shift and committed to patient-centered care.
Cortes applied and was accepted into the six-month EBP immersion program from the Kaiser Permanente Scholars Academy and the University of California, San Francisco Leadership Institute. This immersive experience empowers nurses to improve patient care and clinical outcomes and provides proven approaches to implementing evidence into practice. Cortes anecdotally knew how yoga helped her feel and this opportunity piqued her interest and created a pathway for further inquiry. Cortes participated in graduate level didactic workshops, providing hands-on experiential learning experience.
She completed a critical appraisal of the evidence, which underscored her own personal experience of creating psychological safety, managing stress, building resilience, and promoting mindfulness, empathy, and emotional presence, reinforcing that healing applies to both patients and caregivers (Cohen et al., 2023) (Cocchiara et al., 2019).
Cortes also identified that the practice of yoga in the workplace strengthens a nurse’s ability to create authentic caring connections with patients, in alignment with Dr. Jean Watson’s Human Caring Theory.
Cortes identified potential financial and logistical barriers to implementation of this evidence-based well-being initiative, noting the need for a dedicated yoga space for participants and enough yoga equipment. Cortes and Gail Sims, DNP, RN, CRRN, FARN, Utilization Manager from the Coordination of Care Department partnered to advocate for funding through a KP Wellbeing Mini Grant through the Live Well Be Well Initiative from the Healthy Workforce Program. The grant was approved in October 2024, which allowed for the purchase of the Glo Yoga App Subscription, mats and blocks in 2025.
In April 2025, Sims and Cortes sought a dedicated location, and the Support Services Administrator identified a space in an old pediatric waiting room in the Medical Office Building. To make the space appealing and support the intended mindfulness, Sims and Cortes advocated for a re-design and refresh of the space which included new paint on the walls, removal of old stored equipment, and the mounting of a 40-inch tv monitor at a lower level for ergonomic reasons. The work was completed in July. Cortes noted a potential barrier to participation, noting that some clinical nurses in the inpatient division may not be able to join during that block of time or be able to leave the unit. Seeking creative solutions, they agreed to purchase posters with yoga poses so that the division of inpatient nurses could also participate in their units. Posters were purchased and mounted in nursing units.
Cortes attended the KP SRF Professional Governance Council in July 2025, where she shared her EBP project, including the health and well-being benefits of yoga, its start date, location, and times. Lunchtime yoga go-live successfully began in August 2025. In the first month, more than 41 nurses participated in lunchtime yoga. Yoga has become a permanent daily offering.