[Kiyona] I began yoga as a practice over 12 years ago.

It was at a time when I was trying to explore what would be the exercises that I would do to keep myself in shape as I became a young adult.

It was the first thing that I did that was different than just a physical exercise and I felt the mindbody connection from the beginning and I said, "Oh, this is different and I want more of it."

I moved to South Florida to grow my yoga business.

I quickly became a yoga teacher and was hired at a yoga studio where I was the only black woman, black person at all on their staff and I found myself in many classes where I was the only black person.

There have been times where I felt, you know, super welcomed, it's felt aligned.

There's also been times where I have experienced someone not wanting to have their mat next to me and that doesn't feel good and I have, you know, also experienced times where I felt like the music didn't align, or the, the message didn't align with me.

Jasmine came to a a 6:00 AM class that I had.

It was refreshing to see her in class and I wanted to make a point that I made sure that she knew she was seen and that we spoke and that she knew that this was a place that she was welcome to come back to.

When I saw that the instructor was a black woman, I didn't, I knew I wasn't alone, but I knew it would be soulful, it would be spirit led, it would be fun, exciting.

Since 2015, I had been practicing and teaching yoga.

It gives me a moment to check into my body, to ask myself how do I feel, what am I feeling?

And just it kind of take myself away from the world and only focus solely on myself, my body, and my movements one at a time.

If anybody has ever taken a class with a cultural person or a black woman, the feeling, the music, the movement, everything is interconnected, so that feeling of not being alone, you have something you can relate to.

It makes a whole difference in your, your practice and the outcome of it.

And we could not find an easy way to find places where we could be in community with people who looked like us and we decided to start it as a meetup group and we started very small and humbly with just one student and it continued to grow.

The part of building our community is networking and so we found out there was a blackowned coworking space led by a black woman.

As soon as you walk in, you feel comforted, you feel excited, you feel vibrant.

The energy is good.

It's important to be in spaces like this that's gonna welcome you and give you your needs and be supportive.

[Joy] The relationship with Co Space and the Black Yogis of South Florida, it is perfect alignment of a mission that we have to support people who look like us and create an opportunity for us to, to be mindful but also, you know, have a place to be productive, to have events, to have places where you can do yoga and, and also places where you can and get some work done.

Mindful Monday is an offering that we have at Co Space.

We host it once a month and we invite various Yogis to come and instruct a gentle yoga flow right here in this space and our members, with various levels of experience in yoga, can experience a, a class that is helping them to reset the Monday, depending on how your day has gone, intentionally have a good week and just introduce people to a different way to cope with the stresses that sometimes come with just being a business person, an entrepreneur, just a person trying to survive in this day and age.

[Kiyona] Through Black Yogis of South Florida, we have a network of 30 or so yoga teachers and what I love about the network is that we all have different yoga styles.

We all have our own unique flair that we bring to the practice.

We have created opportunities for jobs and opportunities for exposure for the people who are a part of our network.

It's super important to have culturally safe spaces for black women, black families, black people and I'm coming from a background of Capoeira, which is a very cultural practice.

I took my teacher training and I was the only black person there.

Even in the teacher training, they're like, oh, you guys shouldn't be listening to hip hop because it's an aggressive, it's gonna, you know, take you out of alignment and I'm, for me it was painful because it's like this is my culture.

It's important for us as black practitioners to create these spaces for black people to come and get the healing that yoga has to offer without feeling like their culture is wrong, without feeling like their food is making them further away from their alignment.

They've created this awesome network of black yogis and I've gotten to create new relationships with different teachers.

I've been able to go into spaces and teach children, teach all kinds of different people and I just love how dedicated they are and they're always looking for new ways to bring more people into the fold, to highlight us as teachers.

[Kiyona] I think that the music, the energy, the vibe, it's about creating an aesthetic and an ambiance and I think that we are really good at doing that.

We incorporate some things that you might not experience in other yoga classes.

So for instance, we did a class during Black History Month and we had some elders come and doing live drumming.

One of my favorite parts about being a yoga teacher is that I'm also a DJ and it provides me an opportunity to show my creative side and create and cultivate a playlist that can take people on a journey.

[Jasmine] The music is always a staple that people enjoy when they connect with us.

They love that the way we present ourselves on camera, on Instagram and social media, it's the same way they, they meet us in person and it's family friendly and so that's something people enjoy, 'cause they don't have to necessarily get a babysitter to come enjoy the event.

We have something separate for the kids that we host and so the parents get a chance to separate a little bit and do their own thing while the kids are still occupied.

I think that's what sets us apart from your traditional yoga class because childcare is not a barrier.

You can flow with your child and then your child can see you in that space and be able to see their parent maybe the way that, that you were not able to see your parent and so it's changing those generational cycles of being overworked, of being stressed, of being selfsacrificing and being able to set those examples for children is important.

What I love about Black Yogis of South Florida is that what we offer and what we've been able to offer extends beyond the physical asana yoga practice.

We've been able to incorporate a number of other modalities, including meditations, Pilates, sound healing, dance and so what I like about that is that all of those things contribute to the mindbody connection.

We are preparing to celebrate our third anniversary of Black Yogis of South Florida.

We've done some amazing things including going to Palm Beach County.

We even went to Tallahassee and taught a class at a university for their entire athletic department.

We also have a partnership with the City of Miami Gardens, where we host a monthly Pilates class.

We have a partnership with Nomi Village in North Miami where we host a monthly wellness Wednesdays class.

The mission is to share the wealth and knowledge that we can continue to build up our community within each other and be able to really branch out in the wellness space and be known for what we do, so not hiding.

People know that black yoga teachers exist, they enjoy the classes, there's a multitude of us and we have an array of gifts to continue to spread wellness through from the childhood up.

I am excited for all the ways that this organization will be able to use what has been gifted to expand and spread the word and get more people on the mat.