It鈥檚 a Friday night in early March, and an unusual yoga class is about to begin at Denver鈥檚 , which is also home to an urban farm, a preschool, and mental health providers. The sun has set when I enter the building, but a few staff are still there. They are all Black or Latinx, which is unsurprising since the campus is in north Denver, historically home to communities of color. In a basketball gym, two Black instructors are setting up, and the two other attendees are, like me, also people of color (POC). In , this class is an exception. Which is why I鈥檓 here. The classes offered by the听 are a safe haven for POC in this city, in no small part because its exclusively for POC is听changing who teaches yoga.

Tonight, the teachers are David Hallman and Beverly Grant, both graduates of Satya鈥檚 training program. It鈥檚听a听restorative class, with lots of lusciously long stretches and little talking from the instructors aside from basic directions. No mirrors, philosophizing on spirituality, or chanting in .

A few days after my I class, I talked on the phone with Satya Yoga鈥檚 founder, Lakshmi Nair, a soft-spoken Indian-American woman.听She created Satya Yoga鈥檚 training program after years of feeling out of place in the Western yoga world. Across the United States, the people who practice yoga and attend classes are mostly white and have听. Aside from often being the only POC in class, Nair, who trained in yoga at India鈥檚 , taught in a simple way that didn鈥檛 always resonate with students. Instead, she focused on breath, inward focus, and stillness in asana.听鈥淚t felt weird to me to over-romanticize or glamorize aspects of our [Indian] tradition in the way that is prevalent in the yoga world,鈥� she explains. Nair听did not offer 鈥溾��听or exciting choreography. But many students and studio owners expected these embellishments;听over time, she found it hard to build a following.

Disheartened, Nair published an essay in 2012, titled 鈥�,鈥� which attracted the attention of Denver鈥檚 , at the time known as the Denver Center for Crime Victims. The executive director, Cathy Phelps,听invited Nair听to teach a class for people of color who had suffered trauma and violence. 鈥淚 taught in my regular way, but these people were super appreciative,鈥� Nair听says. 鈥淎nd they were sharing with me how much it was helping them. So, for the first time,听I felt like I was finding a community that I connected with.鈥�

As demand for her classes grew, Nair听realized she couldn鈥檛 teach all the sessions herself. Since , Nair听decided instead to equip other POC to teach yoga in their communities. In 2014, she created a yoga teacher training course exclusively for POC鈥�. Since its founding, 45 people have graduated from Satya鈥檚听200-hour training program, with another 22 currently in online training听due to COVID-19.

鈥淪ince starting the program, I鈥檝e realized how disconnected from my body I actually am,鈥� says Niyankor Ajuaj, a current student. Born to Sudanese parents, Ajuaj moved to Colorado 20 years ago. 鈥淚 believe that disassociation is actually very common for folks of color,鈥� she says. 鈥淩acism, sexism, classism, along with our own experiences of trauma, make our bodies not a safe space to necessarily exist. The most valuable thing for me has been reclaiming that.鈥�

Studies have shown that populations of color 鈥攁 condition that . 鈥淚 was dealing with a supervisor at work that had me questioning my role within the department and how long I could endure,鈥� says Hallman, one of my instructors at the Friday night class. 鈥淢y hope going in [to Satya鈥檚 program] was to find a way to deal with people, stress, and situations that I could practice on my own.鈥� He got听that, and more. 鈥淚t was a very eye-opening experience: learning about the many traumas that people of color have had to navigate and cope with听and how those traumas can be internalized and passed on from generation to generation.鈥�

Satya鈥檚 approach is radically different from other teacher training programs: over eight months, each cohort learns the fundamentals of yoga as a tool for healing and liberation. 鈥淲e learn all the yoga things, but then in our program we actually talk about racism and how it affects us as people of color,鈥� Nair says. 鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 something that absolutely affects our wellness, our physical and mental health. And it鈥檚 a spiritual problem, in my opinion. It鈥檚 a spiritual illness of society.鈥�

Satya鈥檚 training program also fits within a broader movement to听call out the structural racism of the Western yoga world, dominated by white people鈥攖eachers, practitioners, studio owners, gear sellers鈥攂ut built on Indian knowledge and practices.听In 2014, that chronicled a white woman鈥檚 discomfort after a Black woman attended her yoga class prompted enormous backlash, receiving more than听2,500 comments on the website. In 2015, a Canadian university after complaints of cultural appropriation.听And just last year, Yoga Journal, which has long featured almost exclusively thin white women on its covers, sparked further outrage by between two cover options that were nearly identical except for the cover model鈥檚 race: one was white, and the other Black. 鈥淲hat are they asking the community to choose between?鈥� ,听the Black cover model, who did not know听about the vote before it was released to readers.

While these examples show growing consciousness around who can and does practice yoga, not as much attention has been devoted to who teaches yoga听and the challenges different groups face in getting to the front of those classrooms.

Satya鈥檚 training听costs $2,000, which is . But recognizing that cost can be a barrier for POC in particular, Satya offers two work-study spots in each cohort of 12 students鈥攖he work-study scholars assist with administrative and marketing duties for a few hours a week. 鈥淐ost has kept me from applying to any [other] teacher training program,鈥� Ajuaj听says. 鈥淪o, I am really grateful to do work-study with Satya to cover some of the tuition.鈥�

The financial support also allows students to save their energy for the training sessions, which can get quite emotionally 鈥渋ntense,鈥澨齛s Nair puts it, with people bringing their lived experiences of oppression to the classroom.听This was especially the case in 2014, when police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York flooded news coverage, and in 2016, after the presidential election. Also in 2016, Nair听received a death threat on the heels of similar threats issued against a for people of color. When this happened, Nair was scared鈥攂ut it didn鈥檛 shake her belief in the need for POC-only trainings.

鈥淚t just makes sense to have other people who understand or have gone through the same pain,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 value in being able to address the specific trauma.鈥�

Grant, the co-instructor of my Friday night yoga class and a Black Denver native, completed the program in 2018, shortly before her youngest son was murdered. The tools she learned in Satya鈥檚 training program turned out to be critical to her healing.听鈥淚 was able to ground myself, gain mental clarity in time, feel relief in my aching body and soul,鈥� she says.

In 2019, Nair听and ten graduates from Satya鈥檚 training program formed a cooperative听to support each other as yoga teachers after graduation. The member-owners teach classes nearly every day of the week, offering accessible alternatives to Denver鈥檚 more expensive yoga studios. (Most of the cooperative鈥檚 classes are pay what you can, with a suggested donation of $10. In contrast, other Denver studios charge upwards of $18 for a class.)

Hallman, who graduated from Satya鈥檚 program in 2016, now teaches the occasional restorative class听(including the Friday night one that I attended) and a twice-weekly men鈥檚 yoga class, both through the co-op. 鈥淲e want to provide our instructors with a vehicle to earn sustainable, livable wages, outside of the traditional yoga studio atmosphere,鈥� he says of the cooperative鈥檚 goals. 鈥淲e also hope to meet our community where they鈥檙e at鈥攜ou know, take yoga to the people, at an affordable price, in a space where the instructors and participants better reflect the community that they live in.鈥�

Most of the cooperative鈥檚 classes take place in spaces frequented by the city鈥檚 communities of color, such as the Dahlia campus, the Gypsy House Caf茅 on Broadway, and听the Salvation Army downtown. Since the pandemic has rendered in-person classes impossible, several co-op members have moved their classes , with more virtual offerings in the works. In late May, as protests over the death of George Floyd erupted across the nation, Satya also opened up its听, a practice in the yoga tradition of call-and-response ecstatic singing, to the POC community at large. (Typically, Nair facilitates this only for Satya trainees.) Nair says the kirtan is meant to be 鈥渁s an offering to uplift our collective spirit.鈥� In June, the co-op started offering a trauma-sensitive yoga class for Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color.听They are also in discussion with communities that have lost members to police violence about offering classes specifically for grieving families.

As Denver , Nair听hopes to offer training in one of the suburban areas where people of color are now concentrated. She also hopes to transition the teaching of the 200-hour program to the co-op, with members teaching some or all of it, while she works on developing a more advanced听300-hour training that will deepen students鈥� practice and teaching of yoga.

Another dream of hers is to travel with the training program to different communities around the country. 鈥淏ut I also think other communities are starting to create yoga spaces exclusively for people of color. And I don鈥檛 want to step on people who are from a place,鈥� Nair says. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather be supportive. I don鈥檛 want to go into a community unless I鈥檓 invited into it.鈥�

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