Building a Yoga Community within a Community

The Closure of the YMCAs

I had been teaching in the same YMCA for almost ten years when the YMCA of Quebec announced that it would close three YMCAs in Montreal.

I started teaching at the Pointe-Saint-Charles YMCA once a week as a volunteer back in 2011. I remember having notes with cues and very few students. Through the years, my yoga classes were getting more popular. More students, but more importantly more regular students. A community was slowly growing within a community. Once the coordinator of the Pointe-Saint-Charles YMCA at the time said a comment in those lines. I was welcomed because I was welcoming. In November 2019, the YMCA announced the closure of three YMCAs in Montreal. I was a regular yoga teacher at two of the three YMCAs that were shutting their doors on December 31,  2019. I felt my world crumble – both the Pointe-St-Charles YMCA and Guy-Favreau YMCA were shutting their doors. 

The YMCAs where I started teaching were closing. 

The YMCAs where I invested so much of myself for my students were closing. 

The YMCAs where I made sure my students were practicing yoga in a safe and inclusive environment were closing.

At the end of December 2019, I was happy to hear that I could rent the studio at the Pointe-St-Charles YMCA to teach yoga on my own. Students kept showing up and I realised that the community needed to practice yoga together more than ever.

In March 2020, the pandemic forced the closure of gyms and yoga studios. I quickly decided to move my classes outdoors. My students kept showing up. 

The Birth of a Yoga Community

I had created a yoga community within a community. 

A community of people that want to practice yoga together. 

Be different. Be themselves. Together. 

Practice together at their own paste. 

They want to follow their own breath.

I am a Yoga Teacher

I am not an INSTRUCTOR.

I am a yoga TEACHER…both on and off the mat.

I teach people to listen to their INTUITION…on and off the mat.

I teach people to let their BREATH guide them…on and off the mat.

I teach people to choose the OPTIONS that are good for them…on and off the mat.

I teach people to be THEMSELVES…on and off the mat.

I teach people to be CONFIDENT…on and off the mat.

THIS IS HOW I CREATED A YOGA COMMUNITY WITHIN A COMMUNITY.

THANK YOU TO MY YOGA COMMUNITY! YOU MAKE ME A BETTER PERSON EVERY YOGA CLASS. 

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY PART OF IT, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN?

Namaste.