now entering my yoga teacher era

on being the change you want to see

#WednesdayWisdom

“You can be scared and still brave. You can be a mother and still give birth to more dreams. You can be strong and still soft. You can slow down and still arrive on time. You can hold your boundaries and still let the right ones get close. You can rest and still achieve your greatest work.” ~ Octavia Raheem

---

Morning Musings

Tomorrow I teach my first in-person class as a certified yoga instructor. If I think about it too hard, I start to panic. And yet, I’ve been preparing for this moment for years now, if not my entire adult life.

I took my first yoga class back in college. As a cheerleader and dancer, I was no stranger to working out, but this low-impact exercise nearly bored me to tears. I simply wasn’t feeling it. Fast forward to 2014 and my friend and fellow yogi Sierra sent me Erin Motz’s 30-Day Yoga Challenge. Maybe it was the stress of preparing for a wedding, but I was hooked. Erin’s classes were short and approachable, just my style.

Suddenly I wanted more yoga. But, alas, yoga is very white. I wrote about my experience being a Black woman in predominately white yoga spaces in an essay for ZORA. In 2018, I attended my first yoga retreat for women of color and met Octavia Raheem and Chelsea Jackson Roberts—two amazing and kind Black women who’ve shaped my yoga experience for the better. It was so good, I talked Sierra into joining me in 2019 and we were all set to attend in 2020, but then…pandemic.

I was elated to learn that Chelsea was joining Peloton in 2020 and she’d become the brand’s first Black yoga teacher. I’d started using the bike in January 2020 and I occasionally took a strength or yoga class, but once Chelsea signed on, I was hooked! It got me thinking…there need to be more Black yoga teachers.

And then, because the algorithm be algorithm’ing, I started to get Instagram ads for a 200-hour virtual yoga teacher training. I was intrigued, but didn’t take action until the last minute. While everyone else was learning how to bake bread as their pandemic hobby, I was working on my down dog. Besides, I needed something to distract me from taking the summer off from IVF treatments after our first failed cycle in March 2020.

My 200-hour YTT left a lot to be desired. The organizers…how shall we say?…weren’t the most organized. Nevertheless, I persisted and earned my 200-hour certification. When I learned about a 300-hour virtual training that had more of a social justice and equity lens, I jumped at the chance…even though I was newly pregnant and Jeff and I were in the midst of a move from Chicago to Ohio. What can I say? I go big AND I go home!

It turns out I bit off a bit more than I could chew, because while I completed the training, I’ve yet to submit my homework (two years later and counting). So when the business director at Pulling Down the Moon, a holistic fertility wellness center here in Chicago, asked me if I was interested in teaching their yoga for fertility series, I was like…are you sure? I’ve never taught *real* people aside from my friends on Zoom. Finally putting my training to use and teaching yoga IRL was on my 2024 bingo card, but I never imagined this opportunity falling into my lap.

Yoga is so white. Infertility is also so white. Or, at least, that has been true of the spaces I’ve often found myself in as a Black woman. I’ll never forget the first fertility clinic we walked into and we were the only Black couple. There were also no Black babies on the “bulletin board of success.” Now I have an opportunity to make these spaces a little less white.

And because I don’t know how to half-ass anything I do, I’m also leading the yoga portion of a vision board workshop on Saturday with Sista Afya, a mental health nonprofit for Black women. I’m officially entering my yoga teacher era. I’m nervous and a little anxious, but mostly excited. These two upcoming teaching opportunities are 100% aligned with my values and I look forward to seeing how they turn out!

---

Coming Soon…Werking Mom

Starting this Sunday I’ll be sharing Werking Mom, my new monthly column for paid subscribers! The column will explore the reality of juggling personal well-being, professional pursuits and raising a tiny human in today’s frantic world. Are you in?

---

Check Out the New SWFP Merch

You read the book, now rock the merch. The official SWFP store features mugs, totes, shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts. I can’t wait to see y’all rocking your merch, please me sure to tag me (@LTintheCity) when you do. 💜

---

Upcoming Events

• Jan. 25: Yoga for Fertility series with Pulling Down the Moon

• Jan. 27: Community Care Workshop: Creating & Setting Your Intentions for the New Year with Sista Afya

• Jan. 31: New Moms Nest with Nia’s Nest

• Feb. 25: Book Club with The Groove Chicago

---

Links I Love

• Advantage Naomi (InStyle)

• The Books That Shaped Me (

  Extracurricular
  )

• Motherhood Hasn't Killed My Ambition, But It's Reframed How I Approach Setting Goals (Essence) P.s. This one features a shoutout to Stop Waiting for Perfect. Thank you,

---

Now Hiring

1. Program Director of Brightness in Black

2. Content Marketing Manager for Planned Parenthood of Greater New York

3. Staff Writer for Impact

4. Assistant Regional Managing Editor for The Gulf States Newsroom

5. People Business Partner for Bobbie

6. Manager of Communications for the Chicago Foundation for Women

7. Contract Editor for The 19th

8. Editor, Lifestyle for Apartment Therapy

---

Stop Waiting for Perfect is Out Now!

---

Thank You

A special thank-you to April, Carol, Cait, Amanda, Harleen, Megan, Najja, Jessica, Priti, Cat, Jenna, Mallory, Rachel, Angel, Sarah, Camesha, Vix, Anna, Stephanie, Dominique, Tiffany, Emily, Mabinty, Lindsey, Casey, Lynnae, Dani, Amanda, Raina, Abigail, Sharon, Kristen, Heather, Renae and Jennie for becoming paid subscribers and helping to fuel this newsletter. I truly appreciate your support! 💜

---