Navajo Nation Yoga Studio Startup Costs

Yoga has been an incredibly transformative practice for my own physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. In hopes of making this healing modality more accessible to others, I'm launching a traveling yoga studio [email redacted]a. I've already started teaching yoga at the Navajo Nation library. The response has been incredible and both yoga and breathwork are now weekly offerings.

In LA, I spent months feeling unfulfilled with my community work. After moving back to the Rez, I was reminded that Angelinos are truly spoiled for choice when it comes to wellness offerings in the city. On the Rez however, Yoga and other wellness experiences are not readily available. Even the local fitness center, run by IHS (Indian Health Services) does not offer group fitness classes which means, no yoga.

I recently signed up for an online yoga teacher training course, however, it’s been extremely difficult to move through the classes for several logistical reasons:

Live feedback from online instructors requires a reliable internet connection for Zoom calls. However, my satellite internet connection at home is not reliable. On cloudy days, the internet can completely cut out for hours at a time.

Training on my own has been slow; videos take a while to download and/or buffer.

The nearest in-person training is about 3 hours away in Albuquerque, NM. That training would require me to get a hotel every weekend for a few months which would be extremely expensive. My family is also playing musical chairs with the working vehicles we have – which makes it harder to travel anywhere, let alone long distances.

So, I’ve decided to turn to my community to ask for help in paying for the cost of traveling to India for 3 weeks to participate in an intense YTT training program. At the end of the training, I will be certified with Yoga Alliance and learn several other healing modalities.

Here is how your donation will be spent:

Training Costs - Deadline: October 15th

$700 YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) in Rishikesh, India in October

$1800 Round trip flight to/from Jolly Grant Airport, Dehradun and LAX

$1000 Travel Incidentals, i.e. taxis, hostels, travel insurance, food, baggage fees, etc.

Total: $3,500

Studio Costs - Ongoing

$600 20 thick yoga mats to bring to classes since many attendees do not have their own yoga mat and many classes will be outdoors

$400 20 sets of sustainable, cork yoga blocks for classes

$200 20 Mexican blankets for classes

$200 2 large folding carts for carrying supplies

$600 filing fees/business license with the Navajo Nation and insurance

Total: $2,000

Grand Total: $6,500

I will be sure to post regular updates on Instagram and Facebook so that donors can follow along with this incredible journey.

Thank you so much for your support and for helping to bring yoga to the Navajo Nation!