Still Rising: Reflections from the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance Conference
Last weekend, I traveled to Columbia, Maryland, for the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance Conference, a gathering that brought together Black yoga teachers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, scholars, healers, and community builders. I arrived looking forward to learning from the sessions, but I left most impacted by something less tangible: the wisdom of the people in the room and the power of being in community with others who understand this work from lived experience.
Yoga often teaches us to look inward, but it also reminds us that we do not practice in isolation. Sangha, or community, is an essential part of the path. Throughout the weekend, I was reminded that there is tremendous value in gathering with people who are willing to share not only what has worked for them, but also what they have learned through change, uncertainty, failure, growth, and years of practice. Some of the most meaningful moments happened outside of formal instruction, through conversations, introductions, shared meals, and the simple experience of being surrounded by people committed to using yoga in service of others.
That sense of community feels particularly meaningful as I consider the future of Noir Yoga. From the beginning, my intention has been to create more than a studio where people come to take a class. I want Noir Yoga to be a place of belonging: a space where mindful movement can foster connection, where Black joy and healing are nurtured, and where people can experience yoga as something that extends beyond physical postures. The conference affirmed that vision while also challenging me to think more deeply about what it means to grow that work responsibly.
During The Modern Yoga Entrepreneur, Ava Taylor and Pamela Stokes Eggleston explored what it means to remain adaptable in an industry and a world that are constantly changing. One idea that stayed with me was the need to acknowledge and even grieve what no longer works before we can truly reimagine what comes next. In many ways, that reflects the yogic principle of aparigraha, or non-attachment. We can have a clear vision while remaining open to how that vision takes shape. Building Noir Yoga has required exactly that kind of flexibility: knowing when to stay the course, when to develop new skills, and when to let go of an old idea in order to make room for something better.
The session also introduced the concept of “co-opetition,” the idea that cooperation and competition do not have to be opposites. That resonated deeply with me because wellness spaces can sometimes become overly focused on differentiation, ownership, and scarcity. The truth is that there is room for many teachers, studios, and approaches to this practice. Supporting another person’s work does not diminish our own. In fact, collaboration can strengthen the ecosystem for everyone. The conference was a reminder that meaningful growth does not have to happen at the expense of connection.
Nazaahah Amin’s session, Yoga in the Village: Teaching Beyond the Studio, expanded that idea of community even further. She introduced four pillars of community-based yoga: access, relationships, adaptability, and dignity. Those words have stayed with me because they offer a useful framework for thinking about where Noir Yoga can go next. One of the questions posed during the session was deceptively simple: What does the community actually need? That question shifts the focus away from what we want to offer and toward the people we hope to serve.
For me, that is an important form of svadhyaya, or self-study. It requires us to examine our assumptions and our intentions. As Noir Yoga grows, I want us to continue finding ways to bring the practice beyond the walls of the studio and into schools, workplaces, community organizations, public spaces, and other environments where people may benefit from movement, breath, rest, and connection. Access should not simply mean inviting more people into our space; sometimes it means being willing to take the practice to them.
I also appreciated Kimberly Richardson’s session on grants, contracts, donations, partnerships, and other ways of sustaining yoga programs. It reinforced something I continue to learn as an entrepreneur: sustainability is part of service. There can be a tendency in wellness spaces to treat financial viability and mission as competing priorities, but a business or program that cannot sustain itself cannot continue serving its community. Building healthy systems, cultivating partnerships, and identifying new resources are not distractions from the work; they are part of what allows the work to endure.
Sydnea Lewis’s session on branding and messaging brought many of these themes together by asking three foundational questions: Who are you? Who are you here for? What do you want to say? They may appear to be branding questions, but they are also questions of satya, or truthfulness. In reflecting on them, I wrote a sentence that has continued to stay with me: I help cultivate community through mindful movement so that Black joy and healing can thrive.
That statement feels like a clear expression of where I want Noir Yoga to continue heading. Growth is important, but growth does not always mean becoming larger. Sometimes it means becoming clearer about who you are, more intentional about how you serve, and more aligned with the values that brought you to the work in the first place. I want Noir Yoga to continue evolving as both a strong, sustainable business and a meaningful community institution, one that creates opportunities for practice, connection, collaboration, joy, and healing.
Ultimately, the greatest gift of the BYTA Conference was the reminder that none of us has to build alone. The collective knowledge in that space was powerful because it came from people who have practiced, taught, studied, served, adapted, and persevered in different ways and across different generations. It reminded me that wisdom is not something we accumulate simply for ourselves; it is something we share, receive, and carry forward.
I returned to Brooklyn with ideas for Noir Yoga, but more importantly, with a renewed sense of purpose. I want us to continue expanding access without sacrificing dignity, building sustainably without losing the heart of the practice, collaborating instead of operating from scarcity, and remaining students even as we teach. Yoga may begin as an individual practice, but its fullest expression continually brings us back into relationship with others.
That may be the lesson I am carrying most strongly from Columbia: the practice matters, but so do the people with whom we practice it.
~Dr. Mason, Founder of Noir Yoga
