Yahoo Finance 'We Provide Free Yoga Classes to Bring the Benefits of This Practice to Our Community'
Lauren Lane, 37 (@laurenlaneyoga) and Keri Perkins, 40 (@weareboogiesound), 40, both of West London, are yoga teachers who came to the practice, individually, in the search for a more grounded, meaningful life.
Together, they – along with a cast of some of the yoga community's most respected teachers – run Westway Yoga Kolektiv Dāna (WYKD). This is a non-profit company that provides free yoga classes to the people of North Kensington, London. Here, they fill Women's Health in on why making the ancient practice accessible, no matter your body type, background, or financial situation, is so crucial.
It was during the depths of England's third pandemic-era lockdown, in winter 2021, when yoga teacher Lauren Lane decided to set up a community yoga programme. 'It was my therapist who said to me: "you need to start getting back into your teaching again," Lauren tells WH.
After meditating on this comment, she decided that what she truly wanted to do was to provide free classes to the people who lived locally to her. This vision was informed by the peace she had witnessed the practice bring to a group of teenagers she had taught yoga to at their school in Peckham in a class that had been paused, due to the pandemic.
'I grew up around the Ladbroke Grove area, and it has such a great sense of community,' she explains. This was something she wanted to contribute to. 'What this community has is so precious. People really have each other's backs.'
What is WYKD Yoga?
After making a call to a friend and fellow yoga teacher, to sound out the idea, subsequently getting him on board with the plan, a mutual friend connected the pair with the people who run Bay 20, a community space built in response to the tragic 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. Here, it was decided that classes could run. At the same time, calls were made out to find more teachers.
Another friend hooked Lauren up with PR professional-turned yoga teacher Keri Perkins ('we had a chat on the phone and, we were like, "boom, boom, boom" – we had exactly the same feeling as about the practice and we wanted to give back in the same way,' describes Lauren) and, just like that, WYKD was on its way to becoming a reality. A fundraising page was set up, and 8 weeks later, classes had begun.
WYKD is fundraising to keep providing classes. You can help to keep WYKD's work going by donating to the project.
Bay 20, Lauren and Keri explain, is a 'beautiful' location created for the community to connect, reflect, and to be supported. It was completed just before the pandemic hit, and, and was being used, largely, to provide hot meals to vulnerable people. 'It has floor-to-ceiling windows, it overlooks a green – it's a very healing space,' says Lauren.
This matters now, especially, the pair say, because, post lockdowns, it is key for people to have space to connect with other people, after so much time spent isolated. It's one thing, they note, to be locked down in a big house with a garden – another entirely if you have been cooped up in a smaller home. 'The students are making friends with other participants and it's wonderful. And that's what it's all about: union.'
The 6 people who make up the staff of WYKD teach 4 or 5 classes a week. These are geared towards breaking down the barriers that might keep people from the practice. As well as being free, they include a women's-only class for those who are more comfortable moving in a female-focused space, and a Sunday class, 'WYKiDs,' which runs at the same time as an adult class.
How does WYKD ensure that yoga is accessible?
This means that people who want to attend but might have childcare issues, can still participate, safe in the knowledge that their charges are being well looked after and are learning a version of the practice, themselves.
Key to the foundation of WYKD is diversity. 'The community is so diverse and that is what makes it so wonderful,' says Keri. 'It is so supportive. I saw that when the Grenfell fire happened: everybody was on the street trying to do something – those living in tower blocks, those in mansions, everyone came together.'
Ensuring that this nourishing, grounding way of moving is accessible to everyone in this community, then, is shot through the core of WYKD's mission. 'There are so many barriers to yoga itself,' says Keri. 'Sometimes it's seen as cliche-y: that you can only do it if you can do backbends; if you are a certain body size. There is, of course, a financial barrier, it is not a cheap endeavour.' [Yoga classes in the capital city often hover at the £14-20 mark, for an hour.]
'Our theory, though, is that mental and physical well-being is everybody's sacred, universal, right. You should not be left out if you can't afford it or think it is not for you,' she adds.
Bringing people together in a welcoming space with top-notch teachers, for Lauren and Keri, is essential. 'Community yoga traditionally, not always, tends to be in not the best space. I don't think that's on. I want to serve the community and to give them the best teachers and an amazing environment,' Keri notes.
The benefits of this model have been profound. 'One woman came who was nervous, but she did the class and, at the end, she said she felt like she was floating. To give a person one hour in their week where they forget their worries and do something challenging is so meaningful,' says Lauren. 'Especially in the wake of the pandemic, so many people feel stuck.'
Another young student Lauren mentions was caring for her terminally ill father during the pandemic. This meant that she had to give up her job and so could no longer afford her gym membership.
'She said it's so special to have this one place that she can come. She really enjoys the practice, she feels peace afterward, it gives her that one hour [to herself] as a full-time carer. It's a huge thing that she's doing and she should be supported. She shouldn't be worried about not being able to look after her own physical and mental well-being.'
A crucial element of WYKD's offering is music. The fusing of yoga and sound, Keri and Lauren believe, enhances the practice – both found that music brought them both into yoga and supercharged their desire to go back.
As such, in a WYKD class, you might hear hip hop, traditional Indian songs or classical music, something that students note makes the classes even more welcoming.
As to WYKD's mission? 'To create an open, inviting space for anyone, whatever your skin colour, gender, financial background or fitness level,' says Keri. 'We promise we'll take care of you and we almost promise you'll come out feeling a bit better when you leave than when you arrive.'
Women’s Health has partnered with leading sports brand Under Armour to launch the #itstartswithabra campaign in a bid to boost physical activity and confidence levels amongst women who are less likely to exercise, partly through the donation of 2,000 sports bras to groups working to help reduce health and fitness inequalities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
You Might Also Like
