Yoga isn’t just for the flexible or the photographed.
It’s for all of us—every age, every ability, every body.

Who Gets Represented on the Mat?

For nearly a decade, I taught in a yoga teacher training program. The students were kind, eager, and open-hearted—yet the room often looked the same, year after year. Wonderful people, yes, but something was missing—or rather, someone was missing.

It wasn’t until I returned to Miami and New York—vibrant, multilingual, and alive with global perspectives—that I remembered what it felt like to be home. I grew up in a neighborhood where 153 languages were spoken, where cultures, faiths, colors, ages, and traditions were woven together into everyday life.

In these more diverse yoga spaces, I found that same energy again. And it broke something open in me.

As the Bhagavad Gita teaches:

“The wise see the same Self in a Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog, and one who eats the dog.” — Bhagavad Gita 5.18

That line has stayed with me. It reminds me that no one is “more spiritual” because of their appearance, background, or physical ability. Wisdom lies in seeing beyond form—yet mainstream yoga often fails to reflect this truth.

Why I Founded Treasure Coast Yoga Academy

I founded Treasure Coast Yoga Academy to be a space for people in transition:

• Veterans navigating trauma
• Seniors exploring vitality at every age
• People in wheelchairs or living with chronic illness
• People of all sizes, all shades, all identities
• Caregivers, social workers, immigrants, and seekers
• Those recovering from systems that told them they didn’t belong

Because yoga belongs to all of us—not just the privileged few.

Representation Is Healing

In trauma-informed care, we talk about “mirroring”—the healing power of seeing yourself reflected. When students step into a yoga space and see someone who shares their story—or even just welcomes it—they breathe differently.

When we only see one kind of “yoga body,” we internalize the idea that yoga must look a certain way. That’s not truth—that’s marketing.

It’s time to reclaim the practice from the stereotype, from the curated image, and from the narrow lens that erases difference.

As the Yoga Sutras remind us:

“Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.” — Yoga Sutras 1.2

Not the flattening of diversity. Not the erasing of individuality. The stilling of the inner chatter that tells us we’re not enough.

A Mat for Every Story

At Treasure Coast Yoga Academy, we’re building something spacious. Something sacred. A place where yoga meets psychology, where tradition meets tenderness. Where no one has to ask, “Do I belong here?”

Because the answer is already yes.