Yoga is often praised as a practice for everyone, but in the U.S., accessibility and representation within the industry remain challenging. Despite its roots in South Asian culture, the modern yoga industry is overwhelmingly white.
“People aren’t going to want to come to class or come to the studios if they don’t see their selves represented,” says Nikia Wright, the culture director at Highland Yoga.
According to a demographics survey by Yoga Alliance in 2022, over 80% of yoga instructor respondents in the U.S. were female, and 70% were white.
In Athens, several yoga communities are working to change that. From scholarship programs to diversity training, local studios like Shakti Yoga Athens, M3 Yoga and Highland Yoga are striving to make yoga more inclusive — one class at a time.
Redefining Who Yoga Is For
Harini Tirumala is a senior at the University of Georgia, but she is also a South Asian yoga instructor at Shakti Yoga Athens located in Normaltown. Tirumala completed the 200-hour certification training over the summer of 2024.
Harini began practicing yoga as a young girl when her mom would bring her along to classes, a period she described as “mommy-daughter time.”
Shakti offers a discount for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) instructors in training. Tirumala took advantage of this for her training, saying the financial help was nice for her.
Tirumala was the only South Asian in her predominantly white training group, but she’s still impressed with the diverse resources, including books that they were all given to read and learn.
In her opinion, she has no problem with yoga teachers not being South Asian, they just need to recognize the discourse and discussion, even if they are uncomfortable, and be able to engage with it. Tirumala says there’s a lack of acknowledgement of yoga’s Indian origin in the practice and language from studios.
I mean, the sad reality is, a lot of the yoga industry just doesn’t do that,” she said.
For Tirumala, yoga is more than just a physical practice — it has influenced the way she sees the world.
“I think yoga’s just shifted my perspective of what I almost kind of, like, value more, in a sense,” she said.
It was summer 2014 when Sydney McCall took her first in-person yoga class at the Ramsey Student Center at UGA. Like many, McCall began to practice via online videos, but after her first in-person class, she never looked back. She describes her first instructor, Kathy Jackson, as feeling like home.
“She impacted the trajectory of my life,” McCall said.
McCall currently teaches at five studios in the Athens-Clarke County area. She is mindful of the spaces she enters and teaches in.
I would say the most important things are, do I feel like initially, is it like a safe space for me?”
“Because, again, I am one of the only Black teachers in Athens,” McCall said, “and so it is kind of challenging to know for sure, like, is this a space where I will be completely comfortable or feel completely safe?”
McCall helped form the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) committee at M3 Yoga & Hot Pilates back in 2021. Quickly after forming, they created a code of conduct for the studio to help make the studio feel safer and inclusive.
McCall said she’s always felt supported by her studios, but she adds that there was a time she experienced a microaggression from a frequent student. She recalls a time when she stood behind the front desk to tell the student about the class.
She described how the student looked at her, shocked, laughed and then apologized, saying, “I thought you were the janitor.” The experience was a lasting one, but didn’t stop McCall from doing what she loves.
Nikia Wright is the culture director at Highland Yoga; she also teaches 10 classes a week at multiple locations.
Wright began to take yoga classes in 2014 from online YouTube videos, shortly after she fell in love with the practice following her first hot power yoga class at Highland.
She believes she wouldn’t be the woman she is today without yoga.
The studio had an anti-racism training within their training manual; this has since grown into DEI training after 2020 and the creation of her position as culture director in 2023.
“It’s one thing to say that yes, we are, we have a DEI training program, but it’s another thing to actually make them feel welcome when they come through our doors. And that’s the goal there for Highland Yoga, that’s our core value,” Wright said.
Wright’s role includes designing and implementing DEI initiatives, partnering with nonprofits and local businesses, and reviewing scholarship applications for yoga teacher training and applications for community-supported memberships. These memberships offered by Highland help those struggling financially who are from traditionally marginalized communities.
She partners with managers from the various studios to ensure inclusive sizing at all locations for their apparel. Wright is also responsible for planning events for Heritage and Awareness Month days.
For Women’s History Month, this past March, they partnered with a woman-owned tea shop to serve tea after class. Wright highlights the studio’s focus on multicultural events and the importance of digging deep to become more inclusive.
“I truly believe that social justice and yoga are combined together, and, you know, share that same space,” Wright said.
Bella Carr is a journalism student at the University of Georgia.
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