How Minneapolis yoga studios are popping up in their neighborhoods

Last week, the Saturday morning class at Yess Yoga on 26th Street in Minneapolis started like any other. But as the 8:30 a.m. class neared the end of the hour and the students settled quietly into Savasana, the teacher quietly uttered, “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

She had checked her phone and learned that, according to early reports, a protester — later identified as Alex Pretti — had been fatally shot during an encounter involving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. It was the second fatal encounter involving federal agents in Minneapolis in less than three weeks, according to local reporting.

Within minutes, Whittier’s neighborhood became unrecognizable, explained the studio’s founder and owner Lucia Yess, describing an influx of protesters filling the streets, as well as CBP officers throwing tear gas canisters and preventing vehicles from passing through the nearby intersection.

Yess canceled classes for the rest of the day. But students arrived before the 10 a.m. class, and street closures prevented those with vehicles from returning home. Some locals passed by the studio, confused by the disruption.

With protesters outside in sub-zero temperatures and a wind chill of 40 degrees Celsius underneath, Yess said there was little doubt about how she would respond. “We didn’t have a class, but we opened the doors for the community to take shelter while they were being tear gassed and shot with rubber bullets,” she explains. “There was smoke and tear gas everywhere. You couldn’t leave because you couldn’t breathe.”

Within hours, the studio became a place where protesters and community members could warm up and mingle. One of the studio’s teachers, who also works in public health, volunteered to help people flush their eyes after exposure to tear gas. A quiet space was designated upstairs.

By early afternoon the tear gas had disappeared, the blockade had been lifted and the studio slowly began to empty. Classes resumed the next morning.

Yess says she doesn’t consider creating a safe space in her studio an act of activism. Instead, she sees it as an extension of her background in social work and social justice and in line with the vision she had when she created the yoga studio, which she describes as “a third space that is inclusive and people-centered.”

That work began well before the events of January 24. As immigration enforcement activity has increased in recent months, yoga studios in Minneapolis have quietly expanded their role beyond classes to meet basic everyday needs. Bee Yes YogaThese efforts include collecting and distributing diapers, wipes and formula to local families. Yess says some families have limited the number of times they leave their homes for fear of immigration enforcement, and many students also volunteer elsewhere in the community, such as taking children to and from school.

The studio also launched a mutual aid drive, supported by a teacher who helped acquire donated blood pressure cuffs for community members who were not attending regular medical appointments. “People aren’t going to their little ones visits, they’re not going to the high-risk antenatal visits, they’re not going to preventative care,” Yess says. “They don’t get the resources they should get.”

Other studios are responding in similar ways. About 20 blocks away, at Yoga Shrinea nonprofit yoga studio, founder Shelley Pagitt has organized along with dozens of volunteers to sponsor immigrant families who have been sheltering in place for weeks. The individuals pool resources and money to support dozens of families with rent, groceries and daily needs, including laundry and taking children to school.

“People are afraid to be out in the city and in their cars,” says studio owner Shelley Pagitt, adding that many of her yoga students help get kids to school because some families don’t feel safe being outside.

A Yoga Sanctuary student brought whistles and left them in the lobby as part of an informal community alert system that some residents use when immigration enforcement activity is reported in the area. The studio has also collected gloves, socks and other forms of winter clothing and shared information from the Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health on how to support children during a confusing and overwhelming time.

Minneapolis Yoga has also expanded its support by organizing a grocery drive and volunteer ride program so that students who are concerned about walking or driving alone can carpool to class. Yet some students have stopped studying altogether. “We have a diverse community and unfortunately we haven’t seen some of our regulars lately,” said Melissa Sargent, owner of Minneapolis Yoga. “That affects how our studio feels. We’re missing some people.”

How Minneapolis Yoga Studios Support Students

Amid the material support that yoga studios have provided to the community in recent months, studio owners say another essential role remains: continuing to offer yoga itself. In addition to regular classes, some studios have also held quiet gatherings to help their students slow down, regulate their nervous systems, and process what is happening around them. Many studios also offer online yoga classes that students can take at home for those who don’t feel safe leaving their homes.

“There’s just this blanket of heaviness,” Sargent explains. “Going back to when we first noticed ICE in the city, but certainly in recent weeks.” Although this happens all over the city, she explains, in a studio setting it feels more intense when you’re sitting next to people.

Two days after Renee Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent in Minneapolis on January 7, Yoga Sanctuary offered a collective break: an hour-long session designed simply for us to be together in silence. It was introduced on the studio’s Instagram as: “When words fail, when anger and sadness overflow, when nervous systems and bodies buzz with outrage and fatigue…”

That exhaustion is shared by many students, including those whose work supports immigrant and neighboring communities. “Many of our students are therapists or teachers,” Pagitt explains. “They work in the community and come for their mental, emotional health and well-being so they can get back out there.”

For studio owners, supporting this effort can be intense.

“It’s a lot of weight to carry,” Sargent says. Yet the assistance continues. “If you need to move, breathe, be somewhere with nice people and put your thoughts aside for an hour or two, we get it,” reads a recent Instagram post from her studio. “We want to help you take care of yourself.” The message contains a code that allows new students experiencing financial difficulties to take classes for free.

Likewise, Yess Yoga has established a name-your-own-price or donation-based approach to all its classes. “Because most people donate to mutual aid, and that would be their extra money to come to classes. And so we want people to still be able to maintain a center that feels like they can operate within their value system when emotions are high,” Yess explains.

What each studio emphasizes is that while there are no clear solutions, there are ways to help process what is happening. And that can look different for every person.

“What is happening is unprecedented. You may not know what to do and how to engage,” says Yess. “It’s okay not to know what to do right away. Yoga helps you deal with discomfort and uncertainty. These practices can bring you greater awareness, which can support informed action.”

As teachers, studio owners have witnessed the effect yoga has on themselves and others, and they see it as a necessity now more than ever. “The reality is that people want to do something. It’s great that people feel like they can make an impact,” says Yess. “Action is therapeutic, that’s why asana works, because it supports us to make change. And I think people want to know what to do next.”