We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kyla Saphir. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kyla below.
Alright, Kyla thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
I fell in love with yoga as a way to relax as well as to exercise after a busy day in the classroom. I was a teacher for 12 years in PreK- 2nd grade classrooms in Seattle, Buenos Aires, and Chicago. Yoga helped me to find balance and enjoyment for myself. I knew at some point I wanted to get certified to teach yoga when I had the time and money.
I had been practicing yoga for about 10 years before I got pregnant with my daughter. My husband and I moved to Seattle for his fellowship and I got pregnant a few months into our move. I shifted my practice and started taking prenatal and postnatal yoga at least once a week. These classes gave me time to connect to my ever changing body and baby as well as helped me build a community of new moms. I fell in love with pre/postnatal yoga and the benefits they provided. My goal after having my daughter was to get certified to become a yoga instructor with a focus on pregnant women and new moms.
I decided to pursue my 200 hour yoga certification through Sakhi Yoga Training in Columbia SC, which I completed in 2017. In Columbia there were no classes for expecting moms so I went on to complete my Prenatal and Postnatal 90 hour certification in the spring of 2018 through the Prenatal Yoga Center of New York. I am also certified to teach Hypnomothering, a technique to help moms have a gentler, more rested intro into motherhood. In 2024, I started my Postpartum Doula training where I help families transition home with a new baby. I then started Yoga Mama Columbia and taught various classes and workshops around the Columbia area.
Kyla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As I have worked more and more with new moms in yoga classes, I noticed a need for support after baby comes home. I decided to pursue my Postpartum Doula Certification with Nurturing Doula Dream. My husband and I had a postpartum doula after our daughter was born. She would come for overnights to help answer my never ending questions about our baby, help feed and put her to sleep, and she did light housework. She gave me rest and helped me care for myself and family better. That’s what I hope to provide for new families only during the daytime. I am currently looking for families that would like support after their baby is born. I am most proud of being able to provide services that are not offered anywhere else in our area but are needed badly. Yoga Mama is in high demand because women really want to find healthy ways to be active and connect to support systems during and after pregnancy.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
In order to succeed in this field, you need to find a market and connect to those clients. I am lucky because there are not many prenatal yoga classes offered in cities so my clients can come directly from my yoga classes. I have also reached out to OB/Gyns, midwives, lactation consultants, and other professionals in the field of working with women during pregnancy and the postpartum period. I found a gap in the market and filled it with my yoga classes and now my postpartum doula services.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
I have been able to build my reputation by making and sustaining connections in the birthing community of my area. There are numerous events and fairs that feature people in this field. I make sure to sign up to have a table to promote my business and make relationships with others birth workers. I also have connections to most of the yoga studios in my area to teach classes and get more women into yoga which is helpful for new and expecting moms.
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Tiffany Crenshaw