We were lucky to catch up with Katie Cameron recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I began teaching yoga at a local country club for about two years while I was finding myself as a new yoga teacher. One of my students mentioned a physical therapy office down the street who was looking for a yoga teacher to fill half of their space. I was curious so I went to talk to the PT owners and sure enough, they offered their studio space to me. I started my own business very shortly after for this opportunity, creating a website, an LLC, and learning the basics of owning a business. The PT owners let me have creative freedom with decorations & classes and encouraged me to hold an open house. They graciously provided posters, snacks, personalized business cards and encouragement. We planned on referring my students/ their patients to each other and it all started to fall into place. I opened my studio in January 2020. I held an open house and as you may have wondered, very shortly after opening, COVID-19 forced me to shut down.
I attempted to teach online in 2020, but decided I needed to let myself retreat and refocus my energy.
I took a few years off from teaching in public and just recently decided I would take another risk by reopening my own business again, this time focusing on teaching online yoga classes.
I’m currently 8 months pregnant with baby due in June. I reopened my business in February, have taught a few virtual classes, and have put most of my focus on teaching inclusive prenatal yoga.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Katie (they/them) I’m a 25 year old non-binary yoga instructor and poet. I’m currently 8 months pregnant with my first baby, my husband Jae and I are thrilled about starting a family.

I started practicing “yoga” asana (physical practice) in high school without much background knowledge, which wasn’t actually the yoga I know now.
When I was 18 I was living in a van after a breakup, working part time as a nanny and part time cleaning a local yoga studio in exchange for a few free classes. I had recently come out at queer and was trying to find out how I wanted to show up in this world. When I felt emotionally and physically overwhelmed, movement was my saving grace. I started learning more about yoga philosophy and chose to sign up for a 200-hour yoga certification course instead of attending college like many of my peers. Afterwards, I began teaching yoga at a local country club. I was also asked to teach yoga to Olympian’s in 2019 which was a really fun experience.

I’ve struggled with managing my mental health for most of my life. Writing poetry and having a daily yoga practice has helped me become a better yoga teacher and person in general. I started to learn about the practice of non-attachment, aparigraha, which in return has helped me find new perspectives of the world. Pranayama, which is breath practice, helps me in my day to day life as well. There are many aspects of Patanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga I try my best to incorporate in my practice as a student and teacher.
As a queer person, I do my best to live authentically even in the face of adversity. I openly support other queer and trans people by offering LGBTQIA+ specific prenatal yoga classes, a space which often times is extremely gendered and exclusive to cisgender women. All of my yoga classes use inclusive and trauma informed language and are a safe place for those who often don’t feel safe in their day-to-day lives or a typical yoga class.
It’s so important to recognize that so many yoga classes in the United States are very white-washed, meaning they mostly focus on yoga asana, cater specifically to white women, place value on looks, outfits, and diet culture, and encourage people to force their bodies into unnatural shapes for aesthetic reasons. These are all things I try to avoid when teaching. I try making the space feel more welcoming and supportive for all ages, body types, genders, every race, and class. I try my best to honor yogas roots by incorporating pranayama, the yamas and Niyamas, pratyahara, Dyana, and dharana and acknowledging that yoga comes from south Asian culture.
I will be taking a break from teaching yoga for a couple months to bring my baby into this world, but I plan on teaching yoga classes consistently starting in September. I will be offering virtual classes like beginners yoga, queer & trans (and allies) prenatal yoga, meditation classes, and vinyasa flow.

You can sign up for my newsletter on my website katiecameronyoga.com or follow me on Instagram @yogawithkatiecam for yoga to stay up to date with my classes offered. Follow @tohelpyourgardengrow to check out my poetry too!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve had to unlearn what I thought yoga was. Growing up, I saw white women bend their bodies into shapes and poses that looked so difficult to me. I thought yoga was about pushing your body to do something that would make other people shocked. This is so far from what yoga *actually*is. Yoga is a way of living. Yoga is a way to interact with your mind, body, and world around us. Yoga is becoming curious of our inner experience and letting go of control. Yoga is advocating for the minority and lifting voices around me. Yoga is so much more than a physical workout.

I used to practice yoga asana, over stretching and pushing my body to do what I wanted, thinking I was doing so great! I thought I was impressive and I held onto what others thought of me too. Then, I started to experience a lot of pain and discomfort in my body, especially after pushing my body into uncomfortable positions. It started to impact my daily life.
I learned my body is already naturally hyper mobile, which is one of the things that originally drew me to yoga. I was never particularly athletic growing up, but I was naturally flexible. I didn’t realize I should’ve been focusing more of strengthening my muscles rather than deepening into strengthening.
This has caused permanent damage to my body, specifically my hips.
I try to bring awareness of this issue into my yoga classes while I’m teaching. I encourage my students to become curious of their own physical and mental experience of yoga and adjust their practice to fit their own needs.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’m currently 8 month pregnant and this pregnancy has been far from enjoyable. I have experienced extreme nausea and morning sickness throughout my entire pregnancy, along side other unpleasant symptoms, all while getting another yoga certification and continuing with my daily life as a full time nanny and starting a business. Our journey to this pregnancy started much earlier than the first positive pregnancy test though. My husband and I went through the IVF process for years before becoming pregnant with this baby. She is more than wanted, this baby is celebrated and welcomed, and we fought hard to get to this point.
In my first trimester of pregnancy, I received my prenatal yoga teacher certification. Most days I could barely get out of bed, but I pushed through. I’m so proud of myself for persevering and asking for accommodations as needed. My teacher, Lily Begg, was incredibly understanding and supportive.
As my pregnancy progressed, I realized how few prenatal yoga classes were inclusive of non-binary and trans people.
Due to the lack of inclusive classes, it inspired me to use my education to start my own business and cater more towards the LGBTQIA+ community, which led me to offer queer & trans prenatal yoga!

Contact Info:

• Website: KatieCameronyoga.com
• Instagram: Yogawithkatiecam
• Facebook: Yoga with Katie Cameron

Image Credits
Kimberly Crist Photography Jacob Cameron Photography