We were lucky to catch up with Lydia Bush recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lydia, thanks for joining us today. When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

The wellness industry in the U.S. is, to be blunt, frightening in its’ influence over people. There have been countless good developments and trends in our society as a result of the boom of wellness culture, but there is a nefarious side to this movement as well. I was lucky to attend a yoga school that was run by one woman, and clearly not driven by the desire to commodify yoga or use it as a means to achieve passive income. As I began teaching at studios and in fitness centers, I saw that this was not the norm. I also noticed that although I lived in a minority-majority city (Little Rock, AR, at the time), the yoga practitioners that I mostly taught and studied under were able-bodied, White, and cis-het. Thankfully, as my skills as a teacher grew, so did my ability to be choosy about where I would teach, and who I would practice with. I was able to guide my own path into more diverse circles. I began this process by following and supporting Black (mostly female) activists and artists in my community. To this day, many of those folks I began following due to my desire to see my yoga circle reflect the broader community I lived in, are dear friends of mine.
It didn’t feel right that a practice created in Southeast Asian cultures should exist in order to line the pockets of the wealthy, or should exclude the non-White community. Since my move to Minnesota, I have felt that I am back at square one in terms of practicing and teaching in yoga communities that center Whiteness, but I am hopeful that with time and creativity I will find my way to a community of resistance and inclusion.

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

To let new friends know – I am a 200hr RYT (one third of the way into a 500hr certification program!), which means I teach yoga! Currently, I teach yoga at Big River Yoga in the Seward community of Minneapolis. I also offer outdoor classes that are either fully asana (yoga postures) based or a mixture of asana and writing. All of my classes have an emphasis on mindfulness, awareness of the breath, meditation, and the importance of accepting and loving all of the parts of ourselves, regardless of how “wrong” parts or our beings may be labeled by the structures and ideology of heteronormativity, patriarchy, and White supremacy. I offer private and semi-private yoga classes in both Spanish and English. Primarily, I contact folks through my Facebook pages Love Yoga, and Lydia Bush, or through Instagram @lydianomadwrite_move.
I also offer biyearly yoga retreats to Latin America, the next one will be in Mexico! I hope to begin offering more local retreat options beginning in 2024.
The power of my work lies in my ability as an empath to tune in to what is true, to share that insight, and to be attentive to the needs of my students. My years as a Middle School teacher and as a yoga teacher have honed my ability to communicate clearly, and scaffold whatever task or subject is at hand.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

A mentality of abundance, particularly when it comes to finances is helpful for succeeding in the yoga field. There can sometimes be a spirit of scarcity – my clients are my clients, I need to keep prices high to keep the doors open, and a general resistance to collaboration. I have found, however, that the biggest successes (fiscally and spiritually) happen when we keep the doors open for all, when we are open to collaboration of any sort, and when we choose joy over fear when it comes to money.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Being a self-starter who thinks outside the box has built my reputation within the wellness and yoga world. The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model has a place, but that place is not inside of this field. Yoga stays relevant because the ancient spiritual components of it can yield wisdom for the struggles of every era. Not to mention that the human body, though lifestyle changes over time, stays mostly the same. Yoga postures discovered and codified hundreds of years ago are still helpful for people today, and we can keep the integrity of those old teachings while finding new ways to reach people. Some yoga teachers shy away from being friends with their students outside of class; I find making friends through yoga enriches my life and my social circles. The time of the studio being the hub for yoga has passed, we are busy taking yoga into homes, to the park, to farmer’s markets, to art studios, etc. It isn’t all about the location – the magic can happen anywhere, even in the privacy of our own kitchens or bedrooms – but taking yoga to the people instead of expecting folks to come find it in-studio has led me to the place I have now in the yoga world.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @lydianomadwrite_move
• Facebook: Love Yoga
• Other: Instagram is the primary hub for my work, but I’d love to see you on Facebook as well. I use two accounts: Love Yoga and Lydia Bush

Image Credits
photos taken by @abigail.dawn.johnson