Finding Home Through Yoga: Camila Graim

As part of extendYoga’s Saturday morning series at the Pike District Pop-Up Park, Camila will lead a Spanish-language Vinyasa class in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month on September 26 from 8-9 a.m. The September 26 classes closes out a free yoga series that started this summer, offering the community an opportunity to experience yoga outdoors, together, and in Spanish.

Camila, who is a native Colombian, currently teaches a weekly class through Identity, an organization supporting Latin youth completing their GED. She also teaches through extendYoga’s REPPED programming during National Hispanic Heritage Month and was recently invited to teach with Fusion Language Fitness, where Spanish-language fitness instructors rotate through classes.

For Camila, teaching in Spanish is deeply personal.

“Getting to practice in your own language is important because maintaining that connection to your roots is so special, especially for those of us who are far from our countries of birth,” she says. “It’s like going home, but with yourself.”

Her own experience has shown her how meaningful it can be to practice with Latina instructors. Through programs like REPPED, she has not only had the opportunity to teach, but also to take classes from other inspiring Latina instructors.

Camila has experienced firsthand the impact of having access to Spanish-speaking yoga instructors through Peloton. But she recognizes that access isn’t available to everyone and that’s what motivates her to bring Spanish-language yoga into more accessible community spaces.

“I think doing anything in your native tongue is so much better in every way,” she says. “It’s important to me to teach in spaces that make yoga in Spanish more accessible to those who could really benefit from being introduced to the practice.”

This Hispanic Heritage Month, Camila’s class is an invitation to do more than simply stretch and move. It’s an opportunity to breathe, connect and experience the feeling of coming home through your own language. Sign up in advance for the free Saturday class at the Pike District Pop Up Park located at the corner of Banneker and Grand Park avenues.