HIVE SOUL YOGA
HIVE
Hive Soul Yoga is a community based business. Our goal is to create affirming + uplifting spaces that bring people together who may not otherwise have met. We know there is a need for collective healing for people of color, and our larger community. As a business founded and run by women of color, we know how oppressive ideologies threaten our collective wellbeing. Hive Soul Yoga offers people space + tools to thrive in the chaotic conditions we live in. We hope to combat the damage of oppression by building community based in joy, healing + our collective strength.
SOUL
We know health is about much more than our physical bodies. At Hive Soul Yoga, we want our community to be healthy in body, mind + spirit. Our goal is to hold space where people can heal their relationships to their bodies and themselves. We try to help people reconnect with their innate wisdom by offering them space to reflect + check the messages they are telling themselves. We are inundated daily with messages that make marginalized communities feel unworthy + less than. We provide a space to interrogate those messages, by helping people remember their inherent worthiness + practice self-love.
YOGA
We are all about making the practice of yoga as accessible as possible. We acknowledge that yoga in the West is appropriative, and has made a commodity of centuries old Indian practices. As yoga practitioners who practice and were trained in the West, we see it as our responsibility to acknowledge that dysfunctional dynamic. We also know that yoga can be a tool for transformation that can help us heal our relationships to ourselves. We combat the legacy of commodification by holding yoga classes that are accessible for everyone, particularly members of communities mainstream yoga often excludes. Hive Soul Yoga was founded with the goal of making yoga accessible, equitable +welcoming. We welcome folks of every shape, shade, size, sexuality + gender identity to join us in this beautiful practice.
Meet the Team
Chanelle John
Founder + Owner
Chanelle is an educator, facillitator + yoga teacher based in her home city, Boston, MA. Prior to founding Whole Soul Health she received her BA from Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Her scholarship at Goddard charted the intersections of race, identity, culture and critical thinking. This path of study and a lifelong commitment to social justice deeply inform Chanelle’s teaching pedagogy. Her classes aim to make yoga accessible to people of all shades, sizes, ages, abilities, and identities. Bringing yoga to underserved communities is one of Chanelle’s greatest passions. She can be found teaching yoga at library branches and community centers throughout Greater Boston. In addition to teaching community classes, Chanelle facilitates workshops on the topics of yoga, justice, and wellness for communities of color.
Simone John
Chief Creative Officer
Simone John is a poet, educator, and facilitator based in Boston, MA. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College with an emphasis on documentary poetics. Her poetry has appeared or been reviewed in Wildness, The Boston Globe, Public Pool, PBS Newshour, Bustle, and elsewhere. Simone is the Associate Director of Organizational Equity Practice at Trinity Boston Foundation. She is also the Chief Creative Officer of Hive Soul Yoga, a community wellness business. Find her online at simonejohn.com and on twitter @simoneivory.
Lauren Miller
Community Engagement Coordinator
Lauren is amped to have joined the Hive Soul Yoga fam as the Community Engagement Coordinator. Born and raised in Roxbury, Lauren aims to strengthen her community through arts, wellness, and advocacy. In addition to her work with Whole Soul Health, she is the Program Coordinator at Social Innovation Forum and the founder of an upcoming series called Art for Activists, a website dedicated to showcasing some of Boston’s artists and social impact organizations. In her free time, Lauren enjoys photography, writing, yoga, and working to make Boston a more equitable city.
Mel Asiamah
Intern Extraordinaire
Mel grew up in Dracut, MA. Her parents are Ghanaian and Liberian, and being first generation strongly shapes her identity. Being and queer and womanist are two identities that resonate with her deeply. At WSH, Mel does tasks such as posting Facebook events, setting up the space, helping create a warm welcoming environment for our classes, and so much more. She feels inspired by the WSH mission and values the role community building plays in our work. Right now Mel's really into self-care activities such as yoga, therapy, and natural hair and skin care. She's also working on her own personal growth tremendously for 2017.
Vanessa Ly
Instructor, 200-hr YTT
Vanessa is a photographer + yoga instructor based in Boston, MA. Vanessa immigrated to the U.S. from Lima, Perú one month before her 4th birthday. Her experiences as an immigrant inform her photography and her community work. Her desire to bring yoga to prisons and low-income communities compelled her to pursue her 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training. She has also studied with Hala Khouri, Susan Sterling and Seane Corn through the OTM Intensive Program which focuses on social justice and yoga. Her teachings incorporates a mystical approach in addition to the physical practice of yoga. Since completing her YTT, she's taught restorative classes at Hive Soul Yoga and served as a mentor to an aspiring yoga teacher through the Yoga Diversity Initiative.