Welcome back to the Brave Space Podcast with your host, Stephany McMillan, owner of Rise and Flow yoga studio. Today's brave guest is Kiesha Battles. Kiesha Battles is a full-time yoga teacher who began practicing Yoga in 2000. Over the past nine years Kiesha has created yoga programs, led yoga retreats, managed the daily operations of a yoga studio, and was recently appointed as Co-Director of the Yoga Retreat for Women of Color. Known to many as the original black girl yoga magic in Charlotte, Kiesha is a humble soul who connects to all beings first at their core.

In 2016, after the Keith Lamont Scott shooting, Kiesha bought yoga teachers and studios together from all parts of Charlotte to practice together in marathon style teaching to offer community and reprieve from a city on fire. In honor of her leadership and audacious instincts for embodying yoga, Kiesha was honored and awarded the inaugural Self Care Charlotte Ambassador award. In 2017, Kiesha opened her own studio and yoga school, IAMYOGA. She graduated her first group of yoga teacher and began the first ever yoga teacher training led by women of color in partnership with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. In 2019, Kiesha took on the role of Yoga Director at Charlotte Family Yoga Center and most recently joined the Board of Amplify & Activate a local non-profit centered around Yoga, Self-Care and Social Justice.

Let's dive into the conversation with Kiesha, and learn more about her course “Yoga Ethics for Transforming Racism” here: https://go.subtleyoga.com/transformation-1

Stay brave, friends!