WOW Yoga

Yoga is a fundamental component of our wellness based ministry. As a powerful form of mind-body medicine, yoga approaches health and wellness in a holistic manner, recognizing that physical ailments also have emotional and spiritual components. At its heart, yoga is a comprehensive system for self-development and transformation.

What We Do

From classes taught locally to hosting international retreats, we offer a yoga experience for people of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and levels of experience. Our classes are taught by certified instructors and cater to various needs in our local and global community.


Community Classes

Serving our community in the Greater Philadelphia Region, we hold weekly yoga classes at minimal to no cost for participants.

Retreats

An opportunity to get away for a weekend or week of healing, rejuvenation, and community our retreats offer unique experiences in travel and yoga.

Partnerships

We are able to extend our reach and expand our ministry through partnerships with local institutions and organizations to bring yoga to populations in need.

Training & Mentoring

Sponsorship and financial support is provided for current and aspiring yoga instructors to receive training, adding to the number of those equipped to serve our community.

Who We Reach

Our goal at WOW Ministries is to meet people in their place of greatest need, whether it be healing for physical ailment, overcoming emotional trauma, or repairing a broken spirit and walk with them on their path to achieving wellness of mind, body, and spirit.

Prenatal Yoga

Prenatal yoga has been shown to improve stress levels, quality of life, interpersonal relationships, nervous system function, and labor parameters such as comfort, pain, and duration, all of which have shown to be contribute to positive outcomes in pregnancy, labor, and birth. Our prenatal yoga program is part of our WOW Moms Initiative which aims to improve positive outcomes and reduce risk for pregnancy related deaths among women and infants, especially women and children of color.

Yoga for Kids

These classes are specifically designed with children in mind offering a non-competitive activity that increases flexibility, coordination, and body awareness in addition to focus, concentration, and relaxation. Our aim is to help equip children with the tools necessary to face and manage an increasingly busy and bustling world where stressors and pressure abound. Part of our WOW Kids Initiative, we work to introduce children who may be at risk for mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress with the goal of reversing negative outcomes and nurturing positive growth and development as precursors for future success.

Trauma Informed Yoga

For those who have or are experiencing some form of trauma in their lives, the effects can be long-lasting leaving one feeling a disconnect between mind and body, in a constant state of hyper vigilance, and generally unsafe in their own bodies. Part of our WOW Heal Initiative, these classes are taught using trauma informed techniques and environments to help participants find balance of central nervous system, develop coping mechanisms for triggers, and eventually discover absolute peace.

Yoga for Addiction Recovery

Substance abuse is rooted in our capacity to effectively respond to trauma, suffering, stress, craving, and sensation. Often omitted from conventional approaches to treatment that focus more on the brain, yoga addresses the mind-body connection to these aspects of our human nature. Part of our WOW Heal Initiative, we use a trauma-informed and behavioral-response approach to address root causes and empower individuals to change from the inside out. When combined with other methods of substance abuse treatment yoga becomes a powerful tool for change and transformation of mind, body, and behavior.

What is Yoga?

In its most basic form, yoga has three main components: breathing, movement, and meditation. While the form, or way in which we go about doing these things may differ according to the type of yoga practiced, the function remains the same.

Starting with the breath, conscious breathing brings awareness to the current state of the mind, body, and spirit. Are we nervous or anxious? Are we feeling any pain? The breath becomes our invitation to slow down, relax, and be present in the moment. As a practice of mindfulness and awareness, yoga allows us to surrender thoughts, feelings, and emotions that don’t serve us and to focus on those that do.

When partnered with movement, breathing begins to create space in the parts of our body that may have been tight, as tension is released and we begin to experience sensation and movement that was previously inaccessible. To some this may sound scary, as revisiting a nagging hip injury or daily back pain is the last thing they want to do. Yoga isn’t about pain though as much as it is arriving at our ‘edge’, allowing the breath to push that edge a little more each time we visit it. It is the repeated trips to this ‘edge’ that eventually yield flexibility, balance, endurance, and strength in our physical practice.

Meditation in yoga is the icing on the cake. The classic and often cliche image we have of yoga meditation is the person sitting cross legged, hands resting on their knees with thumb touching index finger, eyes closed and chanting Om (sounds like A-U-MMMM). But yoga meditation doesn’t necessarily have to look like this. As we find a comfortable position, in a quiet space perhaps with some soothing music playing in the background, eyes closed if that helps, we’re afforded the opportunity to reflect, recognizing the intention in our practice and finding purpose in our steps going forward. We may also take this time to listen, rather than ‘speak’ through our thoughts. Finally, meditation is an invitation for us to fill the space left by negative emotions and feelings we’ve chosen to surrender with the freely given gifts of joy, peace, and hope.

Why YOga?

Yoga is for everyone

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be able to twist yourself into a pretzel or stand on your head to practice yoga. In fact, you don’t even have to be flexible. Because the only requirement needed for yoga is the ability to breathe, it stretches far and wide across various sectors of our ministry, accessible to people in nearly every place we find them.

Health & Wellness Benefits

Scientific studies have shown a host of benefits that yoga brings to the mind and body. While the list is quite extensive ranging from increased muscle strength, improved balance, and increased flexibility to lowering blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, and weight loss, we like to focus on those that empower individuals to be the best version of themselves. When yoga can be used as a modality for healing of physical and emotional pain, a space to repair a broken spirit, or a bridge between a dependent and addiction free lifestyle, we believe it is working at its best.

Building & Belonging to Community

Yoga brings people together. When we’re experiencing pain, hardship, or brokenness in life we may feel like we’re all alone. Quite frankly it’s hard doing life alone, so we recognize yoga classes and retreats as safe spaces where people can gather to experience life together. Through yoga we become aware not only of ourselves but our relation to others and begin to discover purpose in the world we live in. We meet people who have gone or are going through experiences similar to ours, finding as much support, balance, and strength in others as we do from our yoga postures.

From our yoga experience we emerge as new creations, the same mind, body, and spirit, but better. We are constantly working towards the best version of ourselves in hopes that we might have the opportunity to serve, influence, or reach down with a helping hand to help lift someone up to a better place as someone did for us on the start of our journey.

How we Practice

Christ-centered Yoga

Is it much different than your traditional yoga class? Yes and No. Mountain pose is still mountain pose. Child’s pose is still child’s pose. But instead of philosophical or literary quotes to bookend our practice, we seek guidance, inspiration, and enlightenment from the Bible. Our choice of music mirrors the praise and worship offered up through our breath and movement, and our meditations are charged with powerful prayer.

We believe that yoga is not so much about what you do to get to your destination, whether it be a difficult posture, clarity of mind, or healing, but rather the path you take to get there. While traditional yoga starts with the individual working towards a destination, we start with God and allow Him to use our surrender, devotion, and obedience to lead us back to Him as a new creation, healthy and whole in mind, body, and spirit.

We are not here to indoctrinate, but rather to serve and share the love of God with all those we encounter through yoga. If yoga leads to a cup of coffee and a discussion of the gospel, great! But if you just come for a good stretch and release of some tension pent up in the mind and body, we believe we have equally served you.

Heal, Empower, Grow

Aligned with our mission to meet people in their place of greatest need and walk with them on their journey to becoming the best version of themselves, we recognize the tremendous value of yoga as a modality for healing. Once healing has taken place, yoga serves to strengthen the mind and body establishing a foundation for spirit-lead growth.

While we accept and incorporate many valuable principles of yoga into our programming, above all we recognize God as our center, our Creator, and the Great Physician through whom all healing of physical ailments, emotional trauma, and spiritual brokenness occurs. He is the source of our power and strength and the light on our path of growth and development.

Instructor Training & Mentorship

Yoga is a practice that is traditionally passed on from instructor to student, who then in turn has the opportunity to become a teacher to someone else. In this way, yoga becomes a gift passed from one generation to the next, while value is demonstrated through sharing freely, stewardship, and the growth of healthy communities.

As part of our WOW Grow initiative we partner with organizations offering accreditation for faith-based, trauma-sensitive, prenatal, and kids yoga instructor training providing financial sponsorship and mentoring to current and aspiring instructors. It is our desire that individuals not only learn from us, but are empowered and equipped as leaders to branch out and share our approach to wellness with others.

Get Involved

Local Classes, Events, and Workshops

We hold classes locally here in Philadelphia in small intimate settings of 15-20 people. Our classes usually carry a theme or focus whether it be prenatal for expecting mothers, kids yoga, an active class to get your heart rate up or an evening session to wind down and settle after a stressful day.

We currently rent studio space where and when available throughout the city so be sure to check our schedule for upcoming classes near you! In the future we hope to classes on a regular basis at our community wellness center, Naomi’s Grace.

In addition we are available to

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