IYA Well and Non-performative Yoga with Abiola Akani (S4, E3)

IYA - Non-performative Yoga

Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers. I’m Kutloano Skosana Ricci, your host, and this is episode 3 of Season 4. 

Today my guest is Abiola Akanni, a yoga educator who has successfully cultivated inclusive wellness spaces that encourage other’ed communities to develop their personal yoga practice. 

The Nigerian-American yoga instructor and entrepreneur
is the influencer behind Yoga by Biola and founder of IYA, the online yoga
platform committed to non-performative yoga. Akanni is committed to disrupting
competitive yoga standards found in western culture and cultivating practices
that nurture instead of criticize.

Her inclusive mission
promotes yoga as ritual while teaching individuals how to re-mother their
bodies for generational healing. 

We recorded this conversation during the northern hemisphere summer of 2021 and she had just received her first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine. It was also just as she graduated the first cohort of her Yoga Teacher Training on Iya. 

As you will discover, Abiola is a highly ambitious person and for her, pursuing an entrepreneurial path is much deeper than financial reward. 

MENTIONS AND LINKS 

Yoga By Biola - Abiola Akani's very own YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/YogabyBiola 
Trap Vinyasa - https://www.trapvinyasa.com/ 
Yoga Behind Bars - https://yogabehindbars.org/