June is Pride Month— where we recognize and celebrate the advancements, history, and achievements in the LGBTQ+ community with love and inclusivity.
We are honoured to have Jo Quinn— owner of JogaYoga, Kids yoga and wellness teacher, Doula, Pre- and Postnatal Yoga Teacher, Clown Doctor, and lover of dogs— share with us her story for Pride Month.
>
“I DISCOVERED MYSELF ON MY YOGA MAT.”
During my teacher training I let go of demons from the past through breathwork and meditation. I sat with feelings of discomfort and I gave myself the space to feel everything that needed to come up and most importantly I forgave myself and other people and let go of the fear of being me and became myself.
In yoga classes us teachers talk a lot of being honest in your practice, listening to your body and tuning it.
To be an honest teacher one must try to be honest with themselves in order to be truthful to your students.
It starts with you.
Sometimes the truth is something we run away from for years, and years, sometimes people run forever. Yoga helped me face my truth that I had hiding and reassures me everyday that we can move through and grow through anything life throws at us. When we break down the walls we create for ourselves or ones that others impose on us, we can be free. Free to be ourselves, unapologetically. Yoga means union of body, mind and breath, for me yoga is a universal language we all unite with, it’s a safe space for all types of people, all types of families. At Awakened Spirit Yoga I feel at home with the teachers, at home with my fellow students and the union is strong, the mat is home, we are safe.
Pride. I’m proud everyday of myself and my family. I come from a family of 7, my parents and my 4 sisters. Pretty traditional Irish family. But families come in all shapes and sizes, this is my family now, Katie (my wife), our dog Alfie, bump and I. We live in Wicklow in Ireland, a small country with strong roots to the Catholic Church. In 2015 Ireland voted for Marriage Equality and we won the right to be married, hurrah! Cut to August 2020 we got married in the middle of the pandemic surrounded by our closest family members. It was by far the most magical day of our lives.
When nothing was certain in our lives in 2020 myself and my (then fiancé) Katie sat down and discussed what was certain in our lives, and we both knew we wanted nothing more than to extend our family. When we were younger, marriage and family wasn’t anything we had ever imagined in Ireland so it really is incredible that we can have these conversations now. Ireland isn’t 100% equal yet but we are getting there. We started the ivf process and were so happy to find out I was pregnant on Christmas Day 2020. What a perfect ending to a very strange year.
We are now expecting our first baby in August. I began training with Awakened Yoga Spirit in 2021 on their Sacred Birth Prenatal YTT and Doula course and continued my studies afterwards to become a postnatal yoga teacher.
The inclusive language used both includes and educates us all to feel united and together on this journey of life. Safe spaces are limited for some LGBTQI+ people and the safety created in the online studios at Awakened Spirit Yoga is admirable. Thank you for building and growing awareness to LGBTQI+ people and our families.
