Hidden Gems: Meet Ingrid Saddler-Walker of Wytha Balance Yoga – Counseling

Today we would like to introduce you to Ingrid Saddler-Walker.

Hi Ingrid, it is an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I attended my first yoga class at the local gym in 2009. During this first session, my higher power gave me the idea of obtaining my yoga teacher training so that I can teach yoga to the students at school with mental health diagnosis to help them with self-regulation and social and emotional learning. I asked the yoga teacher about a teacher training certification for kids when the class was over. After doing so much research, I found and enrolled in the Radiant Child Family Yoga teacher training program in 2009. Over the next two years, I traveled once a month to Herndon, Virginia to participate in a Kundalini yoga teacher training. In 2009 I started my business Wytha Balance Yoga – Counseling LLC and, in 2011, I received my 200 hour and my 95-hour. yoga teacher training with a certification in adults and kids yoga. In 2014 I opened the only black yoga studio in Durham, NC. My training continued after I opened my studio and I have gone on to receive my 500-hour advanced yoga teacher training in Yoga for Mental Health with Mind Body Centering in Durham, NC., May 2019.  In September 2020, I completed a 200-hour teacher training program with YogaSkills School of Kemetic Yoga.  I recently graduated from the Lifeologie International School for Psychotherapeutic Yoga from a 200-hour yoga teacher training program in April 2021.   Eager to bring this knowledge to a wider community, I founded the Annual Bull City Yoga Festival in 2018. The yoga festival is in October of every year and information about it can be found on our social media platform Facebook and Instagram @bullcityyogafestival or at www.bullcityyogafestival.com.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has not been without its challenges. Unfortunately, due to COVID -19, I had to close the doors of my brick and mortar in 2020.  I have since pivoted into the online environment and now yoga virtually during the week and on the weekends while I continued to go even deeper in my training.  Owning a black owned yoga studio has its ups and downs.  More ups than downs. Black women like me are not expected to be a Yogi let alone the owner of a studio. There are many times when I was asked if I was the owner of the studio, something that reminds me to practice what I preach to others in my own life.  I used to get irritated, but I have learned through yoga to not let other people’s limitations and stay centered in myself and the moment.  I am now able to take a breath, smile as normal and proudly I go on to expand peoples’ horizons as I declare to them that I am.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My mantra is to breathe, relax and be still. It is what motivates my teaching practice and serves as the foundation of the classes I create for adults, teens, tweens, and kids which includes a variety of modalities—the first element of my work that sets me apart from others.  These include Gentle Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Yin/Yoga and Psychotherapeutic Yoga. I offer private yoga classes, yoga classes for special occasions and yoga classes for women retreats. Another aspect of my work that sets me apart is a camp held during the summer months of June – July.  This creative summer yoga camp for tweens and teens is designed to teach campers mindfulness, what it means to live a yoga life and the yamas and niyamas of yoga. A third and final element of my practice that sets me apart from others is that I offer an inclusive yoga space in which a diverse demographic—especially those who may not feel at home in other yoga spaces—can develop their own brand of the yoga lifestyle.  I am most proud of what we stand for and how we give students just what they seek. People come in looking for a yoga community where there is a feeling of calmness, peace, and tranquility. And we invite you and your readers to join us for the virtual classes we offer from Sunday through Saturday. You can register for classes on my website at www.wythabalance.com.

Pricing:

• $12.00/class

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.wythabalance.com
• Instagram: wythabalanceyoga
• Facebook: wythabalanceyoga