These young black women are changing the face of yoga

When I think of yoga, this is what comes to mind: lithe white women holding rolled-up yoga mats and drinking green juice. Probably because that's how yoga is presented on TV.

Because of this - and the people I had seen doing yoga at the gym - I didn't think yoga was for me. I wasn't interested in it until I came across a tweet by @Banesa_Creative, saying: "Two black female yogis have decided to open up their own yoga studio."

After reading that tweet, I knew I had to pay the girls a visit. I asked a yoga-enthusiast friend to come along.

Located in Joburg's vibey Greenside neighbourhood, we were welcomed by Banesa Tseki, The Nest Space co-founder and kundalini yoga instructor. She had her golden faux dreads tied in a bun and was ready to sweat in white tights and a sports bra.

As someone who goes to the gym five times a week, I'm quite fit and strong. I found myself judging the women doing yoga, thinking that there was no way they would ever be able to lift the weights I lifted. But after my first session, I quickly found out that yoga is a total workout.

The class exceeded my expectations. It consisted of nine poses like the camel pose, forward fold (or front bend) and lunge stretch, and each pose was held for between one and three minutes.

After two poses, my knees were shaking. I couldn't hold poses, which made me realise that my body strength is not only about being able to lift heavy weights but how well I can balance my body in uncomfortable positions.

But kundalini isn't just about your body: it's about your mind and more importantly, your spirit.

With every pose Tseki kept reminding us to take deep breaths. The breathing exercises helped me to be spiritually focused because that's what I do daily when I feel a bit anxious. During the spiritually focused part, Tseki kept sharing words of wisdom, like: "You're exactly where you're supposed be, doing what you're supposed to be doing. Let this moment in."

I realised during the session that my spirit really needed a place of calm and re-evaluating my soul without doing hectic workouts.

"This is about reawakening African healing through spiritual yoga," said Tseki in a post-yoga chat, see below.

A QUIET PLACE TO NEST AND HEAL

The Nest Space opened four months ago and is owned by Banesa Tseki and her business partner, Anesu Mbizo. "I started doing yoga 10 years ago when I was in Cape Town and realised that most spaces were full of white people and there was no space for people of colour who are spiritually conscious," said Tseki.

Now 29, Tseki used to suffer from depression and anxiety and seeing doctors who gave her medicine didn't help because she would just end up numb. "Then I met a doctor who did kickboxing and introduced me to it. It helped me whenever I got panic attacks."

She also met a woman who introduced her to kundalini yoga and, after two years of training, she became a certified teacher.

Because many yoga studios are mainly white and so are the instructors, it's important for Tseki and Mbizo to make the yoga space more inclusive, not only when it comes to race but when it comes to sexuality and gender.

Most of her clients are young black professionals whom she describes as activists and young creatives between the ages of 20 and 30.

"This specific age group is looking for alternative ways to heal and spaces that make you comfortable allows the healing process to start," she says.

The studio has shiny wooden floors and interesting features such as African traditional masks, plants, healing crystals, a shelf full of books by authors from Africa and the diaspora and a corner with a couch where you can just take in the lesson while you sip some tea (no sugar and no coffee at the studio)

"We built the studio like this so that people know who we are," she says. "Part of apartheid and colonialism is mental instability and inferiority complex and we're trying to take back that power."

Being in a space you can relate to uplifts your spirit, and yoga in particular is spiritual. But at The Nest Space ethnicity is connected to spirituality. For a newbie, I finally realised that yoga should be for everyone.