The Vibe is a Lie: Unf*ck your Yoga Teaching
with Liz & Anne

This is a workshop for yoga teachers and yoga business owners facilitated by Liz Kovarsky & Anne Esguerra

Part 1 – Foundational Workshop on January 18th:
This workshop introduces the impact of Western white supremacy culture on yoga, supports reflection on personal teaching and practice, and fosters a community of shared responsibility for carrying the lineage of yoga with care and integrity. We will offer a part 2 in the near future where we will move from awareness to action steps, offering guidance and support for teachers and studio owners to implement these learnings in their teaching and communities.

Why: Yoga is often marketed and taught in ways that contradict its foundational principles. “The vibe is a lie” speaks to the disconnect between surface-level wellness culture and yoga’s deeper ethical, spiritual, and historical roots. The longer we (facilitators, Anne & Liz) have practiced and taught, the less drawn we’ve felt to many modern studio spaces, where the marketing and presentation often fail to align with the values they claim to uphold. The language may sound “right,” but the actions frequently tell another story—and that misalignment causes harm. This workshop invites honest reflection, shared learning, and collective accountability as we explore what it means to honor the lineage of yoga with integrity.

Where: Electric Cottage Collective, 82 Pleasant Street, 2nd Floor, Brunswick, ME (unfortunately only accessible via stairs)

When: Sunday, January 18, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (lunch break 12-1)

Who: This workshop is for yoga teachers & yoga business owners

Cost: $100-$500 sliding scale, please see Payment Options below about how to choose which payment option is right for you

Mutual Aid: 25% of the class fee will be given to the Maine Solidarity Fund: a “... statewide fund [that] is …designed to provide rapid, direct, and equitable support to community members facing increased detention, targeted harassment, policy rollbacks, and systemic discrimination under the new Tr*mp administration”.

Participants: 14 maximum

About our facilitators: 

Anne Esguerra (she/siya/niya)

My yoga journey began in 2009 with heated power vinyasa and deepened into yoga therapy through Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy (PRYT) in 2011. I’m certified through PRYT and the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT), and in 2013 I founded Integrative Life Therapy—a space for care, connection, and embodied learning.

As a first-generation Filipino American, I root my work in Kapwa—the belief that I am because you are. I’ve never resonated with the individualism often found in wellness spaces. Instead, I focus on how healing happens in relationship—with ourselves, one another, and the systems we move through. This led me to train with Yoga Behind Bars then offering yoga and mentoring to incarcerated youth from 2016–2020.

Movement and music have always guided me—from early years in dance and theater to over a decade studying Guinean West African Dance and performing with New Moon Ensemble. Collaborations through the years with Sea Change Yoga, Prison Yoga Project, Maine Inside Out, Journey Onederland and Arcana continue to remind me that healing isn’t linear or solitary—it’s collective and embodied.

Liz Kovarsky (she/her): I began teaching heated power vinyasa yoga in 2011, but after a while, I realized something didn’t feel right. I shifted to sliding-scale classes, gentler styles, restorative, and trauma-informed yoga—but still felt unprepared to teach the deeper dimensions of yoga as a holistic, collectivist practice rather than the commodified Western version focused solely on asana.

Payment Options:

We offer tiered pricing not because we don’t need the income—we do—but because solidarity matters.

If your challenge is short-term cash flow (you will eventually have access to the funds, just not all at once), please reach out to set up a payment plan rather than using a discounted rate.

Please do not choose discounted rates simply because you prefer to pay less or feel anxious about future scarcity. If you have friends, family, or other networks who can support you financially, we encourage you to utilize that support.

Make your decision based on facts, not feelings.

$500 – I Got Us:
Purchase this tier if you are securely employed, have comfortable savings and discretionary income, and want to support both yourself and a sponsored spot for someone else.

$250 – I Got You:
Choose this tier if you are securely employed with comfortable savings and discretionary income, and can fully cover your own spot.

$200 – We Got This:
Opt for this tier if you are steadily employed, can comfortably manage occasional luxuries (like a short vacation), and have access to financial support in emergencies.

$100 – Community:
This rate is for people with marginalized identities—including BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled folks—who are under-employed, on limited income, or facing circumstances that make regular work difficult. Please use this discount only if you truly need it.