The Vibe Is A Lie: Unf*ck Your Yoga Practice
with Liz & Anne

The Vibe is a Lie: Unf*ck your Yoga  Practice

A workshop for yoga students 

Part 1 – Foundational Workshop This workshop introduces the impact of Western white supremacy culture on yoga, supports reflection on personal 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 future where we will move from awareness to action steps, offering guidance and support for yoga practitioners  to implement these learnings in their practice 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 (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

When: May 17th, 10am-4pm (we take a lunch break)

Who: This workshop is for yoga students 

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 MaineSolidarityFund: 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 Trump 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, embodied, and deeply human.

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.

Challenging life experiences and reflection on my own privilege and gaps in awareness led me back to school, where I eventually became a licensed clinical social worker. Frustrated by the charity-over-solidarity dynamics in the nonprofit sector, I founded Electric Cottage Collective in 2024—a space dedicated to collective wellness and resisting grind culture. I approach this workshop knowing I will be changed by it and its participants just as much as I hope to contribute to our collective growth. Join us in exploring together!

Payment Options:

$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.