Participants do sun salutations facing the Missouri River.
Museum, which was one of the first pop-up yoga events in the area. Since getting started in 2009, Yoga in the Park’s Facebook group now has more than 7,700 members. “It has grown a lot in the last three years, but back then, we usually had 12 to 20 people show up at each class,” said Leduc of Yoga in the Park. On an unusually warm weekend in March 2015, Leduc decided on a whim to post on Facebook and offer an outdoor yoga class. “I set a time and a place… and 50 people showed up,” she said. “That was unprecedented. So, I tried it again the next week.” Leduc then founded Pop-Up Yoga KC and began partnering with other
organizations and businesses to arrange locations for the free yoga events. “I saw how transformative it was, and then I envisioned a home for the pop-up yoga: a donation-based studio,” she remembered. “It manifested itself really fast.” The first home for Leduc’s Karma Tribe Yoga, a donation-based studio, was a shared space in the Crossroads District. In 2016, the studio moved to its own space in Midtown at 35th St. and Broadway Blvd. EVOLUTION OF POP-UP YOGA As Leduc has grown as a yoga teacher, so has the concept of offering yoga to the masses. “When we first started, it was guerrilla-style yoga,” laughed Leduc. “We were a crazy, traveling group of yoga people. Now that I have a studio it has been beneficial to partner with organizations and businesses in order to have more regular meet-ups.” Pop-Up Yoga KC partners with Friends of the River to help with their Riverfront Fitness program. They have teamed up with the Kansas City Public Library to do “Yoga on the Rooftop” of
the main branch. “It’s so pretty up there,” said Leduc. They’ve done yoga at the Kansas City Museum; at Gillham Park; at the Belvoir Winery in Liberty; and even “Yoga in the Pool” at UMKC. While the outdoor format has its benefits—exposure to the public, and a connection with nature, for example— Leduc said she encourages people to step inside the studio. “I know it can be intimidating!” she said. “I try to look at it through their eyes. I understand. So, we try to cultivate that same welcoming feeling you get at the outdoor events.” And feeling welcome to roll out your mat and enjoy an accessible yoga class is exactly what Leduc hopes to achieve with her pop-up events. “I want for anyone walking down the street to see lots of different people, from all walks of life, practicing together,” said Leduc. “It’s incredibly inspiring. There is so much negativity and divisiveness in this world. It is a huge privilege to be able to co-facilitate a space where all of that feels non-existent.” R
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kristi Mayo is the editor of REC Midwest . She can be reached at publisher@rec-midwest.com.
A diverse group attended a free yoga event at Berkley Riverfront Park on July 4.
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