Welcome to Blue Lotus School of Yoga, a community-based yoga studio in Woodlawn. We are in transition and will be holding virtual & community-based classes throughout the neighborhood at both indoor and outdoor locations. Please see schedule for class times and locations.
At Blue Lotus School of Yoga, we believe yoga is a liberation & self-healing practice that must revolve around the premise of Ahimsa: Universal Non-Violence. We believe yoga is for everyone and we strive to build a space and community in which all feel safe to practice and heal. Our mission is to promote health, wellness, healing, and community in an accessible and trauma-informed environment. Our yoga classes focus on mindful breathing, connection to one’s body, relaxation, increasing flexibility and building strength. All our classes are LGBTQ+ & non-binary inclusive. We also offer private classes, workshops, and groups.
All classes are in English and use body-based cueing (i.e. move right arm up, instead of using solely yoga pose names). We provide trauma sensitive training to all our teachers. Students are in charge of their own bodies and spaces and we hand out consent cards for hands on assists at the start of each class.
The Lotus flower has long been a symbol of spiritual enlightenment and rebirth, historically in Buddhist and Egyptian cultures. Its roots take up their home in muddy river bottoms and every night the blossoms submerge into the murky water and rebloom each morning, untouched by the dirt. This flower is an incredible metaphor for life. The phrase ‘no mud, no lotus’ is commonly used to mean in life there is always hardship and difficulties, and rising through and learning from those challenges reveals our lotus, a life more beautiful than ever. Specifically, the Blue Lotus flower represents knowledge and intelligence and is rarely depicted in full bloom, representing the never-ending quest for knowledge. At Blue Lotus School of Yoga we take this meaning to heart and it is our mission to continue to learn and grow towards wisdom to serve our community to the best of our ability.
If you have any additional questions, please send us a message on our Contact Us page or email us directly at beth@bluelotuschicago.com or 773-599-1892
Blue Lotus School of Yoga
Chicago, IL 60637
773-599-1892
Land Acknowledgement:
Blue Lotus School of Yoga is located on the traditional unceded homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, and Fox also called this area home. The region has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban Indigenous Peoples communities in the United States resides in Chicago. Members of this community continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions, and care for the land and waterways.
We embrace our commitment to Indigenous rights, racial justice, and cultural equity not only through this statement but also in our mission and service to the Woodlawn community and our relationships with Indigenous communities.
Blue Lotus School of Yoga is committed to participating in the work of protecting and uplifting communities and people victimized by structural oppression including black, brown and indigenous folks and folks everywhere on the gender and sexual identity spectrums. We recognize this commitment not only as an expression of social justice but as a matter of trauma stewardship as the rates of trauma are statistically higher in communities that have been systematically and intentionally disenfranchised. We also acknowledge that, as a small business founded in a white institutional environment and by a white person, the integrity of our commitments is predicated on our own self-examination and personal as well as group work right here at home. Some of the organizations that we are learning from include: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ and https://www.thetrevorproject.org/