MomiYoga founder Mominatu Boog opens up about what inspired her to start her own yoga business, how she’s aiming to uplift her community, and why she always makes time for self-care.
Mominatu Boog on Fostering an Inclusive Yoga Community in Dakar and Beyond
When Mominatu Boog began her yoga journey, she never imagined she’d become a teacher, let alone found the first Black-owned yoga studio in Dakar, Senegal. “When I started, I just needed a workout. I’ve always loved any sort of movement. It was always something I just did for myself,” she tells Vogue. After high school, the Liberian-Senegalese, Chicago born-and-raised yogi moved to Costa Rica, where she fell in love with the practice. After returning to Chicago, she began training to become a teacher. “It was just something I did to deepen my practice,” she says.
In 2019, Boog moved to Dakar to reconnect with her roots, where she initially focused on teaching private clients. “I noticed that there weren’t any African yoga teachers that looked like me. I would go into these classes and felt honestly uncomfortable. It was really strange for me,” she recalls. She asked herself how she could form a more inclusive yoga community in Dakar, and started by offering a one-time beach yoga class in August of 2020. “My first class was filled with all these gorgeous Black women, which felt so rare. Everyone felt so empowered.”
Her class was in high demand, and Boog took it upon herself to offer three community classes per week. Later she turned her beach home into a partial studio, Momiyoga, offering both socially distant beachside and indoor, masked and socially distanced classes. “The philosophy is to celebrate inclusivity and self-love,” she says. “And to create a space where it doesn’t matter what you look like, what you’re dressed like—no one’s worried about your Lululemons,” she adds with a laugh. “You’re here to get centered and really connect with yourself on a deep, spiritual level, but also push yourself through a cathartic yoga experience.”
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Akili King
