173: Getting Your Yoga Studio Ready For ICE with Lucia Yess from Minneapolis

Yess Yoga is a yoga studio in Minneapolis one block from where Alex Pretti was murdered by Border Patrol agents in January of this year.

In this episode, I'm joined by Minneapolis-based yoga teacher and studio owner Lucia Yess. Our conversation is both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring as we explore what it means to truly live our yoga off the mat, especially in moments of crisis.

Lucia shares her experience running Yess Yoga during a recent ICE surge in Minneapolis, where her neighborhood became a site of fear, violence, and profound uncertainty. As community members were being detained and families were afraid to leave their homes, Lucia and her team stepped into action, transforming their studio into a hub for mutual aid, care, and refuge.

What stands out most to me in this conversation is Lucia's clarity: this wasn't a question of whether to help, but how. When our neighbors are suffering, yoga calls us to respond.

In this episode, you'll hear:

What it was like to be on the ground in a city under siege by the federal government

Why yoga must extend beyond personal practice into collective care

How staying grounded in our values helps us take meaningful action

How to get looped into the communities that need support

How Yess Yoga became a center for mutual aid—providing medical supplies, food, communication tools, and more

How the studio remained open during crisis by offering free and sliding-scale classes, supported by community fundraising

Practical ways yoga teachers and studio owners can prepare to support their own communities