By Yvonne Marquez
Austin-based yoga instructor Abi Robins’ life changed when they stepped into a yoga studio for the first time in 2013. A friend in Siloam Springs, Arkansas dragged Robins to a hot power yoga class, which contradicted Robins’ preconceived idea that yoga was simply breathing and stretching in a quiet room. After an intense workout that left Robins drenched in sweat, they laid on their back for five minutes in the final shavasana resting pose. In that moment, they felt a sense of fulfillment they’d never experienced before. They were physically exhausted, but were able to find some quiet in their mind and body, something they desperately needed at that point in their life. At the end of the class, they thought, “Oh man, this is what I do now.”
“The class allowed me to mentally and emotionally slow down enough to tune into what was going on,” Robins says. “I was like, this is what I need right now—to find a way to get quiet and focused in a way that I had never been before. It was a really beautiful combination of the physical and the spiritual. For me, it just clicked right away.”
Robins’ revelation on the yoga mat was created by a perfect storm of circumstances. They were pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter in Denver when they moved to Arkansas to live with their grandmother after their grandfather passed away. In the process of moving to Arkansas, taking care of family, and adjusting to their new life, they also realized they were queer, which brought on a fear of coming out in a small town. “It felt a little bit counterintuitive to come out after moving to a small town in Arkansas,” Robins says. “I left what’s considered [to be] the gay mecca of the West and moved to a small town and that’s where I discovered my queerness.”
There were a lot of times when Robins didn’t feel safe being out and they questioned who they could trust in their town. Additionally, their music career was on hold, they weren’t sure what to do with their life, and they felt directionless. Then, they found the power of yoga. “Yoga really provided a safe space for me to get back into my body and, through that, it started to really alleviate some of the symptoms that I was having around some severe anxiety and depression.”
After some time living in Siloam Springs, things started looking up for Robins. They discovered that their town had a “surprisingly vibrant tiny queer community.” They found an LGBTQ group that planned monthly get-togethers called Rainbow Dinners. Eventually, the people they met at these Rainbow Dinners became their closest friends and provided them with support throughout their coming out process.
With the encouragement of their yoga teacher and a few months of continuous practice under their belt, Robins became a certified yoga instructor and started teaching in Arkansas. They eventually made the move to Austin and now teach yoga to private clients, group classes at a YMCA in Buda, and affordable community classes out of their garage in South Austin. “There’s something really powerful about moving and breathing with other people that builds a sense of connection that I don’t know if I found anywhere else,” Robins says about hosting group classes in their garage. “So I like to give people more opportunities to do that.”
In addition to teaching, they are currently studying to become a yoga therapist. As a yoga therapist intern, they work one-on-one with clients and design a 10 to 20 minute daily yoga practice for each that incorporates postures, breathwork, and meditation that helps clients to see a shift in areas they’re struggling with in life over time. “I’m not a healer,” Robins says. “I’m not fixing anyone; I’m giving someone the space and the tools to come in and heal themselves.”
Robins uses an unconventional tool to help design yoga practices for their clients. They first use the Enneagram personality typing system to gain insight into clients’ patterns and motivations, and then use the information to develop an individual practice. Robins says that there are only two other yoga teachers in the country who actively use the Enneagram and yoga together. “Using yoga and the Enneagram together can be really powerful,” they say. “It’s really amazing how well they work together, they kind of fit together like pieces to a puzzle.”
For Robins, making yoga queer-inclusive and accessible is important to their practice. As a member of the Austin Queer Yoga Collective, they work with others to create more and safer spaces for the LGBTQ community. Robins says that yoga still tends to be very cis and heteronormative and that yoga teachers should be educated about LGBTQ issues in order to reduce harm in the studio. “I feel very strongly that the queer community really needs yoga, needs a place where each and every person can feel safe in their bodies regardless of what their bodies look like or how they feel about their bodies,” they say.
Robins says that queer and trans people, people with bigger bodies, and people of color have a more challenging time healing their relationship with their bodies because they’ve been told their entire lives that their bodies are bad or not right. Robins hopes to hold space for these individuals and to be an example of what they want the yoga world to grow and evolve into. “The peace of mind and the emotional clarity that comes with being in your body and loving your body is super powerful,” Robins says. “That is what happened for me, so that’s why I want to share it with other people.”
