We are so excited to chat with Camelia (Mimi) Felton, the owner of Mimi’s Yoga Kids located in Atlanta, GA. You can see the full interview via our YouTube link, and here is an excerpt of our fun IG live chat we had with her!
Iana
We’re going to chat with Mimi, the founder of Mimi’s Kids Yoga in Atlanta. So you’re a kid’s yoga teacher, I wish there had been yoga when I was a kid!
Mimi
I started teaching yoga with the foundation and core of teaching kids. But I have grown now into teaching everybody. So I say “kids” from newborn to 105. It’s amazing how it has turned into that, and so I’m really thankful. I teach babies all the way to seniors, so it’s a great place to be.
Iana
And how did you get started?
Mimi
I had a yoga practice off and on. I was a stay at home mom, and I would do it in spurts. But then in 2014 something pretty traumatic happened in my life, and yoga was what I turned to. It wasn’t the very first thing that I turned to, but I eventually started doing yoga and I got on the mat and it was just one of those things that really, truly got me through a tough time in my life. And so now it is my goal and mission to introduce that to other people. It’s not a cure all, but it is something with consistency and just making it your practice. Don’t worry about what anybody else is doing, make it your personal practice. I can almost guarantee you that it will change your life. It will impact your life in a way where we’ll make things better. And I’m a living testament to that.
But then in 2014 something pretty traumatic happened in my life, and yoga was what I turned to. It wasn’t the very first thing that I turned to, but I eventually started doing yoga and I got on the mat and it was just one of those things that really, truly got me through a tough time in my life.
Iana
I love that you share that it wasn’t the first thing you turned to, I think that there’s a lot of people who will try a couple of things and eventually, if you land on yoga, you kind of never leave. It’s transformative. And you made it your life’s work! What did you do in your “previous life”?
Mimi
I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’ve done so many different things. I would sell Avon, I sold this, I sold that. I had an organizing business or cleaning business. So I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit. I was a stay at home mom, then a single mom, and then I had to go back into the workforce. I worked in the medical field and my last job was in pediatrics so I was around kids all the time. I love kids. And I was in a space where I had a lot of connection with parents. And so that was another thing too, that I knew because I saw kids coming in with anxiety and all these things, and sometimes they just want to give kids a bunch of medication and do different things. And I thought there has to be a different way. I’m not downplaying that in any way because we all need what we need, but in some instances, I think there’s a better way.
And so I just knew that I wanted to do this because I have a grandson. Well, I have four grandchildren now, but at the time I had one grandson and he would do yoga with me, and I saw the benefits that it gave him. So I thought, we need this. They’re our future. And so it just started with one small little party at my house, and then it has turned into this. And we’re thriving and I’m so proud of it. I’m really proud of it because it’s something that’s my purpose and my mission. And when you find that you wake up every day and it doesn’t feel like work, I’m just doing what brings me joy. So it’s a wonderful place to be.
Iana
Did you notice since you were doing this before the pandemic, that during the pandemic, things changed? Did you notice a change in kids and people?
Mimi
The space that I have, I’ve just gotten it, before I was mobile. I was just going everywhere. School, daycare centers, senior citizen facilities, parks, anywhere you can spread a mat out. I would go because I firmly believe yoga is for everybody, and you can do yoga anywhere. So I was mobile, and I still am, because I firmly believe in taking yoga to people. I don’t expect people to come to me. It’s my job and my responsibility to take yoga out into the world.
So when everything shut down, I was like, how am I going to get to my community, to my people, my babies, my kids? And so we pivoted, and we started doing things virtually. I was able to create a little space that I have now, which is in the basement at first, and I did little camps, little mindfulness breaks, all the things. The only ones I had a hard time getting to were my seniors, because they’re like, “We’re not doing virtual, not doing that.” So we would meet in the park with our jackets on, we would take tables out. And we did that for about a year out in the cold, but we would warm our hands up, we would listen to music, and we would move our bodies. And that was their saving grace, because they were able to be in community. They weren’t alone. They were getting fresh air. They were getting vitamin D. And so that was major because seniors, a lot of times, they’re alone. We couldn’t get to people like we normally could. So we said, hey, let’s just meet in the park.
“… I firmly believe in taking yoga to people. I don’t expect people to come to me. It’s my job and my responsibility to take yoga out into the world.”
Iana
You are actually one of the teachers we are featuring in our Atlanta spotlight in our upcoming LOVE issue launching this June. So thank you for that and thank you for joining that shoot. We spotlight at least three cities in each issue and in this issue, we spotlight Atlanta, Tokyo, and Boston. The shoot looked like so much fun. What was that area that you were you did the shoot?
Mimi
Ponce City Market. It’s a really cool space in downtown Atlanta. And so we decided to do it there because it’s just one of those places that it’s nice and open and you get that city feel or vibe, I should say. It was a lot of fun. I was so happy to be in the space again with those other two teachers because we did another event together. And so it was really nice to have that opportunity. Did you know we had Peace Week here in Atlanta? We did yoga with the mayor. I had picked up the magazine in New York and I was like, oh, my God, this is so nice. I would love to be in this magazine. And here I am, so super excited. I have to shout out Melissa Honkanen for making that possible.
Iana
Melissa is from our team, and she lived in New York for many years and recently moved to the Atlanta area. And that’s how we choose which areas to spotlight, it has to have meaning, and significance to us. Where did you get the issue of Yoga Love Magazine?
Mimi
My friend Michelle, founder of Yoga Mazia in the Philadelphia area. She invited me to go to SOULFest last October and that was amazing, and I picked up the magazine.. I was also able to meet Dianne Bondy and it was an amazing opportunity. And Shari from Karma Kids yoga, I love her music. I’ve been playing her music since day one. It’s just amazing how life works, right? Everything is just kind of full circle. So I know that this is what I’m supposed to do.
Iana
And that’s such a great feeling when it does! This is why I love talking to yoga teachers and studio owners, and anyone that works in the wellness space. And I say this all the time, people don’t work in wellness because they have to. They do it because they want to and they can’t imagine doing anything else. And there’s so much excitement and so much passion for it and it’s still work.
You make it work, you figure it out and you’re constantly on your toes and there’s so much community and passion amongst the people that you just do it. You do it in the cold in the park and you do it in the rain…
Mimi
And the power of community. The power of community, it was beautiful. It was beautiful to connect and to be in that space.
Iana
So what’s in the future for you?
Mimi
There’s so much that I want to do. I have a vision board that I just put things down and I firmly believe if it’s meant to be, it will be. So I would love to travel the country and travel the world, teaching mindfulness and meditation and yoga to kids. But my biggest thing is we have to do it here first. We have to take care of our home. I’m big on once I feel like home is good and then I want to go out into the world and just keep providing light and hope and love because this world is a crazy place. It’s a crazy place, but there’s so much love and there’s so much community and there’s so much light that we can still gravitate towards. And so I strive every day to be that light.
Having the community yoga space, just offering yoga free or very low cost for people that otherwise may not be able to afford it or the opportunity. So that’s very important to me. And then my last thing, I need to get into the correctional facilities, that’s part of what I want to do. I wasn’t incarcerated, but my oldest daughter was for a crime she didn’t commit. And so yoga was what kind of kept me going. It kept me in a mental state to be able to not only take care of myself, but to take care of my children, my grandson, and even her at that time. I will always give kudos to yoga. I firmly believe healed people, heal people. And through my own healing, and I’m healing every day, I’m able to create a space for others to heal too. That’s it.
“I will always give kudos to yoga. I firmly believe healed people, heal people. And through my own healing, and I’m healing every day, I’m able to create a space for others to heal too. That’s it.”
Iana
I love that! I want to connect you with Bre Scullark. I don’t know if you’ve ever met her. She goes into the correctional facilities, and she teaches yoga as well. And so there’s a big network of people that are doing that here in New York. She is an amazing person. The work it’s so beautiful and it’s so needed. Everyone needs yoga. We all need it. We’re all going through something. But when I see it there in those spaces, it’s just my heart is so full, and it breaks a little.
Mimi
Trust me, I know how it can be both because it’s a population that people just don’t really think about, but at the end of the day, they’re human too, and they deserve peace, and they deserve light in the midst of all that darkness. Because at the end of the day, for whatever reason, that’s not for me to judge. That’s not for me. For me, I just want to provide some love and some light and some joy, even if it’s just for 30 minutes, that can change somebody’s life, somebody’s day. So that’s very near to my heart, and the universe is just working. So I’m just like, do what you do, universe.
Iana
It was so great chatting with you. And I have to say, this morning I was feeling a little tired and just speaking with you and just feeling your enthusiasm and your love and your light. I feel replenished just speaking to you. Thank you for that and we’re so excited to feature you and your amazing work in our next issue, which will launch in June.
