About us
The Tree Yoga Cooperative Story
Rita, Jonié (aka J.Cole), Jana, and Jenni founded The Tree Yoga Cooperative in August of 2020 after years of teaching yoga and meditation throughout South Los Angeles. Their community leadership at The Tree South LA (nonprofit organization, formerly Green Tree Yoga & Meditation Foundation & The Tree South LA) united them to reimagine the ways we connect, heal, build and celebrate ourselves and community.
Rita and Ja Cole, both raised in South Central, never saw yoga in their neighborhood growing up. They saw yoga in the mainstream media practiced by thin, European American (White) women and didn't see anyone that looked like them practicing yoga. It wasn’t till later in their adulthood that they found Yoga as a tool for mental health and physical wellness. Rita has played an important role over the years in creating access to yoga with our Spanish speaking communities and mentoring other Spanish speaking yoga practitioners.
Jana's practice and purpose became clearer for her during her time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay where meditation and mindfulness helped her to navigate and embrace herself more fully as well as other people with different cultures, norms, languages, experiences and backgrounds. These elements of inclusion, acceptance, and mindful facilitation are what she and J. Cole bring to the forefront in our yoga teacher training program. Ja Cole and Jana have been leading our yoga teacher training program where more community members are able to deepen their own yoga practice, evolve their leadership in wellness, and become certified practitioners.
Our youngest of the team, Jenni, started her yoga journey with the intention to heal from sexual trauma. That healing journey has expanded into how we support collective healing from systemic oppression and co-conspire through our partnerships to address the health inequities among marginalized communities. Each of the worker-owners, bring us full circle to the importance of sharing our stories, building healthy relationships, and creatively collaborating in this healing justice movement, so we are reminded to live in Liberation now.
Misson
Our mission is to be a hub of holistic wellness and community support. We believe that true education is the exploration and expression of the intelligence that resides inside everyone.
Our focus is to educate and empower through the transformative practice of Yoga as an accessible, effective tool that allows for living in Liberation.