Nov 14-15 2026
Decolonize Wellness:
A Two-Day Workshop on Care, Context, and Ethical Practice
About the retreat...
Decolonize Wellness is a two-day, interactive workshop for anyone interested in unpacking cultural appropriation in the wellness space.
If you have a wellness practice but are sensing a gap between the benefits of wellness and how it is taught or marketed, if you are aware of harm and exclusion but don't know how to speak up or take action, or if you want to practice your healing practices with social consciousness and holistic integrity, this workshop is for you.
❋ Intentional StructureWe blend guided moments, open exploration, and space to reflect so the experience feels both focused and fluid.
❋ Collaborative EnergyConnection is a core part of the process. You’ll learn just as much from the group as from the content itself.
❋ Expert FacilitationLed by an experienced guide who know how to hold space, encourage participation, and keep things moving with purpose.
❋ A Supportive SpaceOur events prioritize comfort, safety, and respect—so you can show up as you are and fully engage in the process.
Who This Training Is For
You’re interested in improving how you hold space for yourself or for your students
You want to learn and apply a trauma-informed framework to your yoga practice/classes
You feel that investing in your own healing journey is personally rewarding, and will also enhance how you facilitate for a more compassionate and effective approach
You believe trauma-informed yoga can create a safe environment to foster student empowerment and growth.
You value accessible yoga and understand trauma-informed yoga is one way to make yoga accessible for more folks.
You want to learn from and support women and people of colour.
When Irene first became a newly certified yoga asana teacher, she quickly found herself asking what it would actually mean to decolonize her practice.
That question became the beginning of a deeper path…one shaped by self-study, lived experience, and learning from teachers in both yoga and social justice spaces.
Over time, Irene began weaving anti-racist and intersectional feminist frameworks into her teaching, and naturally gravitated toward trauma-informed yoga as an ethical approach that better reflects the realities people bring into wellness spaces.
Irene is especially committed to creating spaces where BI&PoC voices, bodies, and experiences are centred, something that deepened through study with women of colour teachers like Gagan Leeka and Tahia Ahmed.
With over 1,000 teaching hours and 700+ hours of training, she brings grounded perspective, compassionate clarity, and a strong ethical lens to the conversation of wellness, power, and care.
The goal of this workshop is to focus on making wellness spaces inclusive for everyone.
Day OneLanguage and Historical Grounding
As everyone arrives, we take time to settle in, get comfortable, and begin connecting with those around us. The journey starts here.
Day One focuses on shared language and historical grounding by examining the colonial roots of modern wellness and yoga, key social justice concepts, and the commodification of spiritual practices under capitalism. Through guided discussion, reflection, and group activity, we will explore how power and privilege can show up in wellness spaces.
Check-In9:00 – 9:30am
Group Activity11:00am
Lunch Break12:30pm
Creative Workshop2:00pm
Dinner6:30pm
Day TwoFrameworks You Can Use
Day two shifts toward practical frameworks that you can apply the next time that you experience or witness disagreement, tension, or discrimination in the wellness space.
There will be guidance on ethical teaching and participation. We will focus on common responses when harm arises, so we can have difficult conversations with peers or students with clarity and compassion.
You will leave with tools and strategies for handling conflict in the wellness space so that you have the confidence to act when something doesn't sit right.
Check-In9:00 – 9:30am
Group Activity11:00am
Lunch Break12:30pm
Creative Workshop2:00pm
Dinner6:30pm
About Irene Lo
Irene Lo is a Vancouver-based yoga teacher, founder of Irene Yoga Flow, trauma-informed and anti-racist educator, and intersectional and spiritual feminist. She has led workshops for yoga studios and yoga nonprofits on the ethics of being a yoga teacher, the commodification of yoga and how to disrupt capitalist thinking, cultural appropriation, and trauma-informed yoga.
As a woman of colour, Irene is deeply invested in sharing her perspective and learnings on the topic of being an ethical yoga teacher and practitioner in the modern age. She credits her yoga practice to putting her on a path of authenticity and wisdom. Outside of yoga, she is a tarot reader and collector.
She has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. As an asana teacher, she teaches vinyasa, yin and sound bowls, and hot yoga at yoga studios across Metro Vancouver. She has been teaching chair yoga to seniors, including seniors in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, for the past 5 years.
Her teachers include Clara Roberts-Oss, Bernie Clark, Tracee Stanley, Luvena Rangel, Thich Nhat Hanh.
Learn more about Irene here and subscribe to her mailing list:
FAQ
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We have limited spaces available for shared and private rooms, by request. Please contact us for details!
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Please let us know in your notes when you purchase a ticket and we will make sure you are accommodated!
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We are located in central Vancouver Island, 20 mins from the Departure Bay (Nanaimo) ferry.
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Payment plans are available as requested. Please contact us directly.