Making Self-Care Accessible

December 3, 2020

Soulshine Yoga founder Emily McDoniels is a Milwaukee resident with 9 years as an educator in MPS and 2 years as a Professor for UW River Falls. In her time in and outside of school, McDoniels practices yoga to provide healing spaces and prioritize self-care – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opening her studio in 2020 has been difficult at times, though radiating positive energy throughout the Milwaukee community is what means the most to McDoniels.

“Yoga provided a healing space for me through a difficult time in my life,” McDoniels explained. “As we each navigate a changing world with COVID, my intention is to make self-care, meditation and yoga practice accessible to anyone looking for it”.

Realizing that many people are juggling work, kids, home schooling, COVID restrictions and more, Soulshine Yoga in Wauwatosa has a mixed schedule of virtual and in-person studio classes (in-person currently on pause with the increase in COVID cases). Finding the time for self-care can be hard, so all classes are open to any level of experience.

Virtual classes with Soulshine Yoga are through Zoom to bring McDoniels’s yoga practice to your living room, office, bedroom, pantry – wherever you can make a quiet space at home!

McDoniels has shared her yoga and meditation practice with her students and faculty. At senior living centers in the Milwaukee area, gentle yoga practice in a chair is done safely on location. In the warmer months Soulshine Yoga guides outdoor yoga practice and yoga in the park classes, each offered for discounted rates or drives for local community organizations.

“Sharing these practices with our friends and neighbors can help them find healing or focus when things can feel out of our hands”. -- McDoniels

As a community focused yoga studio, McDoniels aims to schedule classes that fit people’s needs. She looks forward to hearing from the Milwaukee community about the times and type of classes that people are looking for.