Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn Rivers.
Dawn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Dawn’s yoga journey first began in 1999, when she bought a Rodney Yee VHS yoga videotape. She made a habit of practicing yoga every day to bring fitness and stress relief to the ups and downs of daily life. After gaining some momentum and comfort in her practice, Dawn met her match at a local gym a few years later. For the first time, her poses were on public display-meaning: hands-on adjustments, cues, and practicing openly in front of others. After conquering this obstacle, she was led to seek out a permanent yoga studio and a place she could use as a hideout to put her restless mind on the back burner for an hour or two.
Dawn saw a postcard in a local restaurant with an introductory offer for a week of Hot Power Yoga. Being a librarian at the time, she decided to wait until Spring Break to start taking classes. Coincidentally, right when she first began practicing in 2009, Hot Power Vinyasa Yoga was quickly emerging as a popular style in the yoga community. This became her practice of choice-a method which soon transformed her entire life. Dawn realized that as she was growing in her mental strength, the demand of power yoga helped her to grow in her physical strength, as well. Coupled with some new healthy eating habits, she began noticing her clothing fitting a little looser and her mind at ease more often.
Dawn’s love of the practice made her take the step to become a “Karma Yogi”-which meant she could take classes for free as long as she cleaned the bathrooms and the studio after each class. A regular to the studio at this time, she realized that the community of yogis was what she needed. Above all else, she felt safe and loved. Every day she practiced she found that she was challenged and grew.
With the council, support, and guidance of many, Dawn followed in the footsteps of this journey and made her way to becoming a yoga teacher. Although…it did not happen quickly. It came at the expense of toxic relationships, growing in confidence, and envisioning herself teaching yoga-even when it was hard to do.
During her 200-hour teacher training, trainees were asked to write down the goals they wanted to achieve in 5 years. Intrinsically, Dawn knew she wanted to create a brand around the name and symbolism of “Daybreak.” She wanted her participants to have a true yoga “experience”. One that incorporated her spiritual walk as a Christian, and also made practicing yoga whimsical and fun to help sheepish yogis (like herself at the beginning of her journey) feel comfortable. Not thinking twice about it, Dawn wrote down that she wanted to open her own yoga studio in 5 years. As time passed, she forgot about the note and focused on teaching yoga at her local YMCA.
In 2013, she completed her 200-hour yoga teacher certification at Cleveland Yoga on a May Sunday morning along with 30 other trainees. They cried, laughed, sang, and danced for joy after receiving their certificates. This journey changed Dawn’s life and added another path leading to her dharma. She had trained in the style of Baron Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga and later pursued a 300-hour training with Faith Hunter at Embrace Yoga DC as well as Yoga Nidra training with Tracee Stanley in Atlanta. A dream come true, she completed both of these accomplishments in the Fall of 2019.
As a full-time school librarian by day, she taught yoga around the city, at schools, to high school sports teams, groups, families, and at larger events in the afternoons and evenings. Following down this path, these connections lead her to rent a room in the back of a martial arts studio-a compromise of which lasted almost two years. In a way, this was her way of testing the waters to see if she had what it took to open up her own studio. She put her Bachelor’s degree in English and her Master’s of Library and Information Sciences degrees to work and research and prepared for her next steps in founding her own yoga studio.
In August 2018, Dawn signed a lease for Daybreak Yoga studio in Bedford, Ohio. Remembering her note, she couldn’t believe that this happened exactly five years after she wrote her goal to open her own yoga studio! In October 2018, her studio hosted its first classes, as well as a sold-out special event. A true blessing, ever since the day she first opened her doors, the Daybreak community has supported her dreams. Today-through the studio-Dawn offers yoga teacher training, mindfulness and yoga workshops, collaborative projects, and even her own mentorship program as a way to give back to individuals who were once in her shoes.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Before I opened my yoga studio, my mom and I were walking around Downtown Bedford when I started to notice “for lease” signs in windows. I got the idea to open a yoga studio here. As we were walking, we stopped in a spiritual gift store. We started talking to the owner when I shared some of the struggles as a business owner. I kept saying how hard it was to be an entrepreneur and she stopped me saying, “It’s not hard. It’s a challenge.”
Let me just tell you how hot I got. How dare this woman tell me that my journey wasn’t hard!
I thought about this for weeks. And finally realized she was right. I had learned the power of words and how they affect our mindset as well as the outcome of our path. That’s when I began to say, “It’s not hard. It’s new.”
Right before the pandemic, I resigned from my 20-year career as a school librarian to take on the challenge of being a full-time entrepreneur. I was nervous and excited. When things were confusing, I reached out to my mentors and colleagues in the yoga world for advice. Then Ohio shut down in March 202 and I was terrified! How would I pay the bills or my team? How would I continue my first yoga teacher training program? I would have to take the sessions online. Everything was new. I was running right into the fire. I felt like I was being burned by all the new challenges. I cried a lot. But the fire was refining me.
I took courses, attended workshops, read tons of books, got coaching, and created mastermind partnerships with other like-minded Black women entrepreneurs. From there the road became a bit smoother. The road still has curves and hills to navigate, but now I can sit back and enjoy the ride.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Y.O.G.A. Your Own Growing Awareness ™ This simple statement guides and separates us from our competition, especially the gym down the street. Or the yoga studio where all the flexible people go.
“Awareness” is a word packed full of meaning. Your awareness is your perception. And your perception shapes your reality – how you see, interpret, and interact with both your inner and outer worlds. When your awareness is growing, you’re learning. Consistent learning, in turn, leads to knowledge. And knowledge is the only thing that can ultimately remove ignorance – that darkness covering the light within each of our hearts. When we nurture a growing awareness in our students, we change their lives from the inside out. We are literally helping them to shine.
At Daybreak Yoga, we practice Y.O.G.A. in a safe, challenging, and loving way. We welcome and accept every BODY no matter who they are or what they’re facing in life. Ours is a nurturing sanctuary where meaningful, lasting inner healing and growth can take place. We may be next door to a gym or other yoga studio. But we’re miles away when it comes to our true mission. We’re not here to just help sculpt your abs. We’re here to help sculpt every aspect of your life.
We do this through specially cultivated experiences in our classes, workshops, events, trainings, and retreats. As a way to keep connected, we offer livestream classes, events, and community forums.
In 2022, all are welcome to attend our Daybreak Yoga Retreats: Surrender and Recieve, May 13-15 at Bellwether Farm, Wakeman, Ohio, and Awakening the Light Within, June 9-13 at Casa Alternavida, Puerto Rico.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
The town of Bedford, Ohio was originally part of Bedford Township in the Western Reserve. This was land surveyed in 1797 for the Connecticut Land Company. Early settlers were attracted by the large waterfall for mill sites and the abundance of natural resources. As trade and commerce developed, Bedford became an important stop for travelers between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Bedford is at the heart of the prosperous tri-county area, with easy accessibility to nearby Interstate freeways. It is a short distance from popular tourist attractions in the region. Just down the road is the Cuyahoga Valley, National Park. One-fifth of Bedford’s land is part of the Bedford Reservation of the Cleveland Metro Parks.
Much of Bedford Downtown is the Bedford Historic District and is home to several listings on the National Register of Historic Place. Daybreak Yoga studio is located just up the road from the historic district. Bedford Downtown hosts several community-wide events throughout the year, celebrating holidays, seasons, and local culture and businesses. We have participated in several events.
We are about 25 minutes southeast of Downtown Cleveland.
Pricing:
- Drop in classes $18
- New Yogi: 30 days of unlimited yoga for new students – $58
- Silver Yogi: 30 day subscription – $88 every 30 days
- 10 Class Pack – $140, expires in 12 months
- Platinum Yogi: unlimited yoga, discounts, VIP access, group coaching – $108 every 30 days
Contact Info:
- Email: info@daybreakyogallc.com
- Website: https://daybreak.yoga
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daybreak.yoga/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaybreakYogaLLC/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaybreakYogaLLC
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7eY6TanbEmpPOZS09ytjKQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/daybreak-yoga-bedford
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/daybreakyoga
- Other: https://www.dawnmrivers.com
Image Credits
Nick Brilla
