Following years of travel and living in various cities, Twin Cities native, Tanya Boigenzahn returned to Minneapolis and opened Devanadi School of Yoga and Wellness. She also owns Thai Yoga Body Work and The Clear Vision Retreat. I chatted with Tanya about yoga, wellness, and creating a diverse school.
Tell us about your background in yoga and wellness.
I got into yoga kind of by accident when I was in college in the early nineties. I experienced some mystery health issues that Western medicine wasn’t resolving and a friend suggested yoga, and it just felt right. I just knew. A lot of the things in my life like what I now do for a living, my vocation, and my passion started from this knowledge. I bought a book on yoga, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga, and I read it cover to cover. I felt like coming home.
How did you start teaching yoga?
In 1996, I was doing a gig for a health club in Wyoming. The owner saw me doing yoga all the time and asked if I would teach some classes. I wasn’t a trained yoga teacher and didn’t feel I had the authority to teach. I journaled a lot about it. Then, a creative writer – who turned out to be a Tai Chi master – asked what I was so passionately writing about. As I told him, he stopped me and touched my arm and said, “Stop, you already know you’re going to be teaching yoga the rest of your life!” Then suddenly, I saw it, and everything in my life led up to this moment.
How did the studio come to be?
In 2010, Devanadi was another one of those “knowing’s.” I was at the Himalayan Institute and got a spontaneous download. I connected to these great rivers of wisdom from this Himalayan tradition with Ayurveda, yoga therapy, and tantric hatha yoga, and thought, “It’s time to create this space for these teachings in the Twin Cities.”
Tell us about the mission of the studio?
Since 2016, Devanadi has been primarily a school supporting the yoga community. Many other great studios teach classes; We are not in competition with them, and it allows for really nice, collaborative relationships with local studios. We can bring in a lot of the best teachers, including guests who are more specialized for certain things. It’s a different business model. We have satellite programs in Hudson, WI and Fargo, ND. Devanadi offers a wide variety of trainings, workshops, and retreats with renowned guests and faculty teachers, including 235/340 hour Yoga Teacher Trainings and Intensives, Thai Yoga Bodywork, Reiki, Ayurveda, and much more.
What do you want all students to experience at your school?
We meet the needs of the student with the therapeutic model versus a script. We teach people the “how and why.” We try to help them reach their highest potential. Our goal is really to connect people with this everlasting wisdom and adapt these teachings to our modern times.
What does Devanadi mean?
Deva is often translated as “divinity” or “sacred,” but it is also understood as free and shining being – as well as a being in whose presence you become shining and free. Nadi means “river,” “channel,” “nerves,” or “pathways.” I see Devanadi as these sacred rivers of teachings and like-minded beings coming together to share and shine. Also, these rich teachings flow to the same ocean, so to speak.
What would you say to someone who is hesitant to try yoga and the other modalities you offer?
Stay curious! Find out what your resistance is and whether you are willing to look at it from a place of curiosity. Learn more about yourself. Be willing to be uncomfortable for a little bit knowing you might feel a little bit worse for a while, but then it actually might be the thing that helps you reduce pain or suffering.
How does Devanadi help everyone feel welcome?
Devanadi and our faculty teachers commit to ethical and sustainable teaching and business practices. We aim to empower people with authentic and time-tested tools and teachings. All are welcome! Just be cool with yourself and each other.
What was your biggest surprise in owning Devanadi studio?
I delight every day in seeing people grow. As a yoga teacher, that’s inherent no matter what. But to see people really go for it and use the tools, experience their benefits, make positive changes, free up energy, open up to joy and healing… that, my friends, is beautiful and amazing.
Nicole Warner, C-IAYT, E-RYT, YACEP, is a certified Somayoga therapist currently teaching in Alexandria, MN. A dancer and choreographer, she has taught yoga for 20+ years. She is a proponent of plant-based cooking and is a certified “Forks Over Knives” cook. She recently created BranchWellbeing.com as a landing space for healthy living.
