AUSTIN, Texas — Practice Yoga will begin holding classes accessible to the deaf community after hiring its first ASL yoga instructor.

Lilli Erin Beese moved to Austin two years ago from England. She studied for years to become a clinical psychologist. She and her husband, Nick Beese, wanted to live in a more deaf accessible city to raise their 10-year-old daughter, Ava Mae.

“Moving to Austin has been completely life-changing,” Nick Beese said. “The access here is way different than what we were used to.”

Moving to Austin meant more access, but it also meant having to take more classes to become a clinical psychologist. Lilli Erin Beese decided to pursue a different career, one where she could use her talent to fill a role missing from a city that already had so much for her community.

“We have a deaf restaurant, deaf dog groomer, deaf mechanic, but no deaf yoga teacher,” Lilli Erin Beese said. “So I decided that I wanted to become a yoga teacher so that the ASL community could access the magic of yoga.”

Despite training providers turning her down for being deaf, Lilli Erin Beese found a home at Practice Yoga. After allowing her to lead a four week ASL Yoga series, the company gave Lilli her own time slot for regular ASL Yoga classes.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years,” Lilli Erin Beese said. “But I’ve never felt like I was a part of a yoga community, until now.”

Austin Spectrum News | Nov 14th 2019 BY JORDAN HICKS
PUBLISHED 3:32 PM CT NOV. 14, 2019