James Lesly didn't find yoga in a studio. He found it stretching on a cell floor, copying poses out of library books before he knew what they were called.

Four years inside, 46 days in solitary, and a body that never got the memo when the danger was over. When he got out, he put a 200-hour yoga teacher training on an old credit card. Then came a 200-hour trauma-informed training through the Prison Yoga Project, where he's now an Ambassador.

Since then he's taught corporate teams (Innergy Corporate Yoga), YMCA Montreal members, Club Med guests, older adults with Parkinson's and post-stroke clients, and yoga teachers in Bella Prāna Collective's 300-hour Advanced Studies training.

He founded Not Your Average Yogi, a Black-led Montreal nonprofit bringing trauma-informed yoga and breathwork to Black men, men coming home from prison and at-risk youth, and built Black Man. Breathe., a 10-week peer-led breathwork program. His memoir, Not Your Average Yogi: From Violence to Service, came out in 2026.

Every session is part story, part live practice. People leave with breathing tools they can use in their next meeting, shift or hard conversation.

In person across Canada (based in Montreal) · Virtual worldwide.