About Us

Our Story

Kula was born in Albuquerque in 2023, co-founded by Alejandra Primavera (she/her) and Fiore Xóchitl (she/her). We had long and deep conversations on how to make yoga and dharma accessible to the Spanish-speaking immigrant and refugee community, and to other non-English speaking newcomers, especially those who have been historically excluded from yoga and other types of body movement healing practices in the West. We wanted to share yoga with others like us because we deeply believe that yoga can facilitate physical, mental, and spiritual healing and help us rest our exhausted bodies. We also believe that when we heal and rest, we can also contribute to heal and restore our world.

Based on our dialogues, and in conversation with community members, we started facilitating classes in March 2023. Our first community partners, Los Cafecitos, a collective of immigrant Mexican families, asked us to facilitate monthly classes for their members. Soon, these gatherings became weekly sessions open to the public, thanks to the generous support of local organizations and the immigrant families that kept coming back for more.

Currently, we offer a variety of yoga offerings in weekly, bilingual, donation-based classes. Our classes include the practice of asana (physical postures), pranayama (breathing practices), and dhyana (meditation) in community; focused on the values of yoga, and in creating spaces for the diverse experiences of people of color (BIPOC), immigrants and refugees. We seek to be a decolonial, anti-racist, and social justice space, and we believe that yoga can be an important tool to achieve our vision of an immigrant and refugee community that enjoys health, equity, justice, and rest.

In 2023 and 2024, we have had the opportunity to reach more than 150 people in Albuquerque and the USA with our in-person and online classes. We have also been able to collaborate with local and national partners to provide multiple free and donation-based classes. To learn more about our current collaborations, partnerships, and offers, visit Offerings.

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Our Team

Photo Alejandra holding a bouquet of medicinal herbs while sitting on a rock, there is a blue skyline a hill in the background.

Alejandra Cruz Blanco, RYT (she/ella)

Co-founder & Yoga Facilitator

Alejandra is a Mexican community organizer and advocate. She is a Certified Yoga and meditation teacher interested in the philosophy and effects of yoga to reconnect with the body and spirit. Alejandra specializes in facilitating gentle flow and Hatha yoga for people who feel excluded from mainstream yoga culture in the USA.

Alejandra has a BA in Women & Gender Studies. She has worked with immigrant and workers' rights groups in Minnesota and New Mexico. Alejandra loves outdoor activities and being around nature and is a proud dog mama.

Certifications:

Breath for Change Social Emotional Learning 200YTT
Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute 300 hrs YTT

Fiore Bran-Aragón, MA, RYT (she/ella/ki)

Co-founder & Yoga Facilitator

Fiore is a Nicaraguan educator, community advocate, and Certified Yoga teacher trained in trauma-informed and accessible yoga. She specializes in facilitating vinyasa flow, chair, and restorative yoga, and is interested in the effects of yoga and meditation on survivors of complex trauma and forcibly displaced people.

Fiore has an MA in Latin American Studies, and a BA in Philosophy and Communications. She has worked on immigrant and worker rights, and international education in Central America, Mexico, and New Mexico. She is an amateur birder, textile arts enthusiast, and loves her cats.

Certifications:

Rishikesh Vinyasa Yoga School & Online Yoga School, 200 YTT
Accessible Adaptive Yoga School, 40 hrs

Celeste Rudolfo, RYT (she/ella)

Yoga Facilitator

Celeste is a Mexican- American farmer, artist, and certified yoga instructor dedicated to the intersections of community, healing, and land stewardship. Their work is rooted in sustainability, regenerative agriculture, and collective care, seeing yoga as an extension of this— offering people a way to reconnect with themselves, each other, and the environments they inhabit.

Celeste has a BA in Art Studio, minor in Sustainability Studies and a Certification in Race and Social Justice from the University of New Mexico. She enjoys spending time in the garden with her family, friends and animals.

Certifications:

Hatha & Vinyasa Yoga, 200 YTT

Mónica Delgado, PhD, EFT

EFT Tapping Facilitator

Mónica is a Chilean Biochemist with a PhD in Biological Sciences, an educator, and a certified Level 2 EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)/Tapping practitioner.

She loves helping people release emotions, and feel relaxed, grounded, and connected with their inner power through tapping.

She is also a yoga practitioner.

You can find more about her EFT practice and offerings through her website: Tapping is good.

Certifications:

Certified EFT/TFT Tapping Practitioner

Community members

With gratitude, we acknowledge our students and teachers who co-create Kula with us every time we practice together! Thank you for having the courage to show up and reclaim your right to move mindfully and rest. Our community comes from:

Afghanistan
Bolivia
Cameroon
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica

DR Congo
Ecuador
Guatemala
Haiti
Mexico
Nicaragua

Pakistan
Peru
South Sudan
Uganda
USA
Venezuela

Our participants say

Marian, client- Casa Fortaleza, Yoga for Community Advocates

"Kula teachers have been instrumental in our La Cultura Cura program, where their expertise in community leadership and culturally rich programming has enriched our spaces. They have created healing spaces through yoga that have been invaluable to facilitate rest and restoration for our community advocates. We are glad to work with them". ≃

Gloria- Participant in Clases Comunitarias en Español

"After many years of not exercising, I started practicing yoga in march 2023, together with my friends from Los Cafecitos collective. I used to have mobility issues, and could not sit straight, my hamstrings were too tight. Now, with consistent practice, I can finally sit down comfortably, without feeling like it hurts to sit straight. My hips are stronger and flexible, I can stretch my hamstrings comfortably. I also have learnt to be aware of my breathing for the first time in my life! Thank you". ≃

Luis- Participant in Liberation Yoga

"Practicing yoga is a new thing for me. At first, I was a bit skeptical. But I've learned that moving my body and stretching with the other inmates feels like a relief, it makes us share something good, it brings me back to the present and makes me reduce the rapid pace of my thoughts at least for a moment. Thank you". ≃

Becca, client- Yoga for Refugees in the Outdoors

"Fiore and Ale have been our partners in co-creating the yoga in the farm program. They are caring, and compassionate, and work together with the needs of our clients to adapt the practice and make yoga accessible to them. Even if our clients speak languages other than English and Spanish, the teachers always find a way to engage with them and include them in every practice. Those classes are like a sacred space of rest for our clients". ≃