Meet Alison Rae Clark | Queer & Sober Yoga Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alison Rae Clark and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alison Rae, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
Creating an environment that makes room for yoga practioners & instructors to experience a sense of belonging is what matters most to me when it comes to running Conjure Yoga & Ritual. As a queer person, a person in recovery, and a person who is honestly, just kind of quirky, I’ve been in plenty of spaces where I felt separate from everyone else in the room. The Practice of Yoga is intended to create connection not just within us, but with what is around us. By cultivating a culture at Conjure Yoga & Ritual where our student’s choices are affirmed, where the nervous system is prioritized, where the teachers are committed to reminding everyone (including ourselves) that what matters to us in practices is important, we make more space and opportunity for everyone to orient their practice to them. We often say “It all belongs.” And it does. Our own individual realness matters and it matters that we see each other in not just our potentially shiny yoga afterglow but in our beautiful messiness.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Full disclosure, I kind of crawled into my first yoga class as a student. I’d lived with Alcohol Abuse Disorder for over a decade, then in 2006 found myself in a yoga class and every single thing about my life changed. In the most distilled down version of my story: I was unwell. I found yoga and the Practices (asana, breath work, service, meditation, devotion, self study) saved my life. I took my first 200 hr teacher training in 2008. I began teaching in 2009. I started facilitating a teacher training in 2015. Took another 200 hr training then a 300 hr training. I became a certified trauma informed teacher in 2021. I opened my own studio in 2024. None of it was easy and all of it has been worth it. Yoga doesn’t make our addictions, our pain, our trauma, our heartbreak go away. It doesn’t “cure” depression, anxiety, or unworthiness. It does, however, expand our capacity to hold the darkness and the light. The Practices give us space to be with whatever it is we are holding. It reminds us we are worthy of healing. For a long time, I wanted to divorce myself from my own body and this Path and Practice gave me the tools to become grounded in who I am. I feel very passionate about sharing that with other people. I feel very passionate about collaborating with other teachers who believe that Yoga is not just about making shapes with our bodies, but is a Portal to our REALNESS in a space that in nonhierarchical and inclusive. Speaking of portals… I blend themes of paganism, the occult, celestial events and all of that beautiful witchy stuff into my classes. Our yoga studio looks like the living room of someone who practices magick… it is a space for all of the misfits and mystics.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’d go to Dad’s Garage Theatre and eat at La Semilla… of course, we’d Practice at Conjure Yoga & Ritual but also Nectar Yoga in EAV!!! I love that studio. We’d take a road trip to Phoenix and Dragon because Witchcraft & Paganism is as important to me as Yoga and its like Diagon Alley in there! We’d lay around in Freedom Park after getting the best latte ever at Aurora and then go to every single independently owned bookstore in town.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout is to all of my students who continually show up for themselves and make choices in every class that works for them. It takes courage to do something differently than everyone else in the room. I find it so inspirational and life affirming to see 10 people in the room taking 10 different variations of Triangle Pose, or someone resting when other people are flowing, or adding a push-up because they want to release stress while other folks are in Child’s Pose. We practice making the best choices for ourselves on the mat so we can take that our into the rest of our lives. My students are absolutely my greatest Teachers. Also, my Teacher, Darren Rhodes has been an incredible mentor to me for over a decade now. He is so down to earth, wise, unrehearsed. Staying a student is the best thing a yoga teacher can do for the people who Practice with them and Darren walks that walk. I aim to do the same.

Website: https://www.conjureyoga.com

Instagram: @conjureyoga @recovering.alison.rae

Facebook: Conjure Yoga

Image Credits
Logo: Caroline Jordan
Images of Alison: Bonnie Heath