Clara Huskin

I began practicing yoga my senior year of high school in 2018. Growing up as an athlete and a competitive swimmer, I reluctantly joined my Mom at my first hot yoga class after a difficult 2-hour swim practice. I remember leaving that yoga class feeling more calm, centered, and a sense of relief from anxiety and daily stressors. Yoga challenged my mind and body in ways that swimming and other athletic sports did not.

There was something about yoga in particular that always made me want to keep coming back. I enjoyed the class so much that I continued to practice at the studio with my Mom multiple times a week. I became a consistent yogi at that studio where I was able to chat and get to know an instructor of mine, Keeley. Keeley became like a yoga-mentor to me and she encouraged me to continue practicing yoga in college. Keeley must've seen something in me, or perhaps she enjoyed that I enjoyed doing some funky arm-balances, but she gifted me my first ever yoga mat — I took that mat with me to college, UW-Madison, and continued my yoga journey.

I owe the start of my yoga journey to my Mom and Keeley. To this day I still have that same purple Jade Yoga mat that Keeley gifted me. Throughout college I used this mat at various studios around the UW-Madison campus. The first studio I ever attended in Madison was Inner Fire Yoga. I used to go to the studio on East Campus Mall — it was the perfect location for me to fit yoga into my busy college lifestyle, and I used ClassPass and the student discount very religiously to make yoga fit into my college-friendly budget. Today, I often frequent the West Side studio for my practice.

"Inner Fire Yoga was the first studio in Madison that kept yoga active in my life and it brought me a genuine community that I'm grateful for."

I've been practicing yoga for about 8 years now and throughout the highs and lows of my life, I can say with full honesty that yoga is the thing that keeps me balanced. I've struggled with anxiety and depression since my late teen-years, and yoga has always been the "thing" that has brought me back to remembering myself. I had a dear family friend pass away from suicide in 2019 and one of my best friends from college passed away due to suicide and domestic violence in 2025. I've found that when I am at my lowest points in life, it's been yoga and the Inner Fire Yoga community that has kept me shining.

My own personal journey with anxiety and depression, in addition to the losses I've experienced, encouraged me to become a yoga instructor. I completed my 200-hour yoga teaching certificate at Inner Fire Yoga this year (2025–2026).

To me, being a yogi and yoga instructor is about creating a safe space for people to come back to their true selves. It's about creating a space for people to connect to their breath, their body, and their community. It's about bringing your authentic self, with all of our own messy and complicated parts, and experiencing our own strength.

It brings me immense joy to welcome people to the Inner Fire Yoga studios as a Receptionist. Every person — despite not knowing them very well — deserves kindness, to know that they belong, and to come to a space where they feel included.

Yoga to me is the perfect balance of challenge and ease, and I'm grateful to be part of this studio. Inner Fire Yoga is my second home and I'm so grateful for all the people and instructors I've met and the growth I've experienced in my yoga journey. Yoga reminds me that even when life gets difficult, when there doesn't seem to be anywhere to turn, you are the person that knows yourself best. When in doubt, grab your yoga mat!