A student of many different cities and styles, Jeremiah Davidson holds a unique perspective of yoga and our community. He was born and raised in Colorado, but didn’t begin practicing yoga until he moved to Santa Monica, California at age 20. He then moved to New York for grad school, where his practiced deepened into a daily ritual, before coming back to Colorado in 2016.

“I have a wealth of loose focus yoga, because I’ve touched my toes everywhere,” Davidson explains.

Today, you can find him across Denver at Black Swan Yoga and TruFusion. Growing up in this area during his teenage and new adult life, Davidson was able to witness the growth of his local community.

“I like that Denver has become a melting pot,” he says. “I’ve found that yoga is regionally specific — different verbiage, styles and flow. I believe that the Denver culture and community are represented in the yoga room.”

For him, it’s fun and exciting to witness this ever-changing yoga community. Davidson endeavors to support his community through his teaching. At Black Swan, classes are donation-based, allowing him to “help anyone who wants to step forward onto the mat,” as he puts it. Black Swan has two locations — one in the Capitol Hill area and one on South Broadway.

He describes TruFusion as health and spiritually focused, a place where he can work on alignment and meet all different types of yogis. TruFusion is located just off of Colorado Boulevard.

All are welcome in his classes, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, some may expect Davidson to place special emphasis on holding classes for queer people. However, he views it differently.

“We’re all just here to learn, love and grow,” he believes. “Being gay is a fundamental part of my identity, not a separate identity. My internal spiritual side isn’t labelled. Rather than queering my space, I normalize diversity in the room.”

All are welcome in his classes. There is no need to define yourself by a certain label, just show up as you are and experience the journey.

Davidson employs a combination of focused and spiritual yoga: focus on the practice and connection with your spiritual side. He guides his classes with the belief that through commitment and discipline to the practice, participants can achieve freedom on the mat. His favorite style is power vinyasa. Under Davidson’s guidance, students can expect a physically and spiritually rewarding experience that’s in alignment with one’s healing and growth.

He is also a proponent as yoga as a healing methodology. After breaking his ankle and undergoing five different surgeries, Davidson realized that his physical therapist was utilizing a lot of the stretches and techniques he already knew from his yoga practice.

“Heated yoga, specifically vinyasa and bikram, changed my ability to move and was really helpful to the healing process,” he recalls. “Although injuries are isolated, it affects us everywhere, so I took a holistic full-body approach to it.”

This view of injury is similar to Davidson’s perspective on renewal.

“What I first think about renewal is reassuming,” he says. “It isn’t a start over, but rather a continuation in a new and different way. Coming out of the pandemic, we don’t return. We move forward. Forward is the only way to go.”

He likens this concept to supported fetal position — a position of rebirth — where one can feel safe and supported in their yogic journey. It is often a position we return to when we need a break, breather or time to rest, but you can always begin again from there more empowered than before.

Photos by Brooke Austin.

Originally published in Summer + Fall 2022 Issue.