Meet Alexis Comardo of Wild Hearts Yoga in Westminster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Comardo.

Alexis, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Since I was a little girl, I’ve been fascinated with environmental science. According to my mom, we took a trip to Disney World when I was a toddler and I was more enthralled with the ant population and observing their behaviors than I was in the rides and characters. When I was in 3rd grade, I had to complete an interview to remain at my K-8 magnet school and qualify for the GT program. When the interviewers asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I shared that I wanted to be an ichthyologist to discover fish in the midnight zone of the ocean.

There was a distinct moment, however, that solidified my passion for environmental conservation. I was in 5th grade sitting in my Environmental Science specials class at said magnet school, intently listening to my teacher Mr. Tokar explain global warming and carbon emissions. The lesson was to contextualize a yearly tradition all students participated in at the school, one that was especially important for 5th graders. On Earth Day, each student, even the kindergarteners, donned gloves and a trash bag and picked up trash (mainly cigarette butts) in the neighborhood that surrounded the school. After the trash was collected and disposed of, the 5th-grade class each year got to plant a tree in a local park. That year, we were getting to plant a tree and I was over the moon. However, during this lesson, Mr. Tokar was urgent. Serious. He didn’t just share about the decline of arctic species and the slow melting of glacial ice (this was the 90s by the way!!); he also encouraged us to change our behaviors to conserve our natural resources. He didn’t want us just to know- he wanted us to act. That day, I went home and became an advocate in my family for recycling, turning off lights when not in a room, and shutting off the water when I was brushing my teeth. Baby steps, but steps none the less. A citizen scientist was born.

Fast forward a few years. My interest in conservation and sustainability took on a different lens when I had the opportunity to study abroad for a year in Austria and in Italy during my sophomore and junior year of college. Living in Europe was eye-opening because Europeans seemed extremely conscious of the impact of waste on the environment. While I was studying abroad in Austria, I student-taught at a gymnasium in Vienna and my interest in public education was piqued.

How would I get the chance to blend my passions for conservation and sustainability and public education?
This question was answered me shortly after graduating from college. I went back to Europe, this time to Germany, to teach 3rd grade at in International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme school. I had the freedom to build my own units of inquiry that centered around big themes, such as Sharing the Planet. My students researched environmental issues and wrote stories and play about them that they filmed and shared with the community. When I moved back to the US, I continued to teach at an IB school where my students studied biomimicry and invented tools to help our society based on the special characteristics of animals.

While I was doing all of this work in and out of my school community and neighborhood, I was also doing self-work. I wanted to eradicate negative behaviors and habits that were holding me back from being the best version of myself. I had practiced yoga out of college but, upon moving back to the US from Germany, I dove head-first into my yoga practice. Yoga gave me the ability to heighten my awareness of my actions and my feelings. After practicing for nearly a decade, I obtained my 200-hour certification in 2017.

Upon graduating, I revisited the familiar question- how can I blend this with awareness and action towards environmental conservation? I saw what our community needed immediately just from daily walks with my dogs- there was litter everywhere and parks and rec could only do so much. Why not couple trash pickups with yoga classes in local parks, making yoga accessible to communities while allowing citizens to give back to their own neighborhoods? Wild Hearts Yoga’s mission was born.

We strive to heighten your awareness through yoga practice and challenge you to shift your behaviors on and off the mat to sustain our planet. We want each participant to take action by participating in our service projects in addition to developing their vinyasa practice on the mat. Through external service and internal development, we aim to foster deep, genuine connections between humans and their natural environment.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t. It’s challenging to find parks that allow us to teach without paying a permit. It has also been difficult to get the word out since we are currently operating primarily in Westminster. I’d love to learn about more locations that could benefit from a class and clean up in the Denver metro area and Boulder. It’s also been difficult to get varieties of people to commit to supporting our planet. I’ve found that we’ve targeted a specific demographic and I’d like to step outside of the box of women ages 25-40 so that we can foster awareness amongst youth and action amongst older populations of our communities.

Wild Hearts Yoga – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Wild Hearts Yoga is a non-affiliated mobile yoga studio based in Westminster, CO that blends the power of yoga with mindful action to protect and conserve our environment. Wild Hearts Yoga experiences feature outdoor vinyasa yoga classes, meditative opportunities to connect with the natural space and environmental action projects that enable you to give back to our planet. Class themes and action projects are unique to the outdoor space so that you can contribute your energy in the most impactful and meaningful way.

You will walk away from each Wild Hearts Yoga experience with a continued commitment to conservation and knowing you’ve made a difference. We are most known for our classes and cleanups in the Westminster area at this point, although I’d like to expand to partner with other organizations and include citizen science projects with classes in the near future. I’m most proud of the amount of trash we’ve picked up to keep Westminster neighborhoods trash free. Wild Hearts Yoga takes awareness of building off the mat and into the community. Wild Hearts yogis thrive in being contributors, rather than just consumers, of the natural spaces that make up our beautiful state.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career so far was our August class and clean up, our biggest one yet. We had six women dedicated to protecting the wildlife in their communities, cleaning up and practicing yoga full out with their wild hearts. These women were not only dedicated to connecting with nature but also to build stronger relationships with one another. I love that we get to do this each month and can’t wait to see what happens next!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.WildHearts.yoga
• Phone: 2817309403
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @wildheartsyogaco
• Facebook: @wildheartsyoga

Image Credit:
M Markle Photography, Jes Kimak

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