Om Girl! Youngest hot yoga teacher blazes her own trail

Courtesy Skyler Dearen

Skylar Dearen can take the heat.

At just 15-years old, our nation’s youngest Yoga Alliance-registered hot yoga instructor treks a bold, heart-guided life path.

A yogi since age 7, Dearen’s passion for the fiery practice was inspired by her single mother, a yoga teacher-turned studio owner in Newport Beach, California.

“Yoga totally changed our lives. We’ve had hard times. Hot yoga offers...
an amazing emotional release. You get in to that hot room, sweat it out and let it go,” says Dearen, who completed a teacher training in 2013 at her mom’s Radiant Yoga studio here.

Courtesy Skyler Dearen

“We trained in 105 degree temperature for weekends on end. I didn’t think I could physically and mentally do it, but jumped in,” says the ninth-grader.

Though nervous her first time teaching a group of forty, “I walked in there and gave it all I had. You have to go for it and stay fearless to be that vessel for your students,” says Dearen.

Over time, Dearen’s combined style of Vinyasa flow, Ashtanga and Bikram classes took shape. She currently teaches six to eight weekly classes, a feat made possible by another gutsy life choice.

After a family exploration trip to Thailand last year, “I decided I wanted to be homeschooled so I could do more yoga,” says Dearen, whose mom supported the switch.

Courtesy Skyler Dearen

Dearen now virtually attends an online, self-study program through Brigham Young University. She says she’s able to pull in A’s and B’s, while taking or teaching yoga twice daily and has transitioned easily to her new routine.

“All of my school friends come to my classes and we still hang out. I’m very close with everyone at my studio. We’re a huge family,” she says.

Dearen chronicles her love of nature and sense of adventure on Instagram, posting, “When I find a beautiful place and want to stop and take a cool yoga picture,” she says. Her online following has grown to 2000.

Up the road, Dearen dreams of opening up her own Radiant Yoga studio and hosting yoga retreats worldwide.

She plans to inspire more teens to try yoga, too.
“It’s such an amazing gift,” she says.