Active Coffee Shop team: Earlier this year, Olga and her husband, Danilo Quinones teamed up with their friend Christian Reyes to open Active Coffee Shop in Katy. From left are Danilo Quinones, Olga Prieto and Christian Reyes. / Juhi Varma

Among the 30 International Day of Yoga events held across Houston this year, one stood out for its unique focus: a Spanish-language gathering at Active Coffee Shop in Katy, where Colombian yoga teacher Olga Prieto led 125 participants through an inclusive community practice.

“My English is fine for conversation,” she says, “but to teach yoga, I feel I can explain better in Spanish.”

Olga earned her teaching certification from SVYASA in 2022.

This wasn’t the first time yoga has been taught in Spanish—many instructors already offer classes in the language. But the event stood out for its scale, underscoring yoga’s growing popularity among Houston’s Hispanic community.

Olga, who balances careers as a petroleum engineer and yoga teacher, traces her love for yoga back more than 40 years, to a national park in Bogotá, Colombia. As a small child, she joined her parents for a weekly event known as “yoga at the park,” led by an India-trained yogi named Dario and a retired actress, Alicia de Rojas.

“She had a shock of thick white hair,” Olga remembers of de Rojas, a respected and well-known Colombian actress. “She was very expressive and enthusiastic, and said yoga was the secret to her long life and good health.” The free sessions were a popular gathering, but it wasn’t just the celebrity that drew people in—it was the community spirit and the healing power of yoga.

Olga continued practicing yoga throughout her life—even as she built a demanding career at Baker Hughes, moving to Texas 18 years ago. Initially, she turned to Bikram yoga to maintain her practice. But she dreamed of returning to more traditional forms.

Though her SVYASA training was in English, Olga always knew she wanted to teach in Spanish.

“Spanish comes more natural for me,” she said. “And so many people here want to do yoga, specially senior ladies, but struggle to follow instructions in English.”

 

Dr Hina Azam (president IMAGH) and Yasmin Udawala (secretary IMAGH) celebrating International Yoga Day on June 21 and Colombian yoga teacher Olga Prieto led 125 participants through an inclusive community practice at Active Coffee Shop. / Juhi Varma

What is SVYASA?

Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA), a registered nonprofit which promotes education and community service through yoga. 

“(Olga’s) was one of the best events I’ve been to,” said Vishwarup N., of SVYASA Houston. “It was the first time we heard of yoga happening in Spanish on IDY with so many people. I think we were the only few Indians there.”

SVYASA’s Houston chapter is under the leadership of husband-and-wife team Vishwarup N. and Smitha Mallaiah. 

“The beauty of it was the integration,” said Smitha about the session. “The starting and ending prayers and names of all the asanas were in Sanskrit. We sometimes see a whitewash of yoga, it is always being translated. So it was nice to really see that it's retained its personality, and it reached the people. The way Olga led the session was very beautiful and respectful.”

For the past five years, Hindus of Greater Houston have sponsored members of the African American and Hispanic communities to train as yoga teachers.

In Houston, SVYASA collaborates with the Hindu Temple of The Woodlands, among other organizations, to offer yoga classes. Olga, who lives in The Woodlands, completed her yoga instructor training at the temple.

There are multiple training programs and offered a variety of yoga classes led by certified instructors, said Smitha. There are also several yoga therapists based in The Woodlands.

“Olga ji began attending these sessions and was especially drawn to the way traditional yoga practices were combined with scientific knowledge,” she said.

Over the past 15 years, since they became directors, nearly 300 yoga teachers have been certified, Smitha said.

Among these certified instructors is Yasmin Udawala, who was one of their first students in 2016. Now a yoga teacher herself, Yasmin recalls the early days with SVYASA, when classes didn’t have a permanent location and were held at Keshav Smriti, the community center of Star Pipe Products.

Based in Clear Lake, Yasmin works with children through a summer camp program and offers private instruction, while also serving as secretary of the Indian Muslima Association of Greater Houston.

“Not everyone needs to be able to do every asana,” she said. “When you figure out what each person needs, it’s more healing.”

If you are interested in becoming yoga teacher with SVYASA, click here.

Active Coffee Shop

Earlier this year, Olga and her husband, Danilo Quinones teamed up with their friend Christian Reyes to open Active Coffee Shop in Katy. What began as a neighborhood café soon became a gathering place for wellness: Olga started offering free Saturday morning yoga classes in Spanish. 

By the time International Day of Yoga arrived on June 21, more than 125 members of the Hispanic community unrolled their mats at Active Coffee Shop, eager to participate. For many, it was their first time attending a yoga class.

For Olga, the experience was affirming. 

“The response has been very positive,” she said. “The community is very interested, but they just needed someone to teach them in Spanish.”

Each Saturday morning at 9 a.m., Olga makes the long drive from The Woodlands to Katy to lead class. Her husband helps her rehearse, gives feedback, and even joins in. “He’s my biggest supporter,” she says.

“I like to ride bicycles, run, swim, and I don't feel any pain,” said Danilo. “But when I do yoga, I felt pain in muscles that I never knew I had before.”

Olga said her father continued practicing daily well into old age, crediting yoga with easing his illness and keeping his mind clear. That memory fuels her mission to make yoga accessible—free of charge—to anyone who wants it.

Today, her classes regularly draw 20 to 30 people, and she continues to study Hinduism and yoga philosophy to deepen her understanding of the tradition she loves.

For Houston’s Hispanic community, Prieto’s classes are more than exercise. They are an invitation—to feel welcome, to find balance, and to connect with something larger.

“I learned from classes that I took in the park in Columbia, and also the classes at SYVASA, that one of the principles is that you have to give back to your community,” she said. “And that's what we wanted to do with these free yoga classes.”