Dawn Michelle Rivers

My yoga journey first began in 1999 when I bought a Rodney Yee VHS yoga videotape. I made a habit of practicing yoga every day to bring fitness and stress relief to the ups and downs of daily life. I first began practicing in 2009. Hot Power Vinyasa Yoga quickly emerged as a popular style in the yoga community. This was my practice of choice for close to a decade. In 2013, I decided to become a yoga teacher.

During my 200-hour teacher training, trainees were asked to write down the goals we wanted to achieve in 5 years. Intrinsically, I knew I wanted to create a brand around the name and symbolism of “Daybreak.” I wanted my participants to have a true yoga “experience.” Not thinking twice about it, I wrote down that I wanted to open my own yoga studio in 5 years. As time passed, I forgot about the note and focused on teaching yoga at the local YMCA.

As a full-time school librarian by day, I taught yoga around the city, at schools, to high school sports teams, groups, families, and at larger events in the afternoons and evenings. Following down this path, these connections lead me to rent a room in the back of a martial arts studio-a compromise which lasted almost two years. In a way, this was my way of testing the waters to see if I had what it took to open up my own studio. I put my Bachelor’s degree in English and my Master's in Library and Information Sciences degrees to work, researched, and prepared for my next steps in founding my own yoga studio.

In August 2018, I signed a lease for Daybreak Yoga Studio in Bedford, Ohio. Remembering my note, I couldn’t believe that this happened exactly five years after I wrote my goal to open my own yoga studio! In October 2018, my studio hosted its first classes, as well as a sold-out special event. A true blessing, ever since the day I first opened my doors, the Daybreak community supported my dreams. As of 2023, I have decided to close the studio to focus on being a special guest teacher and a mindset and business coach.

I have taught more than 5,000 people yoga, breathing techniques, and mindfulness practices. Twenty-four people were trained as certified yoga teachers in the Dawn M. Rivers School of Yoga. Hundreds have been exposed to my framework at workshops, special events, and retreats. During the four years of owning a yoga studio, I led a team of 10 yoga teachers, a studio manager, personal assistants, karma yogis, and 2 social media managers.

I help Black Women build a clear wellness plan that contains movement, mindset, mindfulness, and meditation, develop a routine that includes rest, restoration, and rediscovering their dreams, and cultivate connections with like-minded women to keep them accountable with their goals. The work is grounded in the wisdom of yoga, which is done through mindset and business coaching. My passion is to help women launch profitable businesses by creating frameworks for their services.