Treehouse Bermuda adds male yoga teachers to broaden diversity

Treehouse Bermuda has added three Black male yoga teachers to its roster, a move meant to make the Hamilton studio feel broader, more familiar, and less tied to the familiar image of yoga as a women-led space. The addition puts representation at the center of the room, not as a side note, and it asks a practical question for Bermuda’s wellness scene: who walks in, who stays, and who feels the practice belongs to them.

Mike Simmons is one of the new instructors, and his path says a lot about why the change matters. Simmons said he resisted yoga for a full year after a friend first suggested it, because he did not see himself reflected in the practice. He eventually changed his mind and came to see yoga as something that fit his life, a shift that now places his experience inside a larger conversation about access and belonging on the mat.

Treehouse is using that conversation to shape its identity. The studio, located at 12 Trott Road in Hamilton, opened in October 2024 after founders Tiffany Paynter and Caitlin Conyers launched it as a yoga and wellness hub. Its ribbon cutting drew Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling and town crier Ed Christopher, a sign that the business was introduced as part of the local community, not as a niche import. Treehouse describes itself as a mission-driven social enterprise focused on health disparities in Black and BIPOC communities, and it says its goal is to make class rosters reflect the wider community.

That mission lands at a moment when the numbers show how gendered yoga still is. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data for 2022 found that 16.9% of U.S. adults practiced yoga, with women at 23.3% and men at 10.3%. Yoga Alliance materials put the split at 72% women and 28% men, while also showing the market has expanded to 36.7 million practitioners from 20.4 million in 2012. For studios trying to grow, the lesson is straightforward: the front of the room can shape who feels invited into it.

At Treehouse, the addition of three male teachers is not just a staffing update. It is an attempt to widen the image of what a yoga teacher looks like in Bermuda, and if more students recognize themselves in the instructors, the mat may feel like open ground from the first class onward.