Institutions & Reentry
Corrections, reentry programs, youth services, and community organizations. Breath, movement, and honest conversation for people living under pressure, taught by someone who lived it.
From violence
to service.
James Lesly turned a life shaped by survival and incarceration into one grounded in accountability, resilience, and service. Author of Not Your Average Yogi, James brings lived experience into conversations about identity, transformation, and what it takes to rebuild.
Work With James
Bring It Into the Room
Built from lived experience and trauma-informed training. Every room is different, so every booking starts with a conversation.
Workplace & Leadership
For teams carrying stress they don't talk about. Practical tools for regulation, focus, and staying steady when the pressure's on. Not a relaxation session.
Speaking & Book Talks
Keynotes, panels, and fireside conversations drawn from the memoir: The Hole. Books, Bibles & Breath. Walking Out the Gate. From Gangster to Yogi.
Black Man. Breathe.™
A 10-week program for Black men. Yoga and breathwork paired with peer conversation on stress, anger, grief, identity, and brotherhood. Not therapy. A space to put down what you're carrying. Bring it to your organization.
Free Men's Class
Free monthly yoga class for men. Last Sunday of every month, 2 PM, West Island Jiu Jitsu in Pierrefonds.
Formats
60–90 minute workshop · Half-day experience · Multi-week series · Keynote · Panel or fireside chat. Pick one, or tell me what you need.
The Mission
Why This Exists
Not Your Average Yogi started in a cell. Breathing and reading were the only things nobody could take from me, and they changed what I did next.
Now we bring trauma-informed yoga, breathwork, and real conversation to the people who need it most and get it least: people inside and coming home, Black men carrying what they were told to swallow, and professionals running on empty.
We're a nonprofit registered in Québec, based in Montréal. The book is the story. The work is the mission.
"What changed wasn't that I stopped having reactions. I started realizing that a reaction didn't always have to make the decision for me."
Author
Not Your Average Yogi: From Violence to Service (2026)
Trauma-Informed Training
Prison Yoga Project Ambassador. Trained to teach people impacted by incarceration.
Black Mental Health Canada
Creating space for Black men to talk, move, and breathe.
Freeing the Human Spirit
Helped recruit French-speaking teachers to bring meditation into a Quebec prison.
Certified
200-hr Hatha/Vinyasa (Yoga Alliance) · 200-hr Yoga, Social Justice & Leadership (Prison Yoga Project) · YMCA Personal Trainer
Montréal
Teaching in studios, workplaces, and community spaces across Greater Montréal.
About James
The Story Behind the Work
James Lesly
Author · Speaker · Facilitator · Founder, Not Your Average Yogi
James Lesly is an author, speaker, facilitator, and founder of Not Your Average Yogi. His path to this work was anything but conventional. After years of living in survival mode, his life led him to incarceration and solitary confinement. There, he began the long process of looking inward, through reading, reflection, meditation, movement, and breath. What started as a way to survive became the foundation for a different way of living.
After returning home, James committed himself to rebuilding his life, being present for his son, and turning what he had learned through adversity into something that could serve others. That path led him to yoga, teaching, community work, and Not Your Average Yogi.
Today, his work explores resilience, accountability, identity, masculinity, and the possibility of transformation, not from theory but from lived experience. His memoir, Not Your Average Yogi: From Violence to Service, tells that story.
"I decided to represent a story worth passing on instead of a record worth burying."
Questions
Frequently Asked
Yoga taught with the understanding that a lot of people in the room have been through things. You always get a choice. Nothing is forced. The goal is feeling steadier in your body, not doing perfect poses.
Correctional facilities, reentry and community organizations, schools, workplaces, event organizers, and men's groups. If your people live under pressure, we should talk.
I'm not going to tell your team to relax. I teach tools for staying steady under pressure, from someone who had to use them to survive. It's practical, it's honest, and people remember it.
Hit Request a Workshop and tell me your organization, your role, what you're thinking, roughly when, and where. Formats run from a 60-minute session to a multi-week series. I'll get back to you to shape it.
Workshops are delivered in English. French-language programming is available by arrangement.
Yes. There's a free yoga class for men on the last Sunday of every month at 2 PM, at West Island Jiu Jitsu in Pierrefonds. Details on the Free Class page.
In their words
What men say after Black Men Breathe
"After spending several weeks with the Black Man Breathe program, I was able to explore a more vulnerable side of myself and open up, especially with my facilitator, my brother James Lesly. Because of his Haitian roots, a lot of his upbringing resonated with me. James is incredibly talented, skillful, and patient, and I know he will go on to help many more individuals in need."
"Being part of Black Men Breathe gave me an opportunity to slow down, breathe, and connect with other Black men in a space where I felt understood. Sometimes, we get so caught up in our responsibilities that we forget to take care of ourselves, both mentally and emotionally. Having a space to pause, reflect, and share experiences without judgment is important. Sometimes all we need is a safe space to breathe, reconnect with ourselves, and remember that we don’t have to navigate everything alone."
Talks & Workshops
From the Book to the Room
Conversations drawn from the memoir: The Hole. Books, Bibles & Breath. Walking Out the Gate. From Gangster to Yogi. Brought into institutions, workplaces, and communities.
Request a WorkshopConnect
Let's Talk
Tell me about your organization, what you have in mind, roughly when, and where. Media and book inquiries use the same form.