This digital space is an evolving collection of stories, artwork, resources, and reflections through the lenses of Yoga and transformative education. Welcome to the curated Zine and resource garden.
This began as a Zine sharing project. Zines are self-published works that exist outside traditional systems of validation, and I often made them in Education classes to break down complex topics. Zines allow individuals and communities to create and share knowledge on their own terms, but I wanted to open the space to include other resources too, and thus The Garden was born.
Inspired by the Collaborative Indigenous Research Methodologies Digital Garden, each resource is tagged by flowers representing their topic and leaf structures representing their medium.
Understanding the history, the methodology, and the magic of self-publishing.
Zines and yoga coexist because both are practices of inquiry rather than consumption. At its heart, yoga asks us to turn inward, notice our patterns, and cultivate a more conscious relationship with ourselves and the world around us. Zines do something similar. They create space for reflection, storytelling, questioning dominant narratives, and sharing lived experience outside of mainstream institutions.
Neither requires perfection, expertise, or expensive equipment. Just as a profound yoga practice can begin with a single, simple breath, a zine can begin with a single, blank sheet of paper. Both are acts of transformation: a breath alters our inner state, and a simple fold turns a flat piece of paper into a multi-dimensional vessel for voice. Both invite participation over performance.
Historically, zines have been tools for marginalized communities to reclaim voice and build connection. Yoga, in its deeper philosophical roots, offers practices for liberation, self-study (svādhyāya), and right relationship. Together, they become a powerful combination: yoga helps us listen, and zines help us speak.
Zines—short for fanzines or magazines—are self-published, small-circulation works of text and images. They emerged in the 1930s with science fiction fandoms and later became central to the punk rock subculture and the Riot Grrrl feminist movement of the 1990s as tools of resistance, DIY culture, and uncensored self-expression.
Alongside zines, "Street Sheets" have a long, radical history as community-run newsletters and newspapers distributed by and for marginalized groups, particularly those experiencing homelessness, to share vital survival resources, political advocacy, and poetry. They bypass the commercial gatekeepers of traditional media, allowing people to own their narratives, build mutual aid networks, and document history from the ground up.
Fold a standard sheet of paper in half lengthwise (hot dog fold), then open. Fold in half widthwise (hamburger fold), then fold each outer edge to the center crease. Open it up to find 8 distinct panels.
Refold the paper in half widthwise (hamburger fold). Locate the center fold line, and cut along it from the folded edge up to the first crease line. Do not cut all the way through.
Unfold the paper completely. Fold it in half lengthwise (along your hot-dog crease). Push the two short outer ends toward each other. The cut slit in the middle will pop open into a hollow diamond shape.
Keep pushing the ends together until the diamond closes, forming 4 wings. Fold these wings together like a 6-page booklet with a front and back cover. Press all edges flat, and your zine is ready!
A lot of knowledge is treated as valuable only when it comes from universities, publications, institutions, or influential figures. The Garden says that lived experience, community wisdom, creative expression, and personal reflection are also legitimate forms of knowledge.
Rooted in a simple belief, wisdom exists everywhere—in books, lived lives, conversations, cultural traditions, and community knowledge.
We invite contributions that are reflective, intentional, and rooted in lived experience. Share poetry, essays, photography, collages, zines, visual art, or curriculum ideas.
What knowledge are you carrying that someone else needs?
Divine Dharma Yoga is a practice-centered space rooted in yoga philosophy as a path toward awareness, ethical relationships, and collective liberation.
Yoga has historically been extracted from its roots in India for the sake of products and profit. However, Yoga is a deep, rich spiritual practice that comes from the root word yuj, or "to unite." Yoga is the practice of union—it is not just a series of poses and breathing exercises. Yoga is relationship to self, to others, and to the systems we move through.
Educational spaces and yoga are more connected than they may seem. Both have been shaped by histories of exclusion and appropriation. Both have the potential to help us reimagine living, learning, and taking care of one another. Both can make us more aware of collective suffering and more ready to address it.
Grounded in the Yamas and Niyamas (the ethical requisites of Yoga), this space envisions how personal awareness and collective change are deeply interconnected.
Centering lived experiences, especially marginalized voices and self-narratives.
Commitment to ethical storytelling, care, consent, and non-exploitative relationships.
Deep personal and systemic reflection facilitated through zines, movement, and dialogue.
Free and open resource-sharing, prioritizing accessible knowledge structures.
Hi, I'm Jenna Bowie!
I'm so glad you're here. This space is a culmination of what I've been studying the last few years. After attending a year of nursing school during the pandemic, I realized my interest was not in clinical health, but in what creates the conditions for people and communities to thrive.
I later purchased this website after taking Yoga Teacher Training in 2021, but I didn't quite know what would live here. I have since received my Bachelor's in Education and Social Transformation at UCLA, and this, in combination with my work in advocacy and wellness, leads me here.
This body of work weaves together education, public policy, yoga philosophy, embodiment, community-building, and social justice. I believe that lasting change requires both inner and outer work—both healing and action, reflection and participation, individual growth and community care.
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