About Us
Who is Osatyam?
Osatyam Wellness & Ritual is an Atlanta-based holistic wellness company founded in April 2013 by Crystal E. Monds. For over twelve years, Osatyam has provided yoga and meditation rooted in traditional Hatha practice, along with a handcrafted line of spa and ritual products, including Mala collections, Shea Whip, Anointing Oils, and aromatherapy blends developed with the living wisdom of Creole and African Diasporic traditions.
India trained. Black Creole informed.
Ancestor led. Queer committed.
Osatyam holds space at the intersection of the sacred and the somatic. Where ancient practice meets ancestral memory. Where rest is understood as resistance. Our work centers the healing, care, autonomy, and deep joy of Black people, Black women, BlaQueer, QTPoC, and historically marginalized folks. We know that self-care and community care are essential to our survival.
The Origin
Right out of college, and after a yoga class in East Atlanta, Crystal made a declaration to sustain her livelihood from what she was already living in practice: yoga and art. It took 2 years to put this declaration into action.
In 2013, after learning about this intention and upcoming yoga teacher trainings, Atlanta showed up. Community supported the vision by crowdfunding what a scholarship wouldn't cover, by honoring the discipline in preparing for the journey, and by sharing the enthusiasm of a new chapter.
In April, carried by that collective investment, Crystal traveled to Mysore, in the heart of Southern India, for a month-long immersion training at Ashtanga Yoga Mysore. There, between studies, Crystal began drafting early sketches of Osatyam's branding, shaping the vision, and laying the foundation. Osatyam was conceived in Southern India and rooted in the American South. That lineage is written into all things Osatyam.
After returning to Atlanta, Crystal taught her first private session almost immediately for a local musician's crew, Yani Means Peace. Then Yoga @ Charis. Many private and community practices came after, offered as gifts. As homecoming. As "look what we did, y'all!"
From its first deep inhale, Osatyam was a collaborative act, something the community helped carry into existence, and that Crystal has been giving back ever since.
Within months after training, the Movement for Black Lives erupted, and Crystal was already inside it alongside small but mighty crews of healing practitioners. Holding fallout spaces for exhausted activists, smudging crowds during protests, holding healing salons for organizers, organizing childcare so others could show up, leading yoga and healing spaces at gatherings across the country in Selma, Chicago, Kentucky, with M4BL, SONG, and beyond. The practice that had just come home from India was immediately put in service of the movement.
Over twelve years, Osatyam has provided donation-based classes, long-term community partnerships, and a product line handmade in Georgia. Offerings have been made available to folks who need them, whether or not the money was there. Because our people deserve this practice.
That was true before 2013. It called loudly during the uprisings for Black lives. It remains true now.
Recognition
In 2015, Crystal E. Monds was selected by award-winning Atlanta photographer Sheila Pree Bright as one of six subjects for #1960Now, a landmark series pairing present-day Black Lives Matter activists with veterans of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. The work was published by Chronicle Books and its prints are held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Gallery of Art, and the High Museum of Art, among others.
Community Partnerships
Osatyam's work has always been rooted in long-term community relationships and grounded in sustained, years-long commitments to organizations whose missions align with our own.
Credentials
Yoga Alliance-
E-RYT 200
Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher. Certified through Ashtanga Yoga Mysore, India. Recognized for extensive teaching hours and experience beyond foundational training.
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YACEP
Yoga Alliance Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider. Authorized to offer continuing education courses that count toward certification hours for registered yoga teachers.
Come practice with us
Osatyam offers private and group yoga sessions, community events, and a growing line of spa and ritual wellness products made with intention, for bodies that deserve care.