Yoga for Social Healing honors the life of Kaylon "Kay' Woods

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Dozens gathered at Island Park at Century Center for Yoga for Social Healing, an event honoring the life of Kaylon "Kay" Woods on what would have been his birthday.

"It's very emotional. It's bittersweet. We would rather he be here with us. It's beautiful to see how our community has come together to support this," said Dena Woods, a close friend and coworker of Woods.

The social healing was a donation-based yoga and meditation class held among memorials of woods.

"He was like a little big brother to me. It was hard to lose someone that we did such deep, meaningful work with our yoga community, the fitness community, the social work community, the mental health community, we were all devastated," said Dena.

Kaylon, a South Bend yoga instructor, founded Yoga for Social Healing in 2020 with Dena, after the two connected online in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the Black Lives Matter protests and wanted to create something local to offer healing to their community.

The event grew into an annual gathering built around donation-based, accessible yoga.

Woods died in April 2026 and sunday's gathering doubled as a fundraiser for the Kaylon Woods Memorial Fund, which supports his family; organizers said they have been regularly donating a portion of their yoga class earnings to the fund since his death.

"We hope it will just offer them a little support, that today on his birthday, his family will receive some comfort that people are still doing stuff to remember him, and he will not be forgotten," said Dena.

Dena said the community's response in the aftermath of his death made clear how important it was to keep his mission alive and plans to continue holding the event annually.