Yoga instructor Sarab Atway never locks the door once her classes begin, here in the occupied West Bank.
Many of the rigid rules and etiquette she learnt during her days of practising yoga in the US do not apply to conditions in Ramallah, she says, including strict policies on late arrivals at the studio.
“In Palestine, being late to yoga is not disrespectful, it's survival,” she tells The National. “I don’t lock the door because I know students may be navigating winding roads, traffic, or checkpoints just to arrive. Sometimes, even 20 minutes of yoga is the only peace they'll experience that day,” she says. “I don't believe in creating yet another barrier.”
Ms Atway, 42, has been teaching yoga since 2014. She took it up professionally after moving from the US to Ramallah, where she wanted to raise her children closer to their “Palestinian roots and family”.
Going through a transformative journey of her own, navigating post-partum and moving across continents, the mother of three says the practice gave her a “sense of self and safety” that she now hopes to offer her Palestinian students.
“Yoga offers consistency – something incredibly rare in Palestine,” she tells The National.
“You can plan your day carefully, only to be stopped by a checkpoint, a military raid, or a general strike that brings everything to a halt. Living under occupation is mentally and physically exhausting,” she says.
As such, the Palestinian-American instructor has learnt to adapt her classes to better cater to her students and the realities of their surroundings. This includes teaching yoga without mirrors and showing up to class even when no one is there.
“Stillness can feel unfamiliar when your body is used to being on alert,” says Ms Atway. “So teaching without mirrors helps my students reconnect with themselves, not their reflection.”
She says she shows up to class “even if no one else is able to make it”.
“I want my students to know that whenever they can arrive, they’ll find me on the mat. That consistency is something life under occupation rarely allows,” she tells The National.
The occupied West Bank has a long history of Israeli settler and military violence, as well as land seizures. Last year saw unprecedented levels of violence, which have been on the rise since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The UN's humanitarian office recorded the highest number of settler attacks in the West Bank in October 2025, coinciding with the annual olive harvest, since it began documenting such incidents in 2006. June witnessed the highest number of settler-inflicted injuries on Palestinians in two decades, according to UNRWA figures.
Aside from Israel's brutal occupation, other challenges facing the yoga instructor include “creating a quiet space in the middle of Ramallah”.
“There are roosters, traffic, vendors calling out, and everyday life happening all around us,” she tells The National. “Instead of resisting it, we make it part of the practice – learning to tune inward, focus on the breath, and find stillness within noise. In many ways, that becomes one of the most valuable lessons,” she says.
Ms Atway teaches yoga across Ramallah, including at the first yoga centre established in the occupied territory 15 years ago, where she tries to make her classes “as accessible as possible”.
“I want my students to leave feeling confident, empowered, and grounded. I want them to know that however they showed up that day – physically, emotionally, mentally – is enough. In a world that constantly tells us we’re not doing enough or being enough, my class is a place where they are exactly where they need to be.”
She describes practising yoga in the occupied Palestinian territory as a “form of resistance”.
“Living under a brutal military occupation that systematically strips away basic human rights is designed to exhaust and suffocate people. When we choose to show up – whether for our loved ones, our work, or ourselves – we are resisting that erasure,” she says.
“Choosing presence, care, and continuity in the face of oppression is an act of defiance. In that sense, yoga is resistance.”
