WILD THING YOGA Brings Tulum to Miami
Alejandra Barraza recreated Tulum's jungle-sanctuary wellness in Little River's 2,500 sq ft oasis.
Here's a confession: we've collectively romanticized Tulum to the point where mentioning it in wellness circles has become its own kind of performance art. Yet when Alejandra Barraza decided to recreate that specific brand of bohemian-luxury wellness in Miami's Little River neighborhood, she wasn't chasing a trend—she was solving a problem. Specifically, the problem of wanting Tulum's jungle-sanctuary energy without the four-hour customs line and questionable shuttle van WiFi.
WILD THING YOGA occupies a 2,500-square-foot space at 162 NW 73rd Street that manages to feel like an actual escape rather than just an aesthetically pleasing one.
The Tulum Transplant That Actually Translates
Barraza taught yoga in Tulum for years before bringing her vision stateside, and the difference between someone who taught in Tulum versus someone who visited Tulum becomes apparent the moment you encounter WILD THING's outdoor showers. These aren't Instagram props—they're functional elements in the studio's indoor-outdoor flow, alongside front and back gardens that create genuine transition space between Miami's urban intensity and the practice itself.
What Barraza has created is less "Tulum cosplay" and more "what actually worked about Tulum's wellness culture, translated for people who still need to make their 2pm Zoom." The bohemian-luxury aesthetic serves the experience rather than substituting for it.
Beyond the Obvious Vinyasa
The class offerings reveal the kind of programming depth that separates destination studios from neighborhood studios that happen to look nice. Yes, there's hot yoga. But WILD THING's schedule also includes breathwork sessions and sound healing, practices that have migrated from "fringe wellness" to "your cardiologist might actually suggest this" over the past few years.
The niche movement classes acknowledge that contemporary wellness has evolved beyond the yoga-or-spin binary that dominated the previous decade. Emerging research on varied movement patterns suggests that bodies benefit from doing different things.
Worth the Pilgrimage
WILD THING YOGA navigates the Tulum-ification of wellness by staying focused on what actually worked: the integration of nature, the slowness, the permission to treat your practice as sanctuary rather than productivity optimization.
Barraza has created something specific—a nature-connected practice environment for people who want Tulum's energy without Tulum's travel requirements, who appreciate bohemian luxury but expect it to deliver actual restoration, not just aesthetics.
WILD THING YOGA is located at 162 NW 73rd St, Little River, Miami. First-timers: Arrive early to experience the gardens and transition into the space—rushing defeats the entire purpose.