Tatum Talley is constantly on the move. She’s building her career in fitness while being the fiancée of Grizzlies player Desmond Bane and a mother to a son under two. However, finding her own yoga practice and bringing yoga to others as an instructor keeps her calm, healthy, and inspired, even during times of commotion.

Tatum, from Ft. Worth, Texas, found yoga while a student at Texas Christian University. She remembers feeling like a bit of an outsider during college, not enjoying the drinking and partying lifestyle that is often commonplace in large southern universities like TCU. Meanwhile, she had difficulty finding a direction for her education and often changed majors. During that time, Tatum decided to try a yoga sculpt class at a new CorePower Yoga studio in town and quickly felt at home in the yoga studio. “I have never been a competitive person, so it makes sense I fell in love with yoga, particularly with the emphasis on going with the flow without competing with yourself and others,” she says.

Tatum completed yoga teacher training in 2017 and began to love seeing her students grow. She remains in touch with her early students even now.

In 2020, Tatum moved to Memphis when her fiancé Desmond signed with the Grizzlies. She began teaching yoga at Lifetime Fitness and became certified as a personal trainer. However, during a difficult pregnancy with her son, Tatum changed her mentality about her fitness and training. “I was sick for so much of my pregnancy, I finally had to take a step back and take care of myself, and that meant putting my fitness goals on hold,” she remembers.

After her son was born, Tatum remembers the toxicity of the “bounce-back culture” that she saw around her — women being told and encouraged to achieve their pre-baby bodies and fitness levels as quickly as possible. Instead of giving in to these societal pressures, Tatum chose to give herself a break and give her body the rest that she knew it needed. “Once I was ready to return to working out, I would squeeze in short workouts around my son’s sleeping schedule,” she remembers. “At this point, I was working out for happiness and energy, and prioritizing mental health and avoiding that toxic mental place of judging my body’s abilities.”
Now, Tatum has returned to teaching yoga at Core Collective Broad, where she is also expanding her practice through Pilates Teacher Training. She continues to determine the best ways to balance time for personal fitness, her career as an instructor, and her most important job as a mother. Still, she has found that she always comes back to a positive mindset of gratitude. “Make your number one priority things that make you happy, even if it isn’t on a fitness level. Work out because you enjoy it and want to live a long, healthy life.”

Find Tatum’s teaching schedule at Core Collective Broad on their website Corecollectivebroad.com.

By Zoe Harrison
Photo by Tindall Stephens