The Collective

If you've been to a yoga studio before, you may be familiar with the way business is done there. It's a lot like a gym. You sign up for a membership and get access to classes. And while it’s a lucrative model for the gym itself and a convenient model for students, it’s not always great for teachers. We grew up under the studio model of yoga and there was a time it served. We met thousands of students, were able to offer so many styles of classes and workshops and tapped into a strong community of students and fellow teachers. 

Now, the landscape has shifted and we are trying to find ways to evolve - as this practice has taught us. The undertaking of this project - the Collective at Soulage - is yoga. We are tree pose, bending not breaking in the wind. We are triangle pose, reaching in many directions at once. We are a backbend, glimpsing our own future out in front of us. We are warrior pose, going after what we believe in. You can see every yoga pose in how we as individuals and as a collective are growing this business and shifting this paradigm.

This idea rose out of our collective passion for learning, growing  and evolving.We believe that students of movement and yoga deserve access to many resources. Learning from different teachers helps each individual to build their own personal ethos of practice. We also believe that the heart of any practice environment is the teachers who spend their time, resources and energy to provide a valuable learning experience for their students. Because of this, teachers deserve to earn a wage that sustains them

As a result, we decided to merge two business models together. One which allowed teachers autonomy over the space they were utilizing and one where teachers could share resources and profits. It’s NOT a studio model. It’s a group of people banding together to lift up the community- both teachers and students in Baltimore. 

Creating this model has been such a learning experience for all of us. It will continue to shift and change as we learn the do’s and don'ts and the whys and why nots. We all believe deeply in the importance of allowing the tide to shift, when it needs to. For now, you are able to use our software platform (click here) to purchase drop-in classes and class packs that can be used to take classes with 4 of our teachers - Elizabeth, Sarah, Tami, and Amanda. In the near future, we will be adding more teachers to the Collective, which means more classes accessible to students and a stronger sense of community.  As the saying goes "A rising tide lifts all boats".