Catherine Albertini chats with students prior to a livestreamed yoga flow class at her studio, Yoga Escape, on Thursday, April 16. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
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Yoga studios everywhere greet students with signs about cell phones. Turn off your ringers, or better yet, turn off the device altogether during practice.
But now, the technology once considered an impediment to yoga is keeping some teachers and their students connected.
Rather than walking into a Salem yoga studio, students set up mats at home, fire up their phones and log into classes via Zoom.
Zohra Campbell, owner of the Indigo Wellness Center at 320 Liberty St. S.E. in Salem, closed her studio to students on March 17. Her studio’s first virtual class came just four days later.
Campbell said her team faced a steep learning curve. Several teachers are part of the Indigo Wellness Center yoga team, and due to social distancing concerns, they must all teach classes from their homes, rather than heading into the studio. They all needed to learn how to use Zoom, and Campbell needed to guide them.
“It was a really big deal at first,” Campbell said. “Trying to figure that whole thing out and get the live stream thing set up was very hard.”
Catherine Albertini, owner of Yoga Escape at 1225 Cross St. S.E. Salem, also closed her studio to in-person classes on March 17. But she didn’t head to her computer to teach class right away.
“The first day that I closed the studio, there was no way I was ready to just jump right into that,” she said. “I just did my best, every day, to just live in that moment. I don’t know if that was the best for my business, but I did what I had to do for myself,” she said.
She taught her first class via Zoom on April 7, and she encountered some problems. She neglected to turn off her shared screen, for example, so her students saw her desktop throughout the class. She had a good laugh with friends about that when the class was over. Then, she made plans to prevent such problems.
“I made a list of all the things I have to check off when doing a live video,” she said. “It sounds crazy, I know. But in the moment, when I’m in front of a computer screen, I have to decide whether to let myself be a computer geek or focus on the yoga movements. The more reminders I can give myself, the better.”
Albertini doesn’t consider herself computer savvy. She’s been teaching yoga since 2010, and she’s run her studio since 2014. She never intended to teach online. But her students asked for help.
“I had a lot of people telling me that they would love to see live classes, so I think that gave me the courage to just do it,” she said.
Campbell has become a fan of online classes.
“It’s a great way to stay connected with our community,” she said.
Students can see the teacher, but they can also see one another during the class. That’s what sets Indigo’s classes apart from YouTube videos, she said.
“Part of the problem with YouTube videos is that you don’t know the teacher, they don’t know you, and they’re not looking at you,” she said. “We still want to see each other. We need that connection.”
Indigo Wellness Center has a varied schedule. Some days, the studio hosts just one or two classes. On other days, students can pick from six or seven types of classes. Some classes are small and have just five or six students. Others have 20 or more students.
Campbell said her students discuss their classes with friends and family, and sometimes that leads to new students. Last week, students logged on from Georgia and New Mexico.
“It’s a paradigm shift from how my business has been for 15 years,” she said. “The business model we had up until this point was that this was a lighthouse for the community. People came, and they enjoyed the community of others in class. We were an oasis of healing and wellness. Now what will it look like?”
Campbell is adding to her roster of online classes. This week, she rolled out a yoga class for teenagers, and she’s planning to launch a version for parents and toddlers.
“These are classes that we wanted to get off the ground for a long time,” she said.
Albertini hasn’t scaled up her online presence. She teaches three Zoom classes per week to a handful of dedicated students who were long-time members of her studio. Before COVID, she held three or sometimes four sessions in the studio each day, and she had three other teachers on her staff. Now, she’s the only teacher. She isn’t sure about the future.
“I’m just going to ride this wave and see where it takes me,” she said. “I’m going to keep going.”
Campbell believes that Indigo Wellness will continue to teach at least some classes online, even when the COVID-19 restrictions lift.
“I’m sure Indigo Yoga will always have an online component,” she said. “There’s nothing like going to a studio with the ambiance and the community. We can’t duplicate that online. But people like the convenience of doing yoga from home in their pajamas.”
She also thinks now is the perfect time for anyone to take up yoga.
“We don’t take time in our lives to process all the information that comes in,” she said. “Just thinking about breathing and stretching for an hour instead of ‘What’s the latest headline?’ or ‘Did I get my loan yet?’ It’s important for everyone. I’m really grateful that I am doing yoga too. I really need it right now.”
“If you can take that moment and just let go, that’s a moment that will help you feel a little stronger. You’ll feel that ease and courage to move forward,” Albertini said.
Online group classes at Indigo Wellness Center are $15 for a single visit, $65 for a five-class pass or $120 for a 10-class pass.
Online group classes at Yoga Escape are $5 to $20 for a one class or unlimited classes for $60 a month.
Catherine Albertini leads a yoga flow class at her studio, Yoga Escape, via a livestream on Thursday, April 16. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
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