Moving Yoga Studios Online & Resilience Through Change [Podcast 033]

In Episode 33, Amber Karnes talks with Anjali Sunita. Anjali is a yoga teacher, writer, Ayurveda practitioner, and the business owner behind Baltimore Yoga Village. In 2021, Anjali completely pivoted the Baltimore Yoga Village business model from two brick and mortar yoga studios to an online wellness ecosystem that platforms individual instructors and practitioners. In this episode, Anjali and I talk about pivoting to an online model during a pandemic, what the new business model is, and how others might consider moving to a more collaborative way of working. We discuss how our mindset around co-creating and co-working within our communities can be supportive rather than competitive. We also explore topics like resilience, failure, and why “starting over” can be a good thing, if we let it.

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This week on the podcast:

• Anjali introduces herself and talks about the work she does in the world:
  • Founder of Baltimore Yoga Village, a community driven yoga space in Baltimore that shifted online recently
  • Ayurvedic practitioner through Village Life Wellness
  • BYFree: A project to support yoga teachers of color to provide free yoga and mindfulness classes in Baltimore
• We talk about Anjali’s pivot from owning two brick-and-mortar yoga spaces in Baltimore to an online wellness ecosystem
• She describes the digital platform and why it's working better for her as a studio owner but also for the teachers at her studio
• We talk about how shared responsibility for marketing has improved relationships between staff, made things easier on her as the business owner, and helped incentivize teachers to build rapport with their students
• Anjali describes the business model and how folks get paid
• We discuss how this has changed the dynamics of her teaching team in a more equitable direction
• Anjali gives a pep talk about the upsides of "starting over" and why being bold and creative pays off, even when failure is scary
• We talk about how to reconnect to your purpose and mission
• Anjali talks about the advantages of building community online and a few ways she's doing that
• Finally, we discuss why working collaboratively has made her life easier and why yoga teachers shouldn't be afraid of competition

About Anjali Sunita

Anjali Sunita is the Founder and Director of Baltimore Yoga Village, a community wellness center which offers space to life changing and affirming programs and Village Life Wellness, her private Ayurvedic practice. She has been trained through the Sivananda Ashrams in India and Canada, in prenatal and children’s yoga classes, as well as North Indian classical singing.​

In Ayurveda, she studied at the Ayurvedic Institute under Dr. Vasant Lad in New Mexico and Pune, as well as with Charak Ayurveda in Jaipur, India. She has integrated knowledge from her beloved teachers and shares it with a great love for making the teachings accessible, easily understood, and applicable to each person she encounters.

She offers trainings for yoga teachers and the general public throughout the world in yoga history, philosophy, pranayama, ayurveda, and through her newest signature program, Yoga As A Living Practice.

Connect With Us

• Anjali Sunita: Website | Instagram | Facebook
• Baltimore Yoga Village: Website| Instagram | Facebook
• Jivana Heyman: Website | Instagram | Facebook
• Amber Karnes: Website | Instagram | Facebook
• Accessible Yoga School

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