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Date: 5/2/2023
NORTHAMPTON — After over two decades serving the local community, a popular yoga studio is rebranding and expanding its offerings to the community.
Looking to broaden their vision and rebuild a community that once existed before the coronavirus pandemic, husband-wife operators Lindsay Pope and Jonathan Gregory have rebranded “Yoga Sanctuary” as “Sanctuary” in hopes of sustaining a longtime business in Hampshire County while simultaneously expanding its vision.
“It was our dream from the beginning for us to expand our offerings,” said Pope, the owner/director of the studio.
Located on the third floor in Thornes Marketplace, the studio operates as a place where healing therapies and bodywork, yoga and restorative classes, educational workshops and celebratory community events all collide.
Gregory and Pope bought the studio from the previous owner/founder Sara Rose Page during the height of COVID-19. At the time, Sanctuary was struggling financially due to COVID-19, but as a longtime member of the studio, Pope did not want to see it shutter like other businesses, so she and her husband decided to purchase it.
Like most businesses, Sanctuary had to transition to an online format for their classes and workshops for the first year and half they operated it.
With in-person events back in the fold, however, the tag team is starting to realize its dream of being more than just a yoga studio.
“We have a dream of expanding the kinds of one-on-one offerings that we offer in the space,” Pope said. “So instead of just one person renting a room, we’ve been renting by the hour, which means we’re making it more accessible, both for the healing practitioner and to also expand what we offer.”
The studio already has a wide range of educators, body workers and practitioners including yoga instructors, massage therapists, yoga therapists, hypnobirthing educators and those who specialize in kids’ yoga and the Alexander Technique.
But, according to the married duo, the bus will not stop there. Beyond their current offerings, Pope also said she would love to see more educational opportunities and movement-based practices like dance.
The studio will continue to offer its patented yoga classes, along with additional perinatal offerings and a queer and transgender yoga series led by Sebastian Merrill.
“I think we’re also looking to add more life coaching services and perhaps a small group meditation series,” Pope said. “We want to have different access points.”
Pope told Reminder Publishing that they learned a lot through the hybrid format of teaching, and when asked about whether they would continue to use it in their expanded offerings, Pope said it will depend on what the teachers want to do.
“We want to provide the technology necessary for the teacher, educator, or healing practitioner to do what’s best for them in their programming,” Pope said. “I think we want the center of what we do to be in-person with accessing online as needed.”
According to Gregory, the studio currently has 20-25 healers, educators, instructors, and practitioners who all function as independent contractors.
“That’s a really big component of our restructuring here,” Gregory said. “Lindsay and I are just trying to be space facilitators and community organizers, and we’re trying to connect these independent contractors with the general public looking for their services.
Aside from the expansion of classes, Sanctuary is also looking to be a leader in the community. According to Pope, yoga is historically a political movement, and she wants the business to reflect that spirit through social activism, supporting local nonprofits and environmental education.
“We want our space to be a space of community holding for issues we care deeply about,” Pope said. “We want to break that barrier that seems to exist sometimes between a yoga practice and actually going out into the world and actually living your yoga.”
For Gregory, the general manager of the studio, this type of work is right up his alley since he has spent 15 years of his life steeped in environmental causes in municipal government roles, nonprofits and beyond. Most recently, he served as the general manager for PV Squared, a worker-owned solar cooperative based in Greenfield.
Now, he and Pope want to expand beyond environmental activism, too. “This is very personal for me,” said Gregory, in reference to the social activism piece.
The name change from Yoga Sanctuary to Sanctuary represents a lot of the work the duo wants to accomplish in the near future, including the activism portion. The transition is a full circle moment for the business, as “Sanctuary” was actually supposed to be the original name. With this change, the brand honors that original intent.
“The deeper meaning of [Sanctuary] does have a spiritual context for a very long time, but it’s also associated with wildlife sanctuaries and sanctuary cities,” Pope said. “Because we want to synthesize what we did with social activism, that seemed on brand for us.”
All of what the studio already offered is staying the same, and readers can learn more about their vision and expanded offerings by visiting the Sanctuary website: https://www.yoga-sanctuary.com/. There is also information for people who want to teach or for nonprofits who want to partner with Sanctuary on a certain cause.
“We’re really excited to be a part of the long-term downtown community,” Gregory said. “We’re in such a wonderful space in Thornes Marketplace that we’re really excited to continue to be a part of.”