Dear TRENDS Diary,
Gerry: Even before the city and the state required us to close, we decided to shut Yoga Pod’s studios. We saw the writing on the wall, and we wanted our students and teachers to be safe. We pivoted pretty quickly and invested in an audio/visual system to make our Zoom capabilities top of the line. We’re live streaming 12-15 classes a day.
Nicole: We wanted to be able to support our teachers. This is their livelihood.
Gerry: Once we got the system set up, we thought of health care workers. We’ve got to take care of these folks. So we offered free access to our classes.
Nicole: A lot of restaurants are doing meals for healthcare workers. This was our way to be able to give back and thank the people who are tirelessly out there working.
Gerry: 65 people from BCH have had accounts set up for them. Other medical professionals outside of BCH have reached out and asked to be included. Of course, we said yes.
We’re doing a free class at noon every Wednesday for literally anyone in the world. We’ve had in excess of 100 students: from the Netherlands, Scotland, Germany, the U.K., our friends and family and students that have family out of state.
People are really thankful, really grateful, to reconnect with teachers or community. We’ve been quite blown away by the loyalty and commitment of our students who have kept their memberships and are quite active in live streaming from home.
Nicole: They can continue their breath work and moving their bodies, it has calmed the nervous system, their fight and flight tendencies. It’s an opportunity to work out some stress, stretch out their muscles and joints. It’s a life-saver.
– Gerry and Nicole Wienholt, co-owners of Yoga Pod, as told to Shay Castle
