Yoga Studio Perseveres Throughout Pandemic

West Orange, NJ — The Yoga Ground, a yoga studio in West Orange, first opened its doors in February of 2019, just a month before the pandemic-incited lockdowns that would keep the nation restricted for more than a year. It is a studio with a specific mission: to make the practice of yoga affordable and accessible to the community.

“I always say it was never my lifelong dream to own a yoga studio,” Kristen Brunello, owner of The Yoga Ground said. “The time just sort of felt right. I felt like there were a lot of yoga studios in the area that are kind of expensive, and so my goal with my studio was to make yoga more affordable and more accessible. That's our mission at my studio, is making yoga more inclusive, diverse and accessible.”

When the pandemic first struck the US in March of 2020, Brunello decided to follow the local schools and close the in-person studio.

“It was the right thing to do, for myself and my staff, just to keep us safe because we knew so little at the time,” Brunello said. “But I really thought we'd be closed for two weeks, get it under control and then open back up again. It was a hard decision. There was a lot of emotion behind it — having to suddenly freeze and cancel all of these memberships which are the way that I pay all of my bills.”

Once the studio was moved to a remote-only environment, Brunello was able to enact something she had been working on for some time — a video library.

“The pandemic really made it so that had to happen, but luckily because I had everything kind of already set up for it, we actually launched that I think the night that we closed,” Brunello said. “So, we started that which has really been what's kept our doors open — a week later, we started doing Zooms as well.”

Going into the summer of 2020, The Yoga Ground was able to do a level of work in-person and outside, being granted access by the local police to use a neighboring basketball court that is closed off from the public.

“Luckily, West Orange has been super supportive of their small businesses,” Brunello said. “So it was really between the video library, the live stream, the outside classes and then grants and go fund me’s and things like that we were able to get to where we are right now.”

The Yoga Ground started opening up for in-person classes in March, 2021, and is now offering classes of up to nine people. But even with the studio opening up once again, the virtual options are not going anywhere.

“My hope is that I can make the video library better; I've made it work, but I would like to hire someone that can make it more user-friendly,” Brunello said. “The video library I'm anticipating staying and people like the outside classes — that just might be something that we do in the summers.”

With classes being held virtually and students attending from home, Brunello has noticed a slower, less aggressive approach to the practice of yoga.

“I don't know that there's been a complete shift to more meditation, but I do think that there's been a shift a little bit away from very aggressive forms of yoga to some that are a little bit more ‘let's actually get into the body, let's actually stretch, let's make sure you're breathing,’” Brunello said. “I also think that a lot of people that never practiced yoga have had a desire to start during the pandemic — so many people were just stuck inside, stiff and not moving and stressed out. So, I think that we've also had a pretty decent recent influx of people brand new to that as well.”

In keeping with its mission of accessibility, the Yoga Ground offers classes in Spanish and recently started a Community Yoga Bank, where people can donate classes to be utilized by those who wish to take a class but cannot afford it. There are currently around 40 available donated classes in the bank.

“Largely, it’s a positive, hopeful outlook,” Brunello said.