Online Community
Yoga Studio

Yes. Absolutely. In fact, The REFUGE has been intentionally designed around connection.

Your teacher will open the virtual studio 15 minutes before every class, giving you time to arrive, say hello, settle in, connect with your teacher and other members, and get help with any technical questions before practice begins. After class, your teacher will stay for an optional 15-minute conversation.

And the connection continues between classes. Our community forum is a living part of The REFUGE, with ongoing conversations around our monthly themes, teachings, practices, questions, and the lives we are actually living. Our teachers participate there too, so the relationship doesn’t end when you leave the virtual classroom.

While The REFUGE is new, this kind of online community is not new to us. For years, we have watched people meet through our programs and become lifelong friends — traveling across the country to visit one another, supporting each other through the changing seasons of their lives.

We believe meaningful connection can happen across a room, across a screen, and across the world. That is exactly the kind of community we are building at The REFUGE.

The REFUGE is being designed with simplicity and ease of use at the forefront. Our hope is that it feels less like navigating a dashboard and more like entering a place where you quickly learn your way around. And you won’t have to figure it out on your own.

Every week, we’ll offer a live New Member Orientation where you can meet other people who have recently joined and one of us will walk you step-by-step through The REFUGE. We’ll make sure everything is working properly for you before you leave — and if technology feels especially challenging, we’re happy to offer additional one-on-one support.

Our teachers will also be in the virtual classroom 15 minutes before every class, so if you ever need a little help getting situated, there will be a real person there to help.

You don’t need to arrive knowing how everything works. We’ll help you find your way around.

Every body brings its own history, proportions, strengths, limitations, injuries, and possibilities to the practice. Our goal is to help you understand the postures more deeply and discover alignment that feels stable, spacious, sustainable, and appropriate for your body.

During live classes, our teachers will offer clear alignment cues, variations, and ways to use props. Because your teachers are available before and after class, you can ask questions about something you’re experiencing in your practice, a pose you’re curious about, or an adjustment that might help.

We’ll also regularly offer Pose Labs, where we slow things down, break apart individual postures and families of poses, and give you plenty of space to ask questions and experiment.

We want you to become increasingly knowledgeable, curious, and confident in your own body and your own practice — because ultimately, the most useful alignment is the one that helps you practice with greater awareness, stability, freedom, and ease.

Life is full, and we know you won’t always be able to make it to class at a particular time. Our live classes will be recorded and added to the On-Demand Library, so you can return to them whenever it works for you.

As The REFUGE grows, so will the library, with practices ranging from 30 minutes to 60 and 90 minutes, as well as longer two-hour experiences. We’ll even share micro-practices of five minutes or less in the community forum for those moments when a little bit of practice is exactly what fits into your life.

Yes to both. You don’t need to arrive with a certain level of experience, flexibility, strength, or knowledge of yoga philosophy. Our teachers will offer variations, choices, and support so you can explore the practices in ways that are appropriate for you. Curiosity and a willingness to learn are enough.

And if yoga has been part of your life for years, there is plenty of room to deepen. Our classes draw from the rich philosophical and contemplative traditions of yoga and weave together movement, meditation, breathwork, and inquiry.

And because we practice in community, we also get to learn from one another — someone else’s experience may illuminate something you hadn’t considered, or invite you to see a familiar teaching in an entirely new way.

Wherever you are in your practice, there is somewhere to begin, something to discover, and something we can learn from one another.

You won’t be the only one. Every week, new members will have an opportunity to meet one another during our New Member Orientation. From there, you’ll begin seeing familiar faces in classes, gatherings, conversations, and throughout the community forum.

Our teachers will know your name. There is no pressure to jump in all at once or to be particularly outgoing. Come as you are. Participate in the ways that feel natural to you — relationships have a way of growing through the simple act of returning.

We’ve already watched this happen. People who met through our REFUGE programs have become dear friends, traveled across the country to visit one another, and stayed connected long after the program that originally brought them together ended.

You may arrive without knowing anyone. We don’t think it will stay that way for long.

There is nothing to keep up with. How you participate will naturally change with the seasons of your life. Some weeks you may come to several classes, join a gathering, and find yourself in the middle of a great conversation in the forum. Other weeks, you might roll out your mat for one on-demand practice or spend five minutes with a micro-practice.

There are no attendance requirements, no homework, and no expectation that you experience everything we offer. Our monthly themes give us something meaningful to explore together, but you can enter the conversation wherever you are.

Come when you can. Take what nourishes you. Return when you’re ready. There will always be a place for you here.

The REFUGE is a living studio and community. Of course, you’ll have access to wonderful yoga classes and an ever-growing On-Demand Library. But the heart of The REFUGE is what happens when we practice, learn, and gather together.

You’ll practice with teachers who know you. You’ll see familiar faces. We’ll explore meaningful teachings together, ask questions, continue conversations after class, gather for special events, and learn from one another. Between classes, the community continues through our forum.

Each month, we’ll explore a shared theme rooted in the wisdom and philosophy of yoga and discover together how these ancient teachings can illuminate the lives we are living today.

Here at The REFUGE, we believe the practice is only half of the medicine. The other half is belonging.