March 2025 marks five years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The professional and personal lives of countless individuals and communities were turned upside down during the weeks and months that followed; it was a time of upheaval, unemployment, loss and grief for so many. But the yoga world, perhaps more than other communities, relied heavily on interpersonal and in-person connection. Breathing, moving, and being together in small indoor spaces for dedicated periods of time was a fundamental part of practicing yoga and its related arts. At the same time, each of these aspects of the practice was suddenly considered potentially harmful when it came to the spread and contraction of the virus. Yoga teachers, studio owners and students alike asked, “What now?”

March 2020: Change is in the Air

When the pandemic began, Marti and Marty Yura, the founders of Vista Yoga in Decatur, were operating a thriving center within a vibrant community of experienced yoga teachers and students. On a Monday in the third week of March, a teacher asked Marty to pause in-person classes for safety concerns. “By the end of that day, we knew we had to close,” he says.

Anna Leo, who led an established class of 20 years and has over 40 years of experience teaching movement at Stillwater Yoga in Atlanta, was one of several people who were not comfortable continuing to meet in person. She talked with the studio owner, and a week later, they were closed. Stillwater Yoga never re-opened.

Meryl Arnett, former co-owner with Octavia Raheem of Sacred Chill West in Atlanta and host of Our Mindful Nature podcast, recalls her long-time meditation class at the studio. “Monday night meditation was originally an in-studio class, and it moved online in March 2020 in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” Unfortunately, the owners have closed Sacred Chill West’s doors permanently.

Vanya Francis, founder of Cherished Life Wellness and an advanced holistic doula, recollects teaching prenatal yoga to flourishing classes at Solstice Yoga & Barre in Virginia Highlands just before the onset. “Classes were full; we were turning folks away. … Obviously,” she says matter-of-factly, “things have changed since that time.” Solstice has since closed, but Virginia Highlands is now offering in-person classes and Cherished Life Wellness continues to thrive online.

First, the Technology!

Still, many found they could pivot to survive, but that brought its own challenges. Both studio owners and teachers often felt uncertain as they took their first steps with a new teaching paradigm that included everything from buying a camera to streaming subscriptions. Word-of-mouth and prodding from students helped get out the message that people could attend online from their homes. Technologically savvy students championed online meetings and offered tutorials.

Pressed by a student, Leo finally gathered a few email addresses together for a trial live online class. Her students were ecstatic, but she didn’t feel that way. “I was terrified every Saturday for the first six weeks. ‘What’s going to happen, and how is this gonna go?’ And you’re trying to stay in your body, but your brain keeps going out to what’s going to happen with the technology!” Marti Yura recalls the difficult yet practical questions. “How am I gonna set up the camera?!” Over time, they figured it out.

In fact, online teaching has sustained Vista Yoga over the years. At the start of the pandemic, Vista Yoga had up to forty people per class. But “we did not miss a day,” says Marty. The platform continues to provide flexibility around disruptions such as weather or staffing challenges, he says. The studio’s success online also reflects its students’ positive experiences with it. Long-time yoga practitioner and psychotherapist Sharman Colosetti notes that many started practicing online to support the studio. “It was making that paradigm shift and saying, ‘Ok, I can do this. And I can figure out how to adjust, and that’s what yoga is!’”

Fostering Connection Even at a Distance

While some were learning to master the technology, others found it challenging to sustain connectedness and community online.

For Francis, as for many studio owners, creating a kind of sanctuary space, working with ambient sound and emphasizing inclusivity and safety within the classroom were vital to her flourishing prenatal and postpartum yoga offerings. Personal check-ins, injury awareness and prevention, student growth, and creating connection and community were all a part of creating successful in-person classes—and they were far more difficult to create and foster through a screen.

But the will was there. Arnett moved her Monday night class online largely to maintain connection in the face of the pandemic. Francis decided to continue to do check-ins with each student, a hallmark of her in-person classes and a key community-building tool. Says Leo, “I did it because these people really wanted to take a class. … They really were with me, and they weathered through whatever difficulties I initially had.”

Colosetti feels that consistency, continuity and connection with her teachers were important during such an unstable time. Alison Spitz, another long-time practitioner and public health professional, found her practice was enhanced by going online. “I really liked the shift to online!” she says. “I started doing more classes each week, and I really found it productive.” She found she didn’t have to race back and forth from work, and she noticed “the teacher is right in front of you, and you really can hear and see the cueing.” She also liked the quiet and space she had at home.

Leo and Arnett’s online classes continue to this day. All of Francis’ birth-centering classes are now still thriving exclusively online, and Colosetti reflects that her practice would not have continued without online offerings during the pandemic. “I hate to think about it; I would have probably just dropped yoga altogether.”

“It is some satisfaction that there is a group of people who would not be practicing without what we’re doing,” says Marty Yura. “It’s not a rationale; it’s not a business decision. It’s just extra.”

Early Glitches and Setbacks

Challenges abounded for everyone in the early days of COVID. Students experienced technological barriers such as dropped meetings, slower internet speeds, botched audio and missed meetings. Teachers admitted feeling a general terror but also feeling torn between wanting to “drop in” and focus on their materials and having to attend to technological considerations of muting online participants, meeting entries and exits, collecting payments and attendance, and making sure audio/visual needs of students were met throughout.

Additionally, pedagogical and safety concerns arose for teachers, owners, and students alike. How challenging should overall classes and specific yoga postures be when teachers are working with minimal visual insight—sometimes only seeing blackened boxes? How can teachers ensure student safety? And how can students be assured they’re doing something both safely and skillfully without a teacher’s guidance?

Once people returned to in-person practice along with online study, students and teachers alike faced issues of divided attention. Students at home struggled with hearing the goings-on of a room they weren’t actually in, while those in the studio felt the teacher’s attention moving between the two environments and the different needs of each group.

Yet Connection Flourishes

Anna Leo got in the habit of always having flowers to create community online. She would hold up a vase to the camera and, in her best Fred Rogers voice, say, “Today, we have chrysanthemums…” She’d show her own environment and then connect with her students in theirs: their pets, loved ones, living room decor and more. By doing so, she created trust and connection: “It was just supportive. People checked in with each other; it turned into this really great group.” Marti Yura makes a point of talking directly to online students, just as she would those in class, and positioning the camera—not to record her best angles or most flattering pose but to create the greatest sense of practice community.

For some, deep connections continue to flourish despite the years now spent out of physical presence. “Most surprisingly perhaps, you can still absolutely sense the energy of the ‘room,’ even in an online setting,” says Arnett. “I’ve been so grateful not to lose that sense of energetic connection with a room full of meditation practitioners. As students have moved to other states and even other countries, they are able to stay with this meditation community we’ve built together.”

Arnett is not alone. “I like that I still can connect with these people,” says Leo. “I love that they’re still coming. I was terrified initially, but I really accept the challenge of doing this online.” As Marti Yura says, “We’re wired for community.”

With Resilience Comes Growth

It is not hyperbole to say that the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything for yoga teachers, studios and students alike. We’re all aware that another public health emergency, geo-political challenge or climate crisis could upend the in-person paradigm. Studios such as Vista Yoga have maintained online and hybrid provisions, acknowledging that it increases accessibility for all students and allows the yoga business itself to remain nimble and adaptable in a way it wasn’t before.

Students in particular are experiencing a new interconnectedness and depth in their practice world—on the one hand, the quiet and accessible online format and, on the other, a more extroverted, open experience of in-person practice. Both Spitz and Colosetti now attend a mix of live online and in-person classes, and unexpected connections continue to surprise them. In her newest in-person class, Spitz ran into people she knew previously online. “I am enjoying being in person in particular classes. I have enjoyed actually seeing, in person, some of the people that I’ve met in other online classes. I don’t recognize all of the people, but some of the people I do, and I find I’m saying hello to more people than I did in the past. So that’s nice.”

Community continues to grow in unexpected and grace-filled ways.

“It’s personal, and that’s what I really like about it,” says Colosetti. “One day, I went into class in person, and the instructor called me by name, and this young woman came up to me and said, ‘Oh, you’re Sharman. I hear you online all the time. It’s nice to see your face.’” ❧

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Patricia Schmidt, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a certified yoga therapist specializing in pelvic health, accessible yoga and yoga for cancer support. She is a Franklin Method trainer, Roll Model method teacher and somatic movement specialist. To learn more, visit PLSYoga.com.