$10 drop-ins for boutique yoga? New NoDa studio places focus on affordability.
A few months after The Artisan’s Palate opened on 36th Street in NoDa, the cafe with an art gallery is getting a fitting neighbor: a new yoga center.
Khali Yoga Center quietly opened at the beginning of the week as part of its soft opening phase (all classes are free this week), and a grand opening is planned for Dec. 7.
Yogis will recognize the Khali team from other local studios. Co-owner Lindsey Crisp has taught at Yoga One, Charlotte Yoga and Charlotte Athletic Club. Co-owner Juli Ghazi (who also owns Pure Pizza) has assisted at Yoga One. Lead instructor and bodyworker Luis Rodriguez Bayon has taught at Yoga One, Core Power and Charlotte Yoga.
The team has put plenty of sweat equity into its 4,200-square-foot space that was once an industrial building. The result is an open natural-light studio space with two indoor yoga practice rooms for unheated and hot yoga classes, a patio for outdoor practices, three massage therapy rooms and gender-neutral restrooms with showers.
But the owners say the real focus is on contributing to the anti-gentrification of yoga. As Charlotte continues to grow and thrive, making $20 yoga drop-in classes and $10 smoothies the norm, it tends to leave behind those who don’t wish to spend their mortgages on avocado toast.
Khali plans to change that.
Technology-free zone: Leave your phone and watch outside
Two large studio spaces will be connected via an accordion door, holding up to 95 students in total. Glass garage doors cover the exterior walls, allowing for an indoor-outdoor practice area on good-weather days.
Technology-free classrooms will encourage people to leave cell phones and fitness trackers in the lobby’s cubbies. Yes, your workout counts even if your Apple Watch doesn’t record it.
“It’s not just about the individual not being distracted, but it’s also about creating a safe space for other people practicing,” Crisp said. “I’ve been in studios where I was sitting next to someone recording their practice and then I realized ‘I’m on their video’ — and when I came in here to feel comfortable in my own body and have an experience of getting connected with myself, then all of a sudden I’m fear of ‘I’m going to be put on social media, and I didn’t come here for that.’”
Aptly, the studio’s Instagram page will never show yogis in poses — that’s not what the practice is about, the owners said. “We don’t want to idolize and praise, (suggesting that) you are what your pose looks like,” Crisp said. “There’s a culture of that happening right now. It deters people from yoga when they see that.”
The patio is decorated with heaters and fire pits for outdoor practice sessions. It’s completely fenced in, so the studio’s official greeters, dogs Cashew and Max, can run around.
Classes and workshops
The class schedule will include a rotating roster of beginner yoga, vinyasa flow classes, Ashtanga, deep stretch — five days a week —and hot yoga with infrared heat.
Spanish-speaking classes will also be offered, as there are two teachers on staff who speak the language fluently.
At some studios, yoga teachers tend to hop from place to place, earning small amounts of cash that barely cover the cost of training, holding down full-time jobs on the side in order to pay the rent. In contrast, Khali’s teachers will be full-time, Ghazi said. This will allow them to fulfill a passion of teaching others without worrying about how to put dinner on the table.
A focus on affordability in a city of rising prices
Khali Yoga joins other local spaces in placing the intention on affordability and accessibility for those who may not feel comfortable practicing in a mainstream space.
CharlotteFive recently wrote about two black-owned yoga studios whose owners are intentionally creating space: one which is black-centered and queer-affirming and another that focuses on diversity in age, income level and physical condition.
NoDa Yoga’s second location in Oakhurst will place intention on accessible yoga, knowing people who cannot climb the stairs at its original spot will be able to practice at the new studio on ground level.
Some Charlotte-area teachers offer weekly $5 classes in spaces such as breweries and churches.
Even at other boutique studios, where drop-ins are often as high as $20, studio owners are making space on the schedule for more affordable classes as well. NoDa Yoga offers some pay-what-you-can classes and $10 karma classes. Yoga One holds space for $5 Happy Hour and $8 classes.
And at Khali, the most a student will pay for one class is $10 for the drop-in rate. Eight classes costs $70, and unlimited monthly yoga is $80. The studio also has scholarship opportunities.
Khali Yoga
1210 E. 36th St., Suite A
Charlotte, NC 28205
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 5:49 AM.
