Philadelphia Yoga Exchange

06/08/2020

Dear PYX Community,

We hope this note finds you safe, and well, and in the events of the last few days, weeks & months - we hope you are finding steadiness in your practices.

We have put off writing this note to you as the events of the last few weeks have made it apparent that there are much bigger concerns in the world than our plans to re-open the yoga studio. We are angry and sad about the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless other Black lives that have been lost due to the underlying racism and police brutality that exists in our society. We are also proud and overwhelmed by the response of all peaceful protestors in this country, and especially in Philadelphia. All we can say is, we wish we were standing next to you during those protests and are finding other ways to be involved in our home here in Upstate NY.

We do however have to provide an update to you and we wish it was a different one. The events of the last few months related to COVID-19 have led us to the decision to end the lease on our physical studio location. Despite applying to city and federal assistance programs we were not eligible for amounts that would have sustained the business during our closure. Unfortunately, yoga studios already operate on small margins and a frank analysis showed us that financial recovery would not have been possible even with the small assistance we did receive. While we will not go into details here, we are happy to talk with anyone individually and be transparent with you about what assistance we did receive and how it was used.

We recognize that this is not the news many of you wanted to receive. We are one of many yoga studios making this difficult decision in light of COVID-19 given the ongoing safety concerns and cleaning rituals that re-opening would expose us to for the foreseeable future.

There are many people we wish to thank for their contributions as teachers, supporters and mentors: Colleen McGregor, Katie Azzara, Shelley Saunders, Nina Scarpinato, Chandler Price, Sara Parente, Bill Schmedding, Jason Coffman, Louise Sullivan, Lindsay Kutschman, Caroline Chen, Anika Pyle, Anna Kessler, Bentley Eskridge, Justin Rose, Karen Hamill, Scottie Stampone, Jenysbel Duran, John & Diana Vitarelli, Mark Nelson, David Garrigues & Meghan Kirk to name a few, and Emily Knade and Jason Lucarelli for their brand and marketing efforts behind the scenes, and our business neighbors Chick Schall, W/N W/N and Judy & Robert of Sazon. A yoga community is not sustained without its teachers nor without its mentors and neighbors.

Thank you for being a part of our humble yoga home & story. Thank you for being our students. We hope we imparted on you ways to integrate yoga into the foundation of your lives. Remember, Yoga is a lifestyle. It is union. It is subtle, it is profound, it is in everyday ordinary moments, and in asana and in prayer, it is in conversations and service, and in protests, loss and grief. Keep practicing for yourself, find teachers that lift you up, make it sustainable for your lifetime. We are all connected by this practice, and we remain available to you as teachers ongoing.

Some logistical matters:

Ongoing online classes will be coordinated by individual instructors. The current Zoom link (see below) will remain the same for classes this week as our instructors create individual plans for offering ongoing classes online. Many, many thanks to Caroline, Louise, Lindsay and Justin for their ongoing online offerings.
For those of you with unused classes or unlimited passes, we invite you to e-mail us to discuss how to use these classes which includes having another area yoga studio honor your remaining credits, or donating the value of these to the studio to assist us with ongoing obligations and closing expenses. You can reach us at hello@philadelphiayogaexchange.com.
We are also open to discussing assets related to the business such as our website, social media pages and brand with anyone that is interested in growing our business as your own.
There are many studios with robust online offerings as well as studios that are making re-opening plans. Here are a few studios & teachers we recommend:

The Yoga Garden
Dhyana Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga School of Philadelphia
Joan White Yoga
Gabrielle Sigal Yoga
Palo Santo Yoga & Wellness
Mysore Philadelphia (Meghan Kirk)
David Garrigues (online & globally)
We hope you will follow us on social media to stay up to date on our teachings and retreats in New York in the future. Our individual information is listed below.

With humility and gratitude,

Erik & Lauren Burling

Lauren - laurburling@gmail.com

Erik - burlin39@gmail.com .zen.bjorling

06/02/2020

This morning we donated $100 to Philadelphia Bail Fund.

Class tonight with Louise is at 6:15 on Zoom and she is also donating proceeds to and

https://zoom.us/j/6444135262

🖤

04/23/2020

We are so grateful to all that supported our first t-shirt campaign. It was unexpected and we would call it a total success as we were able to pay a few of our bills this month from the proceeds. As a way to give back we launched a second campaign, this time all proceeds will benefit local Philabundance, whose work in the community speaks for itself. If you're looking for a way to give back and grab some cool swag, sweatshirts are available this time around which everyone needs on these cool Spring nights!

The proceeds from this campaign will benefit Philabundance.. We are really grateful to all that supported our first t-shirt campaign. We wanted to launch a second campaign...

04/22/2020

Happy Earth Day!

As we personally make the switch to being lower waste users, we accept that we may not always be perfect but that every day we can make choices to cultivate better habits. Over time it'll become second nature.

One of our favorite items we've begun using this year is the by , a simple switch, and new habits include reusing egg cartons and filling them with local eggs, composting in our backyard, swapping out paper towels with swedish dish cloths, & hang drying our clothes.

What's a small switch you've made this year or habit your working on?

Image posted this morning by our friends at

03/23/2020

Like all small businesses that are closed due to COVID-19, our yoga studio could use some support right now. If you feel called to help, we have set up a t-shirt campaign with a - somewhat lofty goal - of selling 100 t-shirts within three weeks!! This is a great, easy way to help us right now while also getting yourself some cool swag.

Be sure to click through the t-shirt options as there are men & women's styles and many colors to choose from!

All t-shirts have our favorite quote by Viktor Frankl on the front: "That which gives light must endure burning." This quote hangs in the entryway of our yoga studio for all to see when they enter.
We thought we knew "hard" before, but never did we quite expect what the world is presently going through. These words are carrying us more than ever these days.

Thank you in advance for your support & kindness. We love you.

Support PYX through COVID-19 challenges.. Like many small businesses, and all yoga studios everywhere, our Philadelphia studio is presently closed due to COVID-19. Small...

03/19/2020

Home Practice, You Take.

Sarah Hatcher shares how to practice at home; she offers tips and advice on how to eat, prepare your house and your mind for a successful daily yoga practice.

03/19/2020

"I encourage you to adopt my motto: doing any yoga, under any circumstances, for any amount of time, at any time, with no additional expectations or obligations is better than doing none.

Setting the bar low helps me to have a commitment to doing a little yoga every day so that I gain the ally of consistency. From the perspective of consistency simply getting in there and doing something is more important than any other factor such as how intense, long, short, insightful, inspiring, frustrating, joyous, boring or other. And also interruptions that cause you to stop and then start again weaken your connection to yoga even if you are on fire when you are practicing between stops or even when worthy things call you away. Hence my motto that even a tiny bit of daily practice wins the day!" David Garrigues

I encourage you to adopt my motto: doing any yoga, under any circumstances, for any amount of time, at any time, with no additional expectations or obligations is better than doing none.

Setting the bar low helps me to have a commitment to doing a little yoga every day so that I gain the ally of consistency. From the perspective of consistency simply getting in there and doing something is more important than any other factor such as how intense, long, short, insightful, inspiring, frustrating, joyous, boring or other. And also interruptions that cause you to stop and then start again weaken your connection to yoga even if you are on fire when you are practicing between stops or even when worthy things call you away. Hence my motto that even a tiny bit of daily practice wins the day!

03/14/2020

Oldie but goodie! 30 minute flow with Erik.

Enjoy this 30 minute vigorous Vinyasa Flow class with Erik. The sequence is tailored for all levels. Erik offers a beginners, intermediate, and advanced opti...