Co-op History 101 from Manny

Saturday, August 8, 2020 - Our first class as a Co-op at Winnemac Park

We just turned six!

I've been reflecting on how far we've come these last six years, and it dawned on me that a lot of our newer folks don't know our origin story. So let me grab my grandpa cardigan, pour a cup of tea, put on my best Morgan Freeman voice, and tell you a story. It was summer 2020 — peak pandemic times… (cue dream sequence)

The world had shut down. Studios were closed. Everything could only happen outdoors, six feet apart and masked. The murder of George Floyd had sparked a yearning for change that rippled outward from Minneapolis and across the country. Calls for Black Lives to Matter and to Stop Asian Hate rang loudly — my own parents were being harassed in public. Economically, people were struggling. Many of us had been laid off and were relying on unemployment, while major corporations — including those in health and wellness — continued profiting from an already strained population.

We were pissed. I was pissed. There had to be a better way, right?

Then I got a text from an old colleague and friend, Paco. He invited me to have lunch at Winnemac Park. It had been years since we'd seen each other, and a socially distanced, masked catch-up sounded lovely.

What if it was a Co-op?

Immediately, Paco and I commiserated about everything we felt -- the topics of race and equity hit especially hard. Even at studios where we had taught before the pandemic, people would be surprised by how well I spoke English (I was born here) or assume Paco was there to clean the studio, not teach in it.

The commiserating turned into planning: that “better way” we had both been yearning for...what if we made it? What if we created the opposite of the capitalist, profit-margin-centered, cool-kids-only kind of place? What if it was a co-op?

Paco’s kids went to a cooperative preschool, and I had some exposure to grocery co-ops. But could a cooperative yoga studio exist? After tons of research, meetings with a lawyer, and the addition of a couple more team members who have since moved on to other projects (Hi, Elena and Kayla!) we learned that it could. And we decided that it would.

We went through a few names, but The Collective felt right: individual teachers, each with our own voice and identity, but all seated at the same table. No one above another. Equal.

We also wanted to create a place where no one would feel the othering we had experienced, both as students and as teachers. Putting folks from the margins at the helm became central to The Collective: people of color, queer folks, immigrants, neurodivergent people, and people of all abilities shaping a space where more of us could feel that we belonged.

We did the big, scary thing

In early August 2020, we invited our friends, neighbors, and former students to join us for a yoga class at Winnemac Park. About 30 folks showed up ready to flow, masks and all. At that class, we did the big, scary thing: we told everyone we were starting a pop-up yoga studio called The Collective Yoga Co-op. We’d be sliding-scale and community-focused, hosting classes in parks and on Zoom for the foreseeable future…and maybe, one day, in a brick-and-mortar studio.

(Sets aside tea and Morgan Freeman voice.)

Thank you, dear reader, for being part of this journey over the last six years. Whether you're just getting to know us, or have been around since the beginning, you've helped shape this place. We can’t wait to see what the next six years bring.

And if you’re curious how we got from Winnemac Park to our home on Foster, perhaps I’ll pull the cardigan back out for Co-op History 102.