We were lucky to catch up with Abby Ghantous recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Abby thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?
Our product is community. We are not interested in people being able to stand on their heads or twist into pretzels if the outcome of that is not regulation + connection. Because of this, we don’t sell class packs, quick fixes, or offer sales.
Our pricing model is different from any other studio I’ve ever seen. We offer a drop in price and a membership. No class packs where you buy #x and save $x. We aren’t interested in taking people’s money if they don’t get the value of regulation + connection. And we believe the only way to truly get the value is by showing up consistently, in person, to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
We don’t offer sales because we want people to understand the monetary value of 1 class ($15) while also getting the intangible value of having a place that values regulation + connection and doing work that matters, on and off the yoga mat.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
The Yoga Lab is a based on brain science. My background is in education and I am trained in Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model for Education (NME). NME is a a trauma-informed framework by Dr. Bruce Perry that helps educators understand how brain development influences a student’s behavior and learning.
When we began dreaming about opening a studio, I was working in schools full time, supporting educators with systems that promote social emotional learning for students, teachers, and caregivers. I realized that what is missing in education is a comprehensive model of learning that actually acknowledges the developmental and contextual factors impacting a person’s ability to use skills like self awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
The education system is a behemoth and I felt like my work wasn’t making a true impact. The Yoga Lab became my way of creating an environment that followed the sequence of how our brains work that I learned from NME- regulate, relate, reason- so I could actually make an impact in peoples’ lives.
We created a yoga studio to support regulation and built a coffee shop in the space that would create room + a reason for people to stay and relate and connect with others. In my work with NME, I learned that regulation + relationship is a primary factor for reasoning; in other words, if you aren’t regulated and connected, your thinking brain doesn’t work as well. We have people running around working, living, and parenting who are dysregulated and disconnected. True community change and wellbeing can’t happen when this is the reality. Our studio is a place that creates the recipe for regulation and relationship so people can be free to do the work they love in their worlds; solving problems at work, building healthy families, and changing our community for the better.
The Yoga Lab promotes transformation over transaction; people over poses.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
We provide consistency and predictability within the realm of yoga. We are very firm in our communication to members and new customers that we do not exist to provide an “entertaining” yoga class. All of the other studios in our area promote “We are yoga for EVERY body.” We do the opposite; we are a yoga studio for anyone, but not everyone. We do not stray from our outcome of regulation + connection to appease or try something “trendy.” People know exactly what to expect every time they walk through the doors. We teach the same sequence in every single power yoga class. The predictability is regulating for people. They can see growth over time in their practice because they have an opportunity to practice the principles every single time they step on their yoga mat. If we were constantly changing things, people would be confused and they wouldn’t have a baseline to see their growth. It’s motivating to show up each day, knowing you have a teacher who will hold you to a high standard while recognizing that you are a different person every time you step on your yoga mat and you know the sequence well enough that you can modify as needed.
Additionally, our teaching team shows up to practice. They are on their mats all the time, doing their own work. They lead from the front and we have open feedback conversations with each other. We are all constantly seeking to be better leaders and teachers and we believe this starts on our own yoga mats. Our members love to see us doing the work next to them. It is connecting and inspiring.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
We have the extreme benefit of having two people in our corner who have elevated our brand + marketing immensely.
My husband, Adam Ghantous, is a phenomenal storyteller through photo + video and our best friend, Micah Vetter (No Matter Brands), is a graphic designer and social media strategist. Both, Adam and Micah, do a very good job helping us convey the story and identity of our brand.
We have invested in education, equipment, and services that allow Adam and Micah to use their skills and expertise to elevate our social media.
Yoga is a confusing thing for many people; they’ve had experiences at other studios or from media and we have worked hard to use social media to convey the outcomes of doing yoga in our community versus a different studio or even a different movement practice all together. Being able to communicate who we are and why Yoga Lab is different than other yoga studios has been our primary goal on social media. We do not post photos of advanced poses often and we really stick to the basics. Our social media speaks to the accessibility of the practice in a “what is possible if you just show up” way but also speaks to the complexity and vast amount of learning in a “we are all always learning and we’d love for you to join us” way. Our social media is our invitation to a broader audience to use yoga as a vehicle for regulation + connection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theyogalab.org
- Instagram: yogalab.bn
- Facebook: Yoga Lab BN
Image Credits
Adam Ghantous