We were lucky to catch up with Michael Caldwell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Amy and I had just returned to the United States after backpacking abroad for three and half years. She got a job working at a great family-run produce distribution company and I became the account manager for a boutique graphic design studio.

One of the first client’s I worked with at the studio was Mitchell Repair Information Company. The company innovated “the automotive industry’s first collision estimating guides to include parts illustrations, prices and part numbers.” – https://mitchell1.com/history

During our staff brainstorming sessions, names were offered and debated. Thinking of premiere cars world-wide, Formula 1 racing seemed to me to be the pinnacle, and so I suggested the name, “Mitchell 1.” It stuck.

Not long after that, Amy was getting ready to open up our yoga studio. Since it worked well for a nationwide company like Mitchell, I suggested “Yoga One.”

Additionally, we had recently gotten married. Instead of wedding rings, we had the “eka” symbol tattooed on our ring fingers, symbolizing “ we are one (see the flower like image growing out of the “Y” in the Yoga One logo). Furthermore, yoga means “to yoke/join” or “union.” One divided by one is one and the practice of yoga helps individuals to become more “one” with themselves and the world.

Plus, we always strive to be the best studio in the world, numero uno, number 1! So the name is also aspirational.
In short, Yoga One came from an automotive manual writing company. (:

Michael, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc

Since 2002, Yoga One has been helping people to live healthier and happier lives. We share the joys and benefits of yoga, but what we really provide is a forum to increase self-awareness, skills for individuals to be their best selves, and a positive, open, non-competitive, welcoming, and supportive community. We foster relationships – the individual with self, and with others. We offer a beautiful space for people to set aside their worries, responsibilities and stress so they can return to the world refreshed, stronger, more flexible and with increased mindfulness.

Yoga One is a woman and black owned family business. We treat our staff and students as family. We are fortunate to have been practicing yoga since 1997.

Our vibrant airy studio with canyon views in Mission Hills is also a community space for workshops, classes, gatherings, events, exhibits, book clubs, acoustic concerts, learning, growing, sharing, laughing, loving and connecting. We look forward to seeing you there!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
It was March, 2019. For the previous 18 years we had shared the joys and benefits of yoga with thousands of San Diego residents and visitors via our award-winning Downtown studio on 7th Avenue. For several years, it had also been a dream of ours to open a studio in our neighborhood of Mission Hills. Our children attended the public schools in the area and we wanted to connect with and give back to our community.

With the help of our friends, Johnny and Renee of Wolf in the Woods wine bar, we found the perfect spot to open our second studio, on the beautiful Fort Stockton Drive. We were planning a grand opening celebration for April 1st, 2019. Then Covid-19 hit and San Diego, like so many places, went into lock down.

Our new studio was put on ice and our Downtown location locked up. Within two days of the stay at home mandate, and thanks largely to our amazing team – Missy and Laura, we brought our entire schedule online via zoom. We were able to quickly shift some of our corporate clients online as well. We will be forever grateful to our generous and wonderful students who maintained their memberships and stuck by us throughout such challenging times. In turn, we were able to keep our full staff and maintain their pre-Covid schedules.

Yoga teaches us to be strong, flexible and present. The circumstances surrounding Covid-19 certainly put our practice to the test. We feel so fortunate to have these tools to take care of ourselves mentally and physically. All of us at Yoga One look forward to continuing to offer and grow our services – enriching the well-being of as many people as possible! We now are offering classes in-studio, in Presidio Park, live online and on-demand, with some of our students and companies across the country.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
It was 1995 and I, Michael, was working for Broadcast Music Incorporated in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd. We were throwing a party for jazz bassist extraordinaire and film composer Stanley Clarke. Amy and her co-workers from Budd Carr’s music supervision team were attending the event.

With Budd and company, Amy had helped with the music for such films as Twister, Heat, Nixon and Natural Born Killers. Since Amy and her team often frequented such events as a group, someone remarked that she’d never find a boyfriend because it always appeared that she was in a relationship. Amy replied that there wasn’t anyone at the party in which she was interested in, anyway. That is until I walked around the corner.

Insert angelic music swelling, a warm breeze blowing my hair, and soft lighting caressing my face. A few years later, we were at 18,800 feet on Kala Patar and with Mount Everest as our witness, I proposed. Amy, cold and oxygen deprived said, “Of course!” We then hiked to base camp for good measure.

This is ~obviously~ my (Michael’s )version of events! But that Hollywood music business party was the start of it all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yogaonesandiego.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogaonesandiego/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yogaonesandiego/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb0OaU_Bw5–GmgYCb0e6_A
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/yoga-one-san-diego
• Other: https://www.yogaonesandiego.com/yoga-teacher-training

Image Credits
Peyton Hamby, Shadow Van Houten, Michael Caldwell, Epic Photojournalism