We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Stroud a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

At Buffalo + Sparrow Yoga Collective, we do try to break the mold for how yoga and the business of yoga is conducted. One of the things we’ve changed this year is how teachers get paid. It’s true that the large majority of yoga studios don’t or can’t pay teachers what they are worth and/or enough to make it worth the teacher’s time. We were doing the same for a while. Then, we decided to have students pay the teacher’s directly through their payment methods like PayPal and Venmo. We actually were doing this at the very start of covid when studios shut down and we had to take everything online. I suppose we coming back to this unexpected model again. This payment model allows the teacher to receive 100% of the fees student’s pay to attend class, giving the teacher a higher income and reassuring the students that their dollars are going to the services they are paying for and nothing else.

Another thing we are doing differently is the amount we charge (or don’t charge) for yoga offerings. At the start of 2023, we switched to a Pay-What-You-Can model. This means students really pay what is within their comfort zone. This allows folx to access yoga, which can sometimes feel like a luxury with yoga classes sometimes being as high as $22-2$26 per class. Because we are a trauma-sensitive business, we take into account the fact that financial restraints feed into one’s ability to cope and survive. We recognize that those who may need yoga the most are cut off from it because it’s too expensive. The Pay-What-You-Can model removes the financial barrier to access yoga. We, as a business, and the teachers as a collective, understand that some folx will pay very little for class while others will pay more, and in this way, the students support each other as well.

And finally, because we offer Trauma-Sensitive Yoga, we aim to give access to yoga in spaces that could really benefit from the nervous system regulation and calm such as, trauma and recovery centers, hospitals and therapists offices. We hope to grow this circle more and more as we also continue to grow.

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?

Buffalo + Sparrow Yoga Collective was born from the hearts of two women with the vision of a world free from sufferings attached to trauma. Knowing trauma resides in the body, Cole and Rachel witnessed and experienced yoga as an effective and meaningful modality to work trauma out of the body. They see yoga as a prominent tool in aligning trauma survivors to their journey towards health and freedom from their symptoms. One of their students so graciously shared with them the image of a buffalo as a symbol of courage during her recovering journey. Cows instinctively run away from an approaching storm, prolonging their suffering as they end up running with it rather than through it. Buffalos, however, will face a storm head-on, getting through it much quicker with far less suffering.
A sparrow represents triumph after long suffering, joy, community, hard work and protection. The sparrow offers the buffalo protection during the storm and community to lean on when it’s too much to bear alone. The sparrow gives hope and encouragement for the transformation of hard work and perseverance into joy and freedom beyond the storm. This is why the sparrow is such a crucial image alongside the buffalo. One cannot begin to overcome and heal from their trauma unless there is hope, courage, hard work and community. At the very core of every trauma survivor is COURAGE and it’s Cole and Rachel’s passion and commitment to usher it forth through yoga.
We desire for all people to have the ability to live life as their whole self; for everyone to know they are not their trauma or stress symptoms and they can support themselves through self-regulation. The key is to learn tools of self-regulation. Yoga taught through the lens of trauma-sensitivity can teach people to bear witness to their symptoms and regulate themselves. Through trauma-sensitive yoga, Buffalo and Sparrow Yoga Collective equips people affected by trauma (which we believe is everyone), with the tools to self-regulate, connect with their sense of self and to remind them of their own innate ability to heal.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My business partner, Cole, and I built this business back in 2017. We’ve put blood, sweat, tears and our whole hearts into this business. We are proud of what we’ve built and the community that continues to keep showing up. However, yoga has never been a profitable business and it’s hard to make it work as a career. Eventually, Cole decided to take a full-time job doing another thing she loved, but much more stable, reliable and focused. We both felt this was the best decision for her. However, Buffalo + Sparrow had to pivot because of the workload it put on me. We decided the payment model that we switched to could also lessen the workload since we wouldn’t have payroll each month anymore. This was a huge pivot that we made in January of 2023 and it did indeed free up some space. We also invited our teachers into a collective mindset and model. This means each teacher helps out with business a little bit. This looks like a small monthly contribution to help the business maintain since they are now receiving 100% of the students fees. They also help with marketing and social media. They have more control over the classes they offer and when. We all come together as a stronger unit to keep this ship afloat.

And, with these shifts, I can report that we are feeling pretty good about it!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Word of mouth is our strongest source for new clients. Our students are committed and they also love to share a good thing. We are grateful to the yoga community for helping us grow. This usually means our growth is slow, but it also means it’s steady. We couldn’t be more grateful!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.buffaloandsparrow.com
• Instagram: @buffaloandsparrow
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuffaloandSparrow

Image Credits
Christina Patsiokas @greenlionimages