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

Sara, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Archetype Yoga is the first Katonah Yoga® studio on the west coast. We do yoga differently than every studio in LA and here’s why…We believe the body is a house, that yoga is origami for the human form and many of our classes face inward to foster a communal experience.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Dancer, footwear designer and yoga practitioner. Sara Blumenkranz has had a lifelong connection with movement and feet. She spent a decade designing for well known companies and traveling the world. But the industry took its toll on her and she found yoga as a remedy to de-stress and built a relationship between mind and body. Everything changed after she experienced a foot reading with a veteran Katonah Yoga practitioner, she was so intrigued she decided to immerse herself in the study.

Traveling on a one way ticket from NY to LA, Sara pondered what her life would be like after nearly a decade away from her native, California. Thinking back, only a short time ago, the energetic buzz of a cramped yoga studio, the scent of sweat nearly palpable, the thump of music vibrating off of the white walls. It’s 7:30pm, the city bustling below, bright lights spewing from the seventh floor of an unassuming Chinatown building, energy is brewing inside…class is about to begin.

“You have to experience it to understand, a really great yoga teacher will leave you feeling euphoric. You know it is worth your time. They have to be able to hold your attention.” – Sara Blumenkranz

Having learned from and trained with the best yoga studios in New York, she knew she could craft a vision and build the community, then accidentally stumbled upon the perfect space.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

We engage with students differently because the fundamentals of Katonah Yoga help students develop techniques that underpin their practice. In Pasadena, the community has plenty of wonderful studios in close proximity, so we have to be disruptors. The Katonah Yoga dialogue and workshop style hatha based class initiates a stronger relationship between student and teacher than other forms of yoga. The practice is communal and everyone faces inward so there is no front or back of the room. This fosters a chance for students to understand the foundation of poses and receive hands-on adjustments so they can move somewhere new in their body. Classes weave in metaphor, ignite the imagination and rely on the communal experience. It’s a beautiful chance to be seen in the room. I like to say, “there is no place to hide in Katonah Yoga.”

One of our most popular classes on the schedule and with a loyal studentship is Restorative. Unlike anything you’ll find at other studios, this class truly captures a wide range of practitioners. From those that have been sedentary and make yoga their movement of choice, to busy professionals who rely on the class to unwind. You’ll find students of all ages and stages commiserating and congratulating each other as they progress through unassumingly challenging poses. Instructors provide hands-on adjustments and work individually with each student.

The makeup of our students is mixed from locals who live or work nearby to those who make Archetype Yoga a destination studio from afar. We have the power to draw from the larger LA neighboring communities and beyond. Students commute from Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Silverlake, and even Orange County to take from our sought after instructors. It’s something I did as a student as well. I have traveled over an hour to take at a studio or with an instructor that inspired me and my practice. It’s fuel for the fire. We take pride in building up our instructors and making them great. We want our instructors to pull from different lineages but ultimately use Katonah Yoga as a source to be more sustainable teachers. Students who have caught the Katonah Yoga wave will seek out instructors and drive the distance because there aren’t any other studios offering this style of teaching.

We love to be different and we’ve carved out a very important niche in the yoga world. We’ve built relationships with top notch instructors and we bring more than just yoga classes to our community. We bring knowledge through learning in masterclasses and training sessions that help inspire the practice. Our mission has remained the same from the start, “Come for the community, stay for the expert teachers and fall in love with Katonah Yoga.”

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In my business I’ve had to learn not to be afraid, and specifically, of money. When I say fear, “I mean a fear of lack.” The idea that I will never have enough money to do the things I want and therefore must work hard and save every cent. The idea of constant saving is based in the fear of lack. You stockpile and hold it all in until it breaks you. Every time you spend there’s a dirty guilty feeling. Which is what I did for years and it gave me an enormous sense of pride to be able to amass savings but also an ebbing guilt when I spent money. That guilt was the source of lots of stress in my personal life and relationships but I wasn’t fully conscious of how it was affecting my quality of life. It was triggered by things like taking a taxi, eating out, buying clothes but on the other hand I would spend without blinking an eye. It doesn’t make sense but some things were okay and others were a line crossed too far. What happens with this type of fear is that it makes the world very small.

Opening a Yoga Studio forced me to stare at the monster in the mirror. I had to shut off the part of myself that wanted to scream at spending in order to bring forth a dream. I had to do things that made me very uncomfortable like apply for a business loan. When you fear money the notion of debt is the worst thing that can possibly happen.

But, I leaned in and was open and adaptable and tried not to be so hard on myself. In small business you have to learn quickly from mistakes and be open to changing it up in real time. When I didn’t understand something, I actively sought knowledge from the small business administration or from my team of yoga instructors.

We brought in specialty instructors from New York and sought to hire Katonah Yoga Instructors at the highest rates we could afford. The Archetype Yoga experience is unique because we always seek to give our clients more than just classes. We are committed to hosting a yoga experience that starts when you walk through the door with complimentary mats, post class tea, and comfy chairs to chat with other yogis in our kitchen space.

For me, resilience has been working through a mindset that has been with me since childhood. There comes a time in life when you have to let go of who you were so you can embrace who you are becoming. I still feel anxious about money but I’ve learned to calm that fear and trust the journey which has thus far been the greatest road opener in my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: archetype.yoga
• Instagram: @archetypeyoga
• Facebook: @archetypeyoga
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/archetype-yoga-pasadena