Like many other businesses in the Seattle community (and across the world), Be Luminous Yoga has had to choose between shutting down for good and figuring out a new way to operate. Michel Spruance, director and owner, opted to avoid a knee-jerk reaction when considering next steps at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I decided that it was important not to panic. I just pressed pause to assess the needs for our customers, and how we could provide that. The tools we have are absolutely essential to their sanity right now,” she said.
Be Luminous Yoga went from offering in-person classes to live classes online.
“A weird positive is that I have been trying to get yoga students to be able to practice digitally in a live class. We tried last summer, and it didn’t work. But after the pandemic started, we got more buy-in. At first it was ‘I resisted this’ or ‘I refused to do it for weeks,’ but now the response is more positive – ‘I’m grateful,’ or ‘now I don’t have to commute,’ and ‘I’m going to keep doing it when this is all over.’”
Michel said that this new direction has opened up her and her customers’ sense of what yoga can be.