Our Mission.
At The Nest, we believe that everyone can find freedom through movement. Our mission is to provide our community with a safe and welcoming space to access and fuel that freedom, strengthening physical and emotional wellness within ourselves and in turn, within the world around us. From yoga, to dance, to kickboxing and everything in between, you’ll find something for everyone here.
Our Core Values.
Build Community.
We will spread joy. We will be encouraging, positive, grateful and respectful. We will laugh. We will welcome and support you, our team members, and everyone else that comes through our doors.
Invigorate.
We will think big. We will foster your wonder and curiosity of what is possible, and help you discover the tools you hold to get you there. All the while, enjoying the journey by taking time to stop and honor ourselves and our community along the way.
Encourage Social Consciousness.
We will have a positive impact on our society and our environment. We will choose sustainability, think locally, practice transparency, and collaborate with other like-minded members of our community.
Continue Learning.
We will be passionate about learning and seek to constantly grow, so that we can continue to serve ourselves and you. We will learn from others and from our challenges & successes. We will practice what we preach. As we know better, we will do better.
DEI.
One thing we know for certain is the devastating effects that a system built on the foundation of hatred and prejudice can cause. We also know that we are in a unique position as a new studio to build ourselves on a different foundation where every practitioner and staff member feels safe and comfortable showing up as their true, authentic self. One where Black lives matter, LGBTQ+ rights are human rights, movement is for everyBODY, and kindness is everything. To do this, we’ve outlined some of the initial steps we're going to take to cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.
Create a Safe Space: Our space itself will be sacred and welcoming. Anyone and everyone can walk through our doors and expect to be treated with the exact same amount of kindness and respect as the next person. Any discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated. This mindset it where it starts.
Actively Outreach: We will actively work against discrimination within the yoga and movement community in the United States, because simply being welcoming to everyone is not enough when your discipline as a whole has been disproportionately excluding. It's a huge mental barrier for a person to think that they may come to class and not see a single other person who looks like them. For this reason, we've decided that our approach needs to extend beyond our studio. We're going to hold a free classes at community centers across our local region so that people have the opportunity to join our practice in a space that they already feel comfortable. We will specifically and actively partner with communities representing underrepresented ethnic and cultural groups, people that identify as LGBTQ+, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Facilitate Access: We will implement a financial assistance program to ensure that everyone who wants to practice has the opportunity to do so. Each accepted applicant will receive 4 free class passes each month. This program will be fueled by unused guest passes of our members. Acceptance to the program will be based off of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, and should we have more eligible applicants than funding available, preference will be given to persons from underrepresented and marginalized communities including ethnic and cultural minorities, people that identify as LGBTQ+, senior citizens, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Continued Learning: We will always continue listening and will always honor the importance in understanding different cultures and backgrounds. We will do this both informally and formally by being attentive, open, and amplifying of voices of marginalized groups during everyday interactions at our studio, and by supporting opportunities for our staff to attend workshops and events that are aligned with this mission.
Adapt: We will continually monitor how we are doing and how we can do better by offering a space for students and teachers at our studio to provide feedback and suggestions. For now, this will be in the form of a suggestion box at our studio and a form on our monthly newsletter. Additionally, we will conduct optional surveys of our members to gain deeper understanding our demographics. As our core values say, as we know better, we will do better.