Our Story, featured in VoyageAustin Magazine
Erica and Cynthia, sisters and co-owners of The Yoga Common, were recently interviewed for VoyageAustin, an online magazine that shares authentic stories from small businesses, local institutions, independent artists and entrepreneurs in Austin.
The full interview is re-posted below (the original post is here).
Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Whalen and Cynthia Rayner. Them and their team share their story with us below.
The Yoga Common was started by two sisters with a passion for movement and a heart for healing. When Erica Whalen & Cynthia Rayner discovered the studio in 2007, it was a tiny community in Midtown Manhattan in need of some love and inspiration. Today, the team has grown to two studios in New York City & Austin, serving busy cities with healing sanctuaries full of heart and soul.
Erica is a former professional dancer with a BA in ballet and modern dance. She is an E-RYT200 and trained at Laughing Lotus Yoga School in NYC. She has been teaching yoga for nearly 20 years. Cynthia is a consultant, researcher and writer who believes small businesses can do great good in the world. She works with social changemakers and entrepreneurs who are making a positive difference in the world.
We are very close to our family and grew up in a home that celebrated movement and music. Both of our parents are small business owners. Our dad is a physical therapist who owned his own clinic for nearly 40 years. Our mom is a piano teacher who taught piano and choir for 5 decades. While growing up, we watched our parents serve others with their talents.
Erica was a ‘mover’ from an early age. As a child, she never sat still. We called her “Tigger” because she bounced everywhere. She watched TV while hanging upside down from the back of the couch. One day, my Mom found her unknowingly standing on her head. In high school, she became an award-winning violinist. She later found purpose and rigor in dance. Her life found its main purpose when she was accepted into the Texas Christian University dance program. She moved to NYC at the age of 22 to pursue her career in dance, and then became a yoga teacher to create a sustainable career beyond her 20s.
Cynthia, on the other hand, was a “thinker” who always had her head stuck in a book. She became a management consultant then a director of a hospitality company. But she wanted to find a more purposeful career. When pursuing her MBA, Erica came to her with the idea to buy the Manhattan-based The Yoga Common, then called mang’Oh. Cynthia was excited to create a sustainable business that allowed people to live their best lives.
Fast forward to 2022, with partners and children and busy lives. We were both living in Austin, hoping to bring the NYC studio ethos to the Northwest suburbs. We both know what it’s like to struggle with balanced living, and we love the neighborhood vibe of a yoga studio that contributes to the community. We opened our second studio in Austin in September 2022, and we’re excited to grow a new community right in our hometown!
We believe passionately in the connection between body and mind, and in pursuing lives that blend creativity with purpose. We believe local businesses should serve the communities in which they are situated, making people’s lives better and allowing people to achieve their passions and purposes.”
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
In 2009, Cynthia moved to South Africa to further her career and start her family. Then Erica moved to New Jersey where she started her own family. This forced us to rely upon each other, clarify our roles, and empower our teachers and staff to run the studio without us being there every day. We are incredibly grateful to the TYC teachers and staff who host beautiful classes every day of the year without our physical presence. We know we could never do this on our own; they are the true heart of TYC.
2020 started off with an exciting January; in fact, more students than we had ever had joined us in the New Year! We all know what happened in March 2020. Covid-19 forced us to close our doors and we weren’t able to reopen until a full 12 months later. We were able to begin hosting Livestream classes within 24 hours of closure, and our wonderful teachers and students experimented alongside us! Today, we continue to host hybrid classes from our NYC studio, and this allows us to serve a much broader audience with flexibility and safety.
We’ve certainly had hurdles, but these have made us stronger and allowed us to forge our purpose as a team, together.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
TYC is an expression of our values as much as a business. We have always loved harnessing movement, creative expression and community as medicine. We are passionate about the practice of yoga, and firmly believe in its power to transform people’s daily lives. Yoga has the ability to improve people’s physical health, their mental clarity and their spiritual well-being. We have witnessed countless students become healthier, more joyful and less stressed because of their practice.
We believe in doing “small things with great love”. We believe in quality over quantity, simplicity, and we always strive to do less better rather than more. We want our students (who are often influencers in their own fields) to feel that they can be their best selves – more mindful, joyful and healthy as they navigate their lives. We want them to feel supported and uplifted through our classes.
We also love owning a small business that serves people in NYC and Austin. Working as entrepreneurs for over 15 years, we know how difficult it is to balance wellness and the daily grind. It can take everything out of you. So we love the fact that TYC provides a small oasis from this striving. We hope we can give people a place that feels like a respite from all of that.
We love empowering talented teachers and giving them a platform to share their gifts with our community. We believe in offerings that are uniquely suited to local communities of this big wonderful planet that we live in!
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
We’ve learned from 2020 that using predictions to direct our business is risky.
Instead, we prefer to hone in on what we do best: creating calming spaces that celebrate community & nature; offering beautiful, expressive yoga classes that combine movement and breath; giving excellent and inspiring teachers a place to share their talents; and supporting students in building a lifelong practice that can make their lives more full and joyful.
We believe yoga (and wellness and movement in general) will grow in importance as people seek more fulfillment and health in their lives. We are happy to invest in this “trend”, knowing that the world will be strengthened if we can all discover places to move and grow in the community!
Pricing:
Austin Introductory Special – Two weeks for $29
Austin Mini Membership – 4 classes every 4 weeks, $69
Austin Unlimited Membership – Unlimited classes + perks, $99/month
Austin Family Membership – Up to 4 household members, Unlimited classes, $149/month
Austin Ten Packs & Single Classes also available
