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When a yoga teacher instructs students to take a deep breath before releasing everything, they’re referring to the release of stress—not the unloading of cash, car keys, and credit cards. Yet the latter is exactly what’s been happening at yoga studios, which have been hit hard in recent years by thefts.
At PC Yoga Collective in Park City, Utah, for instance, owner Jenn Solomon explains how a woman signed up and signed in for a yoga class using a fake name, but said she had to leave to make a phone call just before class started. The woman allegedly took car keys and wallets from bags in the lobby. It wasn’t until after class that students realized their things were missing.
Solomon says the woman who burglarized her studio had also burglarized three other studios that same day. Shortly after, two suspects were arrested for the thefts, and the stolen items were found in their possession, according to an article in TownLift.
Thefts at yoga studios aren’t new. This scenario has been playing out for years, usually following a similar pattern. Interestingly, the thief has most often been female, and sometimes she gets away with using the stolen credit cards before the owner even realizes they’re missing.
Recently, a 24-year-old woman was accused of stealing a purse containing an iPhone and credit card at a South Miami yoga studio and going on a $14,000 shopping spree at Saks Fifth Avenue, Fendi, and Louis Vuitton. The charges were later dropped due to a possible misidentification via security cameras, but that doesn’t assuage the yoga studio—and those burglarized—from the struggle of feeling victimized.
Solomon explains that students should feel safe and contained in a yoga studio. “You naturally let your guard down,” she says. Although her studio staff in Park City had usually locked the front door when class was in session, they’re much more diligent about it now. But it’s been a difficult transition.
“You want to let everyone in,” she explains. “It’s a healing practice. I want to invite you in and hold you.”
But due to the occasional theft, many yoga students, instructors, and studio managers are grappling with how to be inclusive of everyone who walks through the door, yet simultaneously cautious with students’ belongings.
The Unfortunate Reality
Isaac Robertson, a personal trainer in Indianapolis who has been practicing yoga for years, says he has been present at various studios when items have gone missing during class. Today, Robertson feels nervous when studios don’t offer lockers. It’s less a lack of trust in fellow practitioners, he explains, and more a general feeling.
“Without a secure place to store your belongings, it’s natural to be a bit on edge, wondering if your stuff is safe while you’re deep into a yoga pose,” he says.
Others say they aren’t nervous at all because, well, it’s yoga.
Kat Pither, the founder of Yogi Bare in London, says theft at a yoga studio never crosses her mind. “It may sound a bit ‘Disney,’ but I genuinely believe and trust that yoga studios embody the spirit of yoga, extending to everyone who enters, associates with, attends class, and works for a studio,” she says. “The concept of asteya (not stealing) is a state of being where we don’t want for more and accept what is ours and freely shared.” It’s difficult for many who practice yoga to imagine that stealing would happen.
But while yoga spaces should be sacred spaces where those who enter reflect the values of yoga, that isn’t guaranteed, and yoga studios are creatively addressing what they can do to make their spaces inviting…but not too inviting.
What Studios Are Doing to Deter Stealing
Unlike traditional gyms, many yoga studios lack lockers or other spaces where yoga students can lock their personal items. This is often due to space constraints. Adding lockers to studios is costly and not always feasible for many small businesses. Also, the yoga community tends to be a more trusting crowd, and some studio owners are concerned that the presence of lockers insinuates a lack of trust.
Instead, many studio owners are trying to solve the problem by locking the front door during class, adding security cameras, or hiring additional front desk staff. Solomon says that following the thefts last winter, if someone needs to leave class early at her studio, the teacher personally walks the student out the locked door so they can avoid any issues. And if the studio is burglarized, many owners reach out to nearby studios to warn them of potential robberies occurring in the area. It’s a yoga family type of thing. When one gets hit, they all feel it.
Many studios are asking students to be more diligent in keeping watch of their belongings. Eloise Skinner, a yoga instructor in London, says she’s noticed a rise in warning notices in changing rooms telling students that thefts have recently taken place. And Brett Larkin, the founder of Uplifted Yoga and author of the upcoming book, Yoga Life: Habits, Poses and Breathwork to Channel Joy Amidst the Chaos, says that in urban studios, she’s started keeping her valuables next to her mat or under her towel nearby.
“I always encourage students and instructors to be on-guard, no matter how well they know the teacher, the students, or the space,” says Tianna Faye Soto, a yoga and meditation instructor in New York City. When she takes a class at an unfamiliar studio, she asks the front desk where the best place is to securely leave her belongings, and whether the studio will be locked or supervised. If she’s not comfortable with the situation, she brings her valuables into class with her, leaving them on the side of the room and out of the way so they’re not a distraction to others.
As Soto advises, it’s safest to keep your items in a locked place or, within reason, in the practice space. Another option is leaving non-essential valuables in a locked car or at home. Although thieves can’t steal your inner peace, they can take your wallet. And that can temporarily put a damper on your namaste.
About Our Contributor
Danielle Braff is a freelance writer living in Chicago with her two children, two cats and a dog. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading, traveling or baking. A graduate of Oxford University in England, she is a huge Anglophile, and has big dreams of moving to the Cotswolds. Her perfect day consists of ample doses of coffee, tea, books and naps. You may check out her other stories at www.Daniellebraff.com.
