The owner of Sun Peaks Yoga, Kayla Alfred, is saying goodbye to the studio space she’s been teaching in since she opened her business in December 2019.
Her final yoga series finishes on Thursday, July 25, and she’ll host one last class in the building on Friday, followed by a tea circle where people can hang out, listen to music and say goodbye.
Even as she leaves the studio, due mainly to financial strain, she is determined to find a way to teach, saying it’s what she’s meant to do.
Bringing yoga to Sun Peaks
Alfred called Sun Peaks her “happy place” and said she’d always wanted to move back here, having lived in the area on-and-off since 2009.
With a house full of chaos with her kid and dog, she preferred doing yoga in a studio space. Sun Peaks was lacking in this area, so she opened one herself. Alfred geared her workshops and classes toward the target market of those living in Sun Peaks, namely athletic and outdoorsy, and tried to create a space in which people could feel safe.
“Everyone who walks through these doors, they walk out feeling better about themselves 99 per cent of the time,” she said. “Sometimes it’s emotional work, but you have somewhere where people can go to feel at home.”
Part of the reason she was able to let the studio space go is that she knows she’ll find a way to teach no matter what.
“If I have that drive, I’ll find a way.”
The reality of running a local business
Alfred doesn’t believe she’d be in this situation if she hadn’t opened at the time she did. After having to pay back her startup without consistent business during the pandemic, she’s been operating with no financial safety net.
The studio had to close about 84 days after opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That was three and a half years of open, close, open, close, open, close,” she said. “I feel like I’m chasing my tail instead of going on a consistent path.”
Finally, this winter was busy, introducing appropriate numbers to maintain a business, and Alfred felt the studio was in a good place.
“That’s when we got our property tax bill and the notifications that all of our bills are going to increase by another 10 per cent,” she said.
Taxes have gone up every year since the studio opened, she explained, although she has always been reluctant to raise her prices.
“I want people to be able to do yoga,” she said. “It’s so good for people that I don’t want to be the reason [they] don’t have that access to it.”
Balancing payroll for her employees, as well as the seasonal dips in Sun Peaks when people are out of town meant her profit margin was in the negatives for years.
Having a three year old that she wasn’t able to see while running a business was taking a toll on her health as well.
“One of the wake up calls was he broke his collarbone and I had been trying to rush to work,” she said. “I didn’t sleep for three days, and still had to teach a lot of classes while I wasn’t feeling emotionally good.”
Next steps
Alfred is looking into spaces in the village she could teach, such as hotels, and many clients have given her leads as well. One potential place she could teach at is the health centre.
“That’s where I see yoga fitting in. As part of health care and well being,” she said.
Most of these leads are up in the air right now, and there’s not much certainty for what will unfold.
She also wants to find a space where people can feel comfortable being themselves, especially if they’re sharing a space with other people around.
She’s spoken to someone who proposed converting the studio building into a rental space for various activities.
In a dream world, Alfred said she’d be able to keep renting the space and teaching class while another business owns the space without destroying much of what makes it special to her.
“There’s a really pretty wall in the back here, and it’s just gorgeous,” she said. “Realistically, any other business that could come in here would have to cover that up.”
One option for continuing to teach may be via private sessions from her home or utilizing online tools for lessons.
Though the situation isn’t ideal, giving up the space means having more time to really plan out her next steps, Alfred said. She plans on redoing her website, learning how to use different digital tools and using August as a sanctioned time for planning.
Without a studio, there’s a sense of freedom as well.
“I’ve always focused on the studio, focused on things that have to happen here,” she said. “Whereas now, I could host a retreat in Mexico and not feel like I’m abandoning the studio and I can lead a yoga teacher training somewhere else.”
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