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Question: Why did Rise yoga studio close? It was such a big deal when it opened and they redid (the) building.
ASHLAND — Aubrey Bates first opened Rise Studio’s location on Main Street after experiencing years of growing momentum.
Her business expanded a couple of times before moving into a larger space on Main Street. But after opening the studio in 2020, she said that momentum stalled, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bates said 2020 was the first time she’d considered closing the studio’s doors, but she kept pushing forward. She led retreats and worked on her own passion: personal coaching. Yoga instructors — all contractors, Bates said — were supposed to handle their own classes.
Still, Bates felt bogged down. She was spending more time than she’d hoped doing payroll, marketing for classes and maintaining software systems, all of which drained her energy. Eventually, she decided it was time for a new direction.
“There’s a little bit of a trust fall,” Bates said.
In mid-September, Bates released a message titled “September on the Rise.” She shared Rise would suspend all its yoga classes, effective Oct. 31.
Along with that, Bates said two or three administrative staff members — desk workers, assistants and a business manager — were let go. She said they had between six and eight weeks of notice to find new jobs.
Wondering where to go for yoga in Ashland now?
Other options still remain for Ashland’s resident yogis.
Rooted and Reaching offers public and private class options, according to its website. Peace in Power Yoga also offers courses in Ashland for “everyone, from beginners to advanced yogis.” Shelley & Yo offers private and group yoga sessions for beginners to advanced athletes in the Ashland and Richland County areas.
The Ashland YMCA’s schedule and Ashland Public Library’s schedule both list yoga class options as well.
The Ashland Kroc Center also hosts several yoga classes. All of them are open to the public for $7 per class on the following days and times:
- Yoga Saves — Monday and Saturday at 8 a.m.
- Belong Yoga Saves — Wednesday at 10 a.m.
- Buti Yoga — Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Brethren Care Village’s Wellness & Community Center also lists yoga classes open to both members and non-members on its schedule.
What’s next?
“The brick-and-mortar will continue to house small businesses,” an on the Rise message stated in September. “What has been known as Rise Studios will act as a location for these businesses to operate out of — I’ve been thinking of it as a health-centered marketplace.”
Bates said Rise’s location has become home to several businesses:
- Bates’ own somatic life coaching and ayurvedic services.
- Ashland Arts Center, which offers ballet classes for those aged three and up.
- The Kove Collective, run by Malery Klingshern. Klingshern combined spray tan and teeth whitening services with Shop Glow Boutique, and operates an Ashland location out of the Rise space.
- Móvil Therapeutic Massage, run by traveling massage therapist Brianna Roberts.
Rise’s gym is also still open. Bates said another business will join in February as well.
“It’s almost been like a mentorship,” Bates said. “They’re there together, they’re individual businesses renting, but I hope that they will be collaborative. I hope that we can be collaborative — supporting and recommending each other, having events.”
On a personal level, Bates said her next step is informed by three pillars. She hopes to write more and build community via her Substack; engage more in high-level coaching; and travel and lead retreats.
For her, the exciting part of the change is letting things unfold.
“I’ve always been one to (be) like, ‘I know the vision, we’re going after it, this is what we’re doing and to hustle for it,'” Bates said. “… I want to do things to be happy, so what I’m most excited about is kind of just what that is going to end up looking like.”