Carolyn Jagadamba Texidor, owner of Bay Ohm Yoga, was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s, and Sjogren’s syndrome several years ago. As a result, she found herself bedridden and in pain despite having been active and fit all her life.
“When I got sick, I found myself bedbound more often and in a lot of pain. A friend of mine suggested I try a hot yoga class, which I had never done before. And I wasn’t really willing to do that but I found a studio about a block away from where I lived at that time and they offered a gentle yoga class. So I took that class on a Sunday and I never stopped.”
Within 6 months of consistently taking yoga classes, she found that it had helped restore her body back to health and decided to train to become an instructor.She regained mobility and flexibility, her inflammation decreased, side effects were subsiding and her hormones were leveling out. Her personal progress and new found love for yoga inspired Carolyn to become an instructor herself. She spent 30 days in California in an intense training program to prepare her to become an instructor in her own community.
Carolyn was already a business owner when she became an instructor and began teaching classes in her juice bar after hours. She watched her class go from just a couple of students to many quite quickly. Not only did this mean it was time for a new location, but it showed Carolyn that this was the right time to go all in on a studio.
“I started with like 2 students, then 4 students and then six, and next thing I knew I had like 15 people and I was like I can’t fit anymore in here. And so my husband and I talked and decided maybe I do want to take this a little bit further.”
Carolynput an emphasis on making sure the studio feel safe for her students, which stems from having survived domestic violence herself. Her students feel comfortable talking, sharing, laughing and crying with one another and the studio instructors. They even have a policy that requires students to register prior to classes to ensure the safety. (No drop ins here!)
“If it’s one thing I have tried to communicate with all of them (students) since day one, [it] was that was a safe space. I am a domestic violence survivor, and for me safety within the studio was number one priority.”
Community is everything to Carolyn at Bay Ohm Yoga. For her, it means connection, and fitDEGREE’s software has helped both establish and maintain genuine relationships within the studio.
In helping with her studio community, fitDEGREE has become a part of their community as well.
Considering Bay Ohm Yoga is in a community with a large population of older residents, it was important for class sign up to be simple. With many of her students not being particularly tech savvy and having limited knowledge of how to operate apps, Carolyn needed a software with a seamless user experience. fitDEGREE offered ease of use for students and eliminated the unnecessary complications Carolyn has experienced with softwares in the past.
“The number one thing to me as far as any booking system is I want my users to have a really easy, seamless, positive experience to be able to get the most from that platform. And with fitDEGREE that happened!”
fitDEGREE proved easy and simple not only for students, but for Carolyn and her team as well. Carolyn’s business can’t be fit into a box, and fitDEGREE allowed her the creative freedom she wasn’t finding with previous softwares.
“I’m not a part of a big group, a big franchise. I’m unique and my classes are unique and I want to be able to describe them as such.”
Plus,the switch to fitDEGREE has benefited Bay Ohm financially. It has allowed her to have the time to focus more on sales and that has helped generate more money.
“It’s allowed me to focus on selling packages, so definitely my revenue has gone up since switching over to fitDEGREE.”
Out of the many fitDEGREE features, the one that convinced Carolyn to switch over from the software she was previously using was the visual reporting. fitDEGREE’s reporting feature granted Carolyn easy access to metrics relating to everything from customers to earnings.
One of the most consistent things that Carolyn has experienced has been the level of communication she’s had with the team at fitDEGREE, which was essential amid the Covid crisis.
Due to COVID-19, all Bay Ohm Yoga classes have gone virtual and the future of the studio is uncertain. Carolyn hopes to fully recover once everything returns back to normal, but one thing is abundantly clear: whether it’s a physical location or virtual classes, the Bay Ohm Yoga community is strong and will continue to come together regardless of where they are.
