Save Bikram Yoga Rockville!!

Team fundraiser

Debbie Brown and Janine Hackett are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Bikram Yoga Rockville.

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Bikram Yoga Rockville needs your help!! Bikram Yoga Rockville is the very first hot yoga studio in Montgomery County and the first yoga studio of any kind in the Rockville/Gaithersburg area. Most of of the veteran students in the area got their start at BYR and likewise, many of the local hot yoga and other yoga teachers in the DMV started out as students at BYR. Unfortunately, we are at risk of losing this integral part of the yoga community unless we all pitch in and help out -

Bikram Yoga Rockville (BYR) has been a huge part of our lives! Debbie joined BYR five years ago and Janine has been practicing there for ten years. What makes BYR so special?

1) The teachers are simply AMAZING! All are knowledgeable and respectful of all abilities.

2) Such a great group of people practice there! Diverse in so many ways (age, body type, cultural background, and level of fitness), no matter what you look like or your ability, you feel like you fit in, from the moment you walk in.

3) The facility is outstanding! It is probably the cleanest, largest studio we've ever been to. Given the germaphobes we have all become, this is no small thing.

The studio has created a family community since it first opened 17 years ago. Over 24,700 students have taken their first yoga class at our studio! This community has given us a place to celebrate each other, raise money for great causes together, challenge ourselves in our practice and support one another. Now, it's time for us to be there for BYR, to ensure the studio will be alive and strong for at least another 17 years!

When Covid-19 hit hard, most of us assumed the studio would close for a month or two and then we’d be back in the hot room. As the pandemic has dragged on, Diana, the owner, has been under increasing financial strain. She has done a yeoman’s job of keeping things going by holding outdoor and virtual classes. She has pursued federal assistance and has been working around the clock to reduce monthly expenses including a rent abatement. Unfortunately, these efforts have not been enough to replace the income needed to keep the studio viable. The studio has seen an over 75% reduction in income this year. Diana has been reluctant to outright ask for help but now, with her business debt increasing each month, a few of us have convinced her that the time has come.

There is nothing Diana and her Team would love more than to be able to reopen fully and get people back in the hot room and get back on track but the risk of spreading Covid-19 to teachers and students hangs heavy over her decision to keep things small and tightly controlled. The studio is beginning to offer private and semi-private classes in the hot room with increased safety measures for these small, in-person classes. While we'll be able to practice safely in very small groups, the studio will not be able to generate its sufficient income meet the monthly expenses. Most of the regular students have indicated that they will come back to the studio once a vaccine is available and the BYR Team sincerely wants to be open and ready when that happens.

WITHOUT OUR HELP, OUR BELOVED STUDIO WILL CLOSE FOREVER. We will lose this gem of a community and the important service it provides to all of us. If BYR closes, where will you practice? We can’t think of another place that replace this studio for us. So many of us have shared the testimonials over the last 17 years, how the yoga practice have changed their lives for the better.

Please, if you are in a position, to make a contribution to the studio to help keep it open. We have a big goal – $47,000 to cover rent, staff payroll, and other monthly operating expenses including the cost of a new air purifying system/cleaning supplies for for the next six months to make sure the air we breathe is as fresh and germ-free as possible and our teachers to stay afloat. All contributions - big and small - help get us to our goal! Please do what you can and thanks for supporting Bikram Yoga Rockville so we can go back to our sacred space!!

Namaste,

Debbie and Janine

We are also applying for the Small Business Relief Fund Matching Grant set up by GoFundMe #SmallBusinessRelief

P.S. If you prefer, you can go directly to the website (below) and donate or send a check made out to Bikram Yoga Rockville and mail to 220 Perry Parkway, Suite #7, Gaithersburg MD 20877. For more information email: [email redacted].