North Carolina · Since 2022
A city growing fast, full of people who arrived alone. We opened in Charlotte in 2022 because more people were writing to us from there than from anywhere else we did not operate. Most of them had moved for work within the previous two years and did not know a soul. Nine gatherings a month now run across Uptown, South End, NoDa and Plaza Midwood.
Half this city moved here in the last five years. Everybody is quietly hoping somebody else will speak first. We just built the room where that happens.
2022
Launched
2,600
Members
9
Gatherings a month
On the calendar
Four of the 9 gatherings that run here every month, with the venue, the price and the person teaching on each one.
YogaSaturday, September 19
A gentle, unhurried hour on the Great Lawn, built for people who have never set foot in a yoga studio and would rather keep it that way.
BreathworkThursday, October 1
Forty minutes of guided breathing followed by a live sound bath played on gongs and singing bowls, in a converted print shop in NoDa.
YogaThursday, October 22
Forty-five minutes on the Uptown lawn, timed and paced so you can be back at a desk by one fifteen without needing a change of clothes.
FestivalsSaturday, November 7
Five hours across the yards at Camp North End, with three stages, a family movement area and food from twelve Charlotte kitchens.
Community stories
Two members on what actually happened after the first time they turned up.
I relocated in March and by June I had colleagues and a gym and still nobody I could ring on a Sunday. The Freedom Park class fixed that in about six weeks.
Amara now runs the newcomer welcome at every Charlotte gathering, a five-minute introduction before class where anyone attending for the first time is paired with a regular. Since she started it, the number of first-timers who return within a month has roughly doubled.
Amara Nwosu
Member since 2023, South End
I assumed I would be the oldest one there by twenty years. I was, on the first day. By the fourth week there were six of us, because I told my friends.
Warren retired to Charlotte and came to the first Freedom Park session out of stubbornness. He has since brought eleven people into the programme and co-founded the Wednesday morning walking group, which now meets year round in Plaza Midwood.
Warren Castellano
Member since 2022, Plaza Midwood
Partnerships
Space, permits, food and clinicians, given at cost or for nothing at all. These are the Charlotte organizations behind that.
Venue
Hands us the yards for the Queen City Wellness Festival and our indoor winter schedule from December through February.
Public space
Covers our permits for Freedom Park and Romare Bearden Park so the outdoor classes can stay free.
Venue
Provides the converted print shop where our breath and sound sessions run every month.
Food
Coordinates the twelve independent kitchens that serve at our Charlotte festival each November.
Testimonials
I have lived in four cities for work. This is the only one where I made real friends, and I can name the exact Saturday it started.
They asked what our neighbourhood actually needed before they programmed a single class. That is rarer than it should be.
Charlotte
Every Charlotte gathering opens with a five-minute welcome that pairs first-timers with a regular. It is the single most effective thing we have ever done.