At WeTravel, we always feel inspired when we learn about wellness businesses and entrepreneurs who are doing great things in their space.
They focus on and create conversations around important issues such as sustainability, community upliftment, accessibility, equality, and LGBTQ rights, to name a few.
In recognition of these innovators who are driving the wellness space forward, we’ve put together a list of entrepreneurs who have been and continue to use their businesses to offer more to their communities.
Souljourn Yoga is a non-profit that focuses on yoga retreats. The organization partners with both international and local non-profits to explore, practice, and educate through yoga.
This travel company offers a wide range of experiences, including workshops, teacher immersions, and global retreats.
Souljourn Yoga offers events and retreats all around the world to fuel its mission around women’s education. Their goal is to use yoga as an inclusive vehicle for change.
So, how does Souljourn give back to the community? They focus on promoting female empowerment and education in areas where equal opportunities are not widely available.
This includes uplifting communities in places like Morocco, Sri Lanka, and Peru.
Their retreats combine local community traditions and practices to offer a culturally contextual experience of equality.
Kayla Nielsen is an LGBTQ+ yoga teacher, trainer, and retreat leader. She offers a range of yoga retreats and courses, as well as runs mentorship programs, a podcast, and private yoga classes.
Kayla also blogs about yoga and has developed a yoga app.
While Kayla has developed a strong brand and product offering in the wellness space, she’s also focused on a bigger mission.
All of the work she does gives back to the community in some way and helps to fuel her own non-profit.
For every retreat Kayla does, she donates a free retreat via scholarship. Kayla is the founder of Go Light Our World (GLOW), a non-profit dedicated to diminishing poverty with sustainable solar solutions.
GLOW Yoga Retreats are experiences designed to fund GLOW’s charitable projects around the globe.
Most retreats take place in Nicaragua, where Kayla and her wife built the Still Salty Escape retreat center. The center operates with the mission to create connections through nature, movement, community, and service.
Sky Ting is a New York-based yoga studio. While there may be loads of yoga studios in New York, Sky Ting is different in its focus on innovation.
The Sky Ting studio offers donation-based classes to support the LGBTQ+ community.
Beyond the New York studio classes and training, Sky Ting also hosts retreats.
They were also early innovators developing their own online class platform: Sky Ting TV. It was Sky Ting TV that really helped this yoga brand to become a disruptor in the industry. Nobody else was doing anything like this at the time.
Sky Ting TV has innovated its community through the range of classes, courses, workshops, and retreats on offer.
Their community-driven mission gives back to the community, while their online and in-person offerings add something new to the yoga space.
Corc Yoga is a yoga prop company that uses 100% sustainable Portuguese cork in its products. They produce yoga mats, blocks, and other beautiful yoga products.
While the company is focused on quality products, they are also driven by a deeper commitment to sustainability and building stronger communities in rural areas.
The company’s main focus is on sustainability in its products and the materials it uses. Beyond this, Corc Yoga is also dedicated to supporting the community where their cork comes from.
Corc Yoga recently hosted a retreat in Portugal to support the communities where their products are sourced. This is one way that the company has helped give back and innovate.
On top of this, for every product sold, they donate a percentage to two youth mental health partners. These are The Youth Mental Health Project in the U.S. and the Desafio Jovem organization in Portugal.
The Class offers a community for cathartic movement. They provide this in-studio, online, and through retreats.
The Class's cathartic workout experience is not their only focus; this wellness business is also heavily involved in sustainability and uplifting communities.
They achieve this through their businesses scholarship program, where they support various organizations and causes.
Each retreat that The Class offers emphasizes sustainability. For example, they only use all solar-powered venues.
Beyond sustainability, The Class is also a thought leader in terms of emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
For every month of their "The Class Digital Studio" that is purchased, they give a month as a scholarship to someone who could benefit from the work of The Class and might not otherwise have access.
The Class supports various organizations through their scholarship program. These include Sad Girls Club, Running Start, Asset Education, and Girl Be Heard.
All organizations that The Class has partnered with were sourced from their community of students. The Class continues to look towards their community to help identify and nominate organizations that are a fit for this program.
Danni Pomplun is a yoga teacher, teacher trainer, studio owner, and retreat leader. He also blogs, podcasts and has his own app.
So, how does Danni innovate the yoga community? He is the owner of an LGBTQ+ yoga studio in San Francisco, Haum SF. Through his studio, he works closely with One Love, which raises funds for underserved youth populations.
Danni has also been an inspiration for both mental health and HIV advocacy.
His yoga business offers a wide range of services, from business mastermind training to teacher tune-ups and mentorship programs.
Alongside his yoga app and regular classes, he also offers yoga workshops and retreats.
Throughout all of these offerings, Danni focuses on the idea that yoga has the power to change the world.
He understands that yoga has the power to heal, which is one of the main reasons why he became a yoga teacher to pay it forward to the community he serves.
His business is innovative in both its online and offline platforms. His broader goal of building and strengthening inclusive communities through yoga is commendable.
Bali is one of the most-loved destinations for wellness retreats, and The Yoga Barn is one of the most prominent wellness businesses on the island.
This yoga studio based in Ubud is fully focused on giving back to the community.
The Yoga Barn offers daily free community classes and runs many charity fundraising events throughout the year.
The yoga business works closely with various charities and NGOs based in Indonesia to help uplift and empower the community.
Their charitable events include dedicated classes and ecstatic dances, weekly movie nights, and more.
The Yoga Barn was founded with the intention to give back and create community. This community drive is the focal point of everything this wellness business does.
Freely Given Retreats offers meditation retreats at venues around the UK. As the name suggests, these retreats are freely available to anyone that attends.
Their vision is to make insight meditation available to everyone, regardless of their financial situation.
The retreats work on a donation basis, where attendees are asked to make donations at the end of each retreat.
Their goal is to promote a culture of generosity by encouraging people to donate.
Freely Given Retreats has innovated the wellness space by creating a retreat that is open to everyone and anyone, without any financial restrictions or limitations in place.
This helps them create a whole new meditation community that otherwise might not be able to access retreats like this.
These are just a handful of wellness professionals who are working to constantly create deeper connections and give back. There are so many more people out there, and this list could go on forever.
If you know of any professionals doing great things in their space, connect with us and let us know - we’d love to hear their story!
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