Tina Finks & Ruth Darrow shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Tina & Ruth, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
The “just exercise” misconception is probably the biggest one. Many people see yoga as simply a fitness class or trendy workout, missing the deeper practice of mindfulness, breath work, and personal transformation that happens in a true yoga community. What we offer is a holistic practice that touches every aspect of wellbeing.
When people see yoga as “just stretching,” they might not understand why it costs more than a basic gym membership. They don’t always see the investment in highly trained instructors, the carefully curated environment, the individual attention, and the community support that come with being part of something deeper.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
We’re Tina and Ruth, co-founders of Shala Yoga Loft. We met during teacher training a decade ago and discovered we shared something deeper than a love of yoga—we both understood its power to transform lives.
When COVID changed everything for our yoga community, closing studios and separating teachers and students, we felt called to act. In early 2022, we asked ourselves: What if we created a true home for everyone seeking connection again? That’s how Shala Yoga Loft was born.
“Shala” means home or sanctuary in Sanskrit, and that’s exactly what we’ve built—not just another studio, but a genuine place where teachers can rebuild their communities, where students reconnect in person, and where yoga happens as it’s meant to: together.
What makes us special is our foundation. We didn’t start this as entrepreneurs looking for a business opportunity. We started as yoga practitioners who witnessed our community’s need and decided to be part of the solution. Every class in our historic space, every connection made between teacher and student, every moment someone chooses in-person practice over their laptop screen—it all reinforces why we opened our doors.
In our digital world, people still crave authentic human connection. Shala Yoga Loft isn’t just our business; it’s our love letter to the yoga community that shaped us both.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
From a yoga perspective, what breaks the bonds between people often stems from what’s called avidya in Sanskrit—ignorance or misunderstanding of our true interconnected nature. When we get caught up in our individual stories, our ego-driven narratives, and our busy minds, we forget that at our essence, we’re all part of the same universal consciousness.
Modern life accelerates this separation. We’re constantly rushing, stressed, comparing ourselves to others, living in our heads rather than our hearts. Technology, while connecting us digitally, can actually deepen our isolation. We start seeing others as separate from us rather than reflections of ourselves.
What restores these bonds is returning to presence—both with ourselves and with each other. In yoga, we practice this through breath, through moving together in community, through the simple act of sharing space in silence or intention. When we slow down enough to truly see another person, when we breathe in the same room and move our bodies with shared purpose, something magical happens. The artificial barriers start dissolving.
The physical practice reminds us that we’re all dealing with the same human experiences—we all struggle in challenging poses, we all need modifications some days, we all show up imperfectly. That shared vulnerability creates authentic connection.
What we’ve witnessed at Shala is that when people practice together regularly, they naturally start caring for each other beyond the mat. They check in when someone’s been absent, they celebrate each other’s progress, they hold space for difficult moments. Yoga reminds us that separation is an illusion—we’re all walking each other home.
Do you remember a time someone truly listened to you?
Yes—when we sat together in early 2022, focused on finding solutions for what COVID had done to our yoga community. We weren’t dwelling on the problems—teachers struggling, students disconnected, studios closed—we were working through how to address them.
What made that conversation so powerful is that we both listened to each other deeply. One of us might lean toward the big-picture vision, while the other instinctively tunes into the practical details that make it possible. That balance of hearing both the what and the how became the foundation of Shala Yoga Loft.
That same quality defines how we work together now. When we’re problem-solving about the studio, one of us may surface the vision and the “why,” while the other ensures the logistics actually serve the community. It’s a partnership where true listening turns ideas into reality—and that has shaped every aspect of Shala.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
Authenticity over appearance.
In yoga culture, there’s tremendous pressure to look a certain way, perform advanced poses, or project this image of having it all figured out. Social media has made this even worse—yoga has become about the perfect photo, the expensive outfit, the most Instagram-worthy pose.
Authenticity over appearance.
In yoga culture, there’s tremendous pressure to look a certain way, perform advanced poses, or project the image of having it all figured out. Social media has made this even worse—yoga can appear to be about the perfect photo, the expensive outfit, the most Instagram-worthy pose.
We protect the value that yoga is about showing up as you are, not as you think you should be. This means honoring that some days you can barely touch your toes, that modifications aren’t lesser versions of poses—they’re exactly what your body needs. It means creating space where a 70-year-old beginner and a 25-year-old teacher can practice side by side without judgment.
We’ve turned down partnerships with brands that wanted to use our space for photo shoots that didn’t reflect our real community. We’ve had conversations with teachers about keeping their classes accessible rather than ego-driven. We’ve seen again and again that the person resting in child’s pose might be doing the deepest work in the room.
Yoga has always been about inner transformation, not outer performance. In our culture of constant comparison and curated perfection, protecting that authenticity feels revolutionary.
When someone walks into our Shala, we want them to feel they can breathe—literally and figuratively that they can be precisely where they are in their practice and their life. That’s the cultural value we’ll never compromise on.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That Shala Yoga Loft made a difference in a moment in time when our community needed it most.
We hope people remember that when the yoga world felt fractured and uncertain, we created a place where healing could happen. That teachers who had lost their studios found a home again. That students rediscovered what it meant to practice in community rather than isolation. That in our historic building, something timeless was preserved—the understanding that yoga is about connection, not perfection.
We want people to say we showed up when it mattered. That we didn’t just talk about yoga as transformation; we lived it—turning our concern about what was lost into action for what could be rebuilt. That Shala became proof that small acts of service—opening your doors, holding space, listening deeply—can ripple out in ways you never imagine.
Most of all, we hope the story is that we remembered what “shala” truly means: home. That for however long we were stewards of this space, people felt they belonged. That someone who walked in nervous about their first class left knowing they had a community. That a teacher rediscovered their calling. That the practice of yoga—not just the poses, but the practice of showing up for each other—continued because we chose to help keep it alive.
Buildings and businesses may fade, but the connections people made here, the healing that happened within these walls—that’s the story worth telling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shalayogaloft.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shalayogaloft/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shalayogaloft/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/shalayogaloft
Image Credits
www.lucytphotography.com
