Help Yoga Essence Studios
Donation protected
Yoga Essence opened its first location in 2016. We now have three locations in New Jersey with the universal goal of bringing the transformative practice of yoga to each community that we serve. We have an amazing staff of extremely talented yoga teachers. We host classes every day for members, host donation based classes around the holidays, and host workshops/trainings to enhance our communities life! When the pandemic hit, we had no idea how we would get through it. We had ZERO intentions of turning our business fully virtual since we have such a strong, in-studio community. That time of transition in March 2020 is a blur, but we were able to do it through tears and pure exhaustion. Our community told us they did NOT want us to close and offered their endless support to keep us open. We had to be there for them.
Yoga Essence is owned and operated solely by Chelsea Hoeffler and Nicole Turczak. We have built the business out of our own pockets and have been denied government support by our very own bank and from the government themselves. We have been told the reason for this is because our teachers are independent contractors which disqualified us from the employee based loans that are available. With this denial and our bank account continuously dropping due to loss of members from the pandemic, we have experienced true heartbreak and uncertainty. We have not gone one month since the pandemic without paying our amazing teachers. Some have even been so generous to waive their pay to help us get by. As the owners, it has been almost a year and a half since we have been able to provide some financial support to our families from Yoga Essence. As mothers and strong women, this is heartbreaking but it WILL not stop us. Many have advised us to just close up shop, but our community is too special to just walk away when we KNOW we can defeat this dark time. Although our fight has been strong without any help from the outside, we are now at a point where we need to ask for your help.
Our goal for this campaign may seem big and we have been told that it’s “just yoga, is it really worth it?”, but this is just one months worth of expenses for Yoga Essence. We have some money coming in from current members, but it is not enough. We want to stay here. We want to continue sharing this amazing practice with our communities and beyond. Any amount that you can contribute would mean the world to us. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and appreciate you taking the time to read our story.
Endless love and gratitude,
Chelsea and Nicole
Yoga Essence is owned and operated solely by Chelsea Hoeffler and Nicole Turczak. We have built the business out of our own pockets and have been denied government support by our very own bank and from the government themselves. We have been told the reason for this is because our teachers are independent contractors which disqualified us from the employee based loans that are available. With this denial and our bank account continuously dropping due to loss of members from the pandemic, we have experienced true heartbreak and uncertainty. We have not gone one month since the pandemic without paying our amazing teachers. Some have even been so generous to waive their pay to help us get by. As the owners, it has been almost a year and a half since we have been able to provide some financial support to our families from Yoga Essence. As mothers and strong women, this is heartbreaking but it WILL not stop us. Many have advised us to just close up shop, but our community is too special to just walk away when we KNOW we can defeat this dark time. Although our fight has been strong without any help from the outside, we are now at a point where we need to ask for your help.
Our goal for this campaign may seem big and we have been told that it’s “just yoga, is it really worth it?”, but this is just one months worth of expenses for Yoga Essence. We have some money coming in from current members, but it is not enough. We want to stay here. We want to continue sharing this amazing practice with our communities and beyond. Any amount that you can contribute would mean the world to us. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and appreciate you taking the time to read our story.
Endless love and gratitude,
Chelsea and Nicole
Organizer
Yoga Essence
Organizer
New Providence, NJ
