BE STORY
The Body Electric Yoga Company began as the lovechild of Katelyn Grady and Jenny Miller, yoga teachers, business and life partners who hatched a plan to create the kind of space in which they would like to practice and teach. For two years they schemed, working their day jobs, building their brand, and writing many business plans in a fruitless effort to secure a commercial loan. In the end, they were able to open with their small savings and a lot of help from some good friends. They rented half of the building at 7th St N and 30th Ave. N in St. Petersburg, Florida, a former icehouse with a friendly landlord. With a beautiful, historic space and just four teachers, they opened their doors on March 4, 2013.
There were 21 classes on the weekly schedule, and their operations manual consisted of one yellow Post-It Note with three rules written on it:
- Be 30 minutes early
- No shit talk of any kind
- Long Savasanas
Today, The BE operates out of the entire building at 3015 7th St, with four practice rooms, a large lobby with a retail area and showers, and a teacher’s lounge. The weekly schedule of in-house and virtual classes includes close to 100 classes taught by a team of some of the best yoga teachers you’ll find anywhere. In addition, The BE offers workshops and offsite events, partnering with local businesses, civic organizations, and non-profits too numerous to list. The BE now serves thousands of students every week.
The addition of a front desk team in 2016 improved the customer experience, and allowed the studio to be open for business 8:00am-8:00pm, 7 days a week. The retail store, The Om Depot, offers the community a place to find high-quality yoga and fitness clothes, mats, and products by local makers.
In January 2020, The Body Electric Athletic Company opened, right before COVID. The BE Athletic was a 15,000 sq ft mindful fitness facility located in South St. Pete. The BE Athletic offered group fitness classes with the same core values and vibes their clients had come to expect. In three large studios they offered Strength, Body Beats, Interval Cardio, Conditioning, Loaded Yoga, Core Awareness classes and more. An open gym and ice baths were popular with members, as was The Run Club. The gym was closed at the end of 2022.
The growth of The BE has always been organic, relying on its original core values: to create an outward-looking, supportive space for people to practice becoming their best selves. Rather than trading on yoga’s esoterica and mystique, The BE strives to make the practice accessible. They believe yoga is a living, adaptable technology that its teachers and practitioners actively reorient to continue addressing its original inquiry: how best to live? As with language, it’s today’s users who keep the tool sharp and vibrant, so no one is beholden to any great book or lineage, though The BE’s staff are committed students of yoga’s history and philosophies. Free from dogma, they explore, ask questions, and experiment with many styles and modalities.
Today, The BE believes there is an offering on the schedule for everybody. Whether you’re a gym rat or straight off the couch, a veteran yogi or “the world’s tightest person,” The BE’s got something for you.