SKY TING TV Just Launched a Pay-What-You-Can Plan to Make Yoga More Accessible

On its face, yoga may seem like one of the easiest — and cheapest — wellness activities to add to your routine. All you really need is a squishy mat, a serene space, and a teacher to guide you through poses designed to release all your physical and mental tension.

But IRL, the practice isn't all that financially accessible. A single hour-long class at a studio can cost anywhere between $10 and $20 on average, according to lessons.com, which tracks cost estimates for classes across the country. Pre-pandemic, New York City-based studio SKY TING charged $25 a pop for its yoga classes. "It's a tough conundrum in New York with real estate prices and how much you do have to price out your yoga classes in order to just make your rent," SKY TING co-founder Chloe Kernaghan tells Shape.

Once COVID-19 shuttered the studio's in-person classes, SKY TING TV — the company's online streaming platform — became the sole focus, and social justice movements took center stage,Kernaghan and co-founder Krissy Jones sat down to figure out how their company could grow — and who would have the opportunity to join in on the journey. "The message of accessibility and who has been allowed or had access to practices for wellness and well-being really came to the forefront for us," says Kernaghan.

After mulling over dozens of ideas, Jones and Kernaghan settled on establishing a sliding scale payment option for SKY TING TV memberships, a model that's launching today, May 4. Going forward, SKY TING TV users can choose to pay between $20 and $30 for a monthly membership, which unlocks unlimited access to hundreds of yoga, mediation, and Pilates videos. For every user who opts to pay more than $25, SKY TING will also donate a monthly TV membership to an individual whose current financial situation doesn't allow for the wiggle room to purchase the subscription on their own. And scoring a scholarship is as easy as sending an email to the founders and explaining your need and desire for wellness, says Jones. "It's kind of an honor system," she explains. "If you write to us, you can get one, and we trust that anyone writing in will obviously be in need of it." (

When there are more scholarships available than folks applying for them, SKY TING will donate the remainder to its non-profit partner, which will be Every Mother Counts — an organization dedicated to improving access to maternity care — throughout May, says Kernaghan. To create an even deeper impact, the yoga studio will also hold a live, donation-based class — open to members and non-members — each month, with proceeds going directly toward the organization, she adds. "[This new model] isabout empowering our students that have the financial access to support others more, but it's also [an opportunity] for SKY TING to continue to grow the community and reach a wider audience with the work that we're trying to do," says Kernaghan. (BTW, you can sign up for May's free class featuring Ashley Graham on the SKY TING website.)

As SKY TING TV becomes financially accessible to a larger audience with diverse wants, needs, and abilities, the founders are also making sure the platform offers something for everyone. They're adding more yoga classes for beginners and for runners, sleep prep classes, practices based on astrological seasons, and flows specifically for dads to the current collection of nearly 300 pre-recorded yoga, meditation, and strength-building classes. Plus, members will now have access to live virtual classes every week, which were previously purchased on a one-off basis in addition to TV subscriptions. (

But even if people don't flock to take advantage of SKY TING TV's new pricing plan and scholarship program, Kernaghan says these changes can still have a domino effect and ultimately change the wellness industry for the better. "The point of us doing this is to get people access to these tools, and we're hoping to set a precedent within the industry itself to, like, walk the walk and talk the talk," she explains. "Everyone in the wellness industry is touting 'Give yourself a better life,' but if you're putting this barrier of entry quite high, then it doesn't seem fair and doesn't, for us, live up to the value system that we teach to. Our hope is no matter how successful it is on our scale, it at least has some impact on how these other companies think about functioning, as well."