A cultural hub for health, wellness and care has emerged at The Brooklyn Wellness Club, a Black-owned yoga studio in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Located at 704 DeKalb Ave., the studio is owned by Paris Alexandra, a full-time mindfulness and yoga teacher turned business owner.
The studio, since opening in 2023, has hosted various Pilates, yoga and community classes at Tompkins Avenue Open Streets, but also provides a space for local entrepreneurs to boost their own wellness businesses.
“The Brooklyn Wellness Club is truly like an expansion of my vision, my personal vision,” Alexandra told BK Reader. “...it was really about bringing creativity into the mix — creativity, wellness and community. And, giving other people the opportunity for them to host the events and stuff within the space.”
Before opening up the studio, Alexandra cultivated a space for poets to gather for creative expression. Her poem, A Thousand Black Women was featured in a Nike advertisement, highlighting yoga for Black women.
Alexandra has also twice received a Brooklyn Arts Council grant, where she co-created The Blue Nile jam session, a place for musicians to share and enjoy music, and has hosted financial literacy classes.
“It's really an honor to be in Bed-Stuy, because of the rich historical legacies, more specifically, the rich Black historical legacy," she said.
Events at the studio have included a queer poetry workshop and a Soul Retreat session, which combines R&B music with guided journaling and yoga.
Tamara Jade, a vocalist and former contestant on NBC’s The Voice, hosted her listening party at the studio. She collaborated with Alexandra to create a space for people to listen to her upcoming EP and participate in a yoga session. Following the session, a few of the women went out to eat, furthering the connection they had fostered at the studio.
"It's very intentional how everything is set up,” explained Jade. “But at the same time, [it] feels very homey and inviting and a place you want to come to, like a haven, if you will, [a] beautiful oasis, and you kind of forget you're in New York City.”
Alexandra says she likes that her studio can be the center of emotional, physical and mental wellness for area residents.
She offers day passes for those who would like to spontaneously drop in, and hopes to continue bolstering her relationship with corporate and school-based wellness programs for professionals and students.
“People are talking to each other, they're learning, they're growing, and they're leaving more inspired to create the worlds they want to see," she said. "[And] more inspired to show up fully for themselves and show up fully for their communities."
Alexandra said she wants everyone that enters her studio to feel a sense of peace and connection.
“Whatever [from] the outside world they gotta carry, they can just take that off as soon as they come in," she said.
View The Brooklyn Wellness Club’s schedule of classes and events here.
