Soul of Yoga
At a Glance
Vibe: Grounded, unpretentious, alive
Standout Feature: One of only 25 IAYT-accredited Yoga Therapy programs in the world, operating out of the same building where you can drop in for a Tuesday morning Vinyasa.
About Soul of Yoga
In the same town where Paramahansa Yogananda established the Self-Realization Fellowship in the 1930s, Soul of Yoga has roots. The Encinitas, California studio traces its origins to founders Rev. Tom and Trisha Kelly, who purchased a home there as newlyweds with a clear intention: to make it a center for spiritual growth and community, modeled on their years serving the Self-Realization Fellowship. After twenty-five years of ashram life, Tom believed a home (and by extension, a studio) should carry greater purpose than mere investment. That founding belief never left the building.
Over time, Soul of Yoga evolved into an Institute with a mission to marry the physical and spiritual dimensions of yoga. Teachers describe it as where "Hogwarts and Harvard meet." The advanced training program was built to bring the world's best anatomists, scientists, philosophers, and mystics to Encinitas under one roof. Today, current co-owner Ryan Stanley carries that vision forward. As co-owner of Soul of Yoga and founder of Sacred Sound of the Soul, Stanley's work reflects an ongoing commitment to integrating family, entrepreneurship, and service into how the studio operates every day.
What They Do Best
The class menu at Soul of Yoga is one of the most comprehensive in the region, built to serve practitioners across every stage and style of practice. The schedule runs from high-output formats like Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yoga Sculpt (a weight-training and yoga fusion designed to build strength and resilience), and Yoga Pilates Fusion through to the deeply passive end of the spectrum: Yoga Nidra (guided supine relaxation), Restorative with crystal bowls, Sound Healing, and Somatic Flow, a gentle blend of slow stretches, breathwork, yin holds, and restorative work. Yin is a proper, long-hold practice focused on joint space and ligament length. Roll & Restore uses therapy balls for myofascial release. Qigong is offered for those who want movement rooted in life-force energy rather than asana. The breadth is worth the membership.
What holds it together is programming logic. Formats like Vinyasa Slow Flow (a mindful, longer-hold version of the standard flow) sit alongside traditional Hatha and the more esoteric Kundalini, which works through kriyas: specific combinations of breath and movement designed to move energy along the spine. The studio also runs Belly Dancing and Prenatal formats. The effect is a schedule that can serve a serious practitioner's full week of training while also inviting in new yogis looking for an all-in-one-place practice.
The Experience
Situated on Encinitas Boulevard, the studio occupies a multi-room space that functions like a working institute. Don’t let the breadth of offerings intimidate you, walking into Soul of Yoga in an open and comfortable experience. It’s a clean, open space that’s easy to navigate with an attended front desk for any questions that may come up before your session. The rooms are equipped with balls, bricks, blankets and other yoga staples to ensure the experience meets your level of practice. Pick your place in the room and get ready for an experience.
The instruction here is where the studio earns its reputation. It’s a clear, warm type of instruction that feels intimately yours even in a room full of regulars. You're not just following positional cues, but working anatomically to move your body in a way that aligns with the practice’s intention. Hands-on adjustments, when offered, are there to deepen the movement. Transitions between poses are intentional; the sequencing builds on itself. The playlist supports the flow. What you feel during class is a steady accumulation — the breath-to-movement connection is maintained throughout, so by the time you reach the floor, the release is earned. This is what good Vinyasa is supposed to feel like, and it's not always what you get.
What Makes Them Special
Institutional Depth: Soul of Yoga runs a fully accredited Yoga Therapy training program alongside a 200-hour, 300-hour, and Master's Degree pathway, all accessible in-person and live online.
Schedule Volume: Approximately 70 in-person classes per week across multiple formats, making it viable as a single-studio practice home for practitioners with varied or demanding schedules.
Lineage-Rooted Founding: The studio's origins inside the Self-Realization Fellowship tradition give it a philosophical through-line that informs how classes are structured and how teachers are trained — not just what postures are taught.
Hybrid Access: Every major program is available live online, with recordings, making the institute's depth accessible globally without diluting the live experience.
Accessibility Infrastructure: A dedicated nonprofit arm, Yoga Will Change My Life, was founded by co-owner Ryan Stanley to fund scholarships for teacher training.
Why We Love It
Tom and Trisha Kelly built Soul of Yoga on the conviction that environment shapes practice, and practice shapes people. Twenty-plus years later, the studio runs one of the most credentialed yoga training programs in the country out of an accessible yoga studio on Encinitas Boulevard. Its daily classes are taught by instructors who have spent serious time in serious study. The front-of-house experience has room to grow, but what happens in the practice rooms is difficult to replicate. Tighten the entry experience to match the instruction, and this studio becomes one of the harder ones to leave. That combination of institutional depth and embodied teaching exists in one place and is what makes this studio worth building a practice around.
Visit Soul of Yoga: Encinitas, CA • www.soulofyoga.com • @thesoulofyoga
About Telomere Consulting
We're a boutique fitness studio consultancy and marketing agency working with over 650 studios globally through our signature Studionomics program. We help studio owners build profitable, sustainable businesses through strategic consulting and full-service marketing implementation. Our team of former studio owners and industry experts partners with yoga, Pilates, barre, HIIT, cycling, and boutique fitness studios to solve their biggest business challenges—from filling classes to scaling revenue.
Ready to elevate your studio? Book a strategy call to explore how we can help you grow.
Want to be featured in The Studio Index? We're always looking for exceptional studios to visit and showcase. Request a studio visit and let us experience what makes your space special.