It’s tough to define The Class by Taryn Toomey in the ever-changing fitness world. At its core, it is a mat-based exercise program, with elements of yoga, pilates, cardio, free-style dance, expansion, and release. With celebrity fans like Jennifer Aniston, Gisele Bündchen, and Naomi Watts, The Class has gained notoriety as a unique exercise phenomenon, with a cult following.

The Class had launched its digital studio in October 2019, so it was already well-poised to stream its content from its TriBeCa studio to homes worldwide when COVID-19 became a new reality. As a result, the practice has resonated with audiences on a global scale, and The Class continues to innovate and increase the amount of classes and on-demand content. (People can try out the digital studio thanks to a 14-day free trial.)

Taryn Toomey launched the fitness phenomenon that would become known as The Class in 2011, in a New York City basement, after pivoting from the fashion world as an account exec at Ralph Lauren and Christian Dior. Back then, it didn’t even have an official name or title, but that didn’t stop the buzz from spreading. When Toomey decided to launch a website in 2013, the time came to give it an official name. “The Class” was the perfect fit because it’s really all the things — an overarching enough title for fans to define it however it resonates to them. (It eventually became The Class by Taryn Toomey, its current title.)

Based on the success of The Class’ digital studio and experiential extensions (such as its “Remote Retreatments”), it will continue to bring new on-demand and self-study resources to the platform.

“Most recently, the importance of using the digital platform to help fight the spread of coronavirus became apparent,” Toomey explains. “This May through August, we have created a very special moment for us to come together and raise money for a worthy cause, and in tandem work on ourselves. I am cohosting The Class x Healthy at Home, an on-demand class, with Naomi Watts, to raise funds for COVID-19 Response Fund for World Health Organization.”

This event will be live-streamed Thursday May 7 and available for reply for 90 days; 100% of proceeds raised from the live-stream class will be donated to COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fun for World Health Organization.

Learn more about what inspired Toomey to shift careers, how she balances entrepreneurship (and teaching) as a mom of two young daughters, and how she suggests women learn to take up space. Take a seat, The Class with Taryn Toomey is in session…

Karin Eldor: Can you share a bit about your background? I know you were formerly an account exec at Ralph Lauren and Christian Dior — why did you decide to pivot from fashion to health and wellness?

Taryn Toomey: I have always had a part of me that was moved by music and movement. While working in fashion, I found myself itching for something different — there was a dull ache in my soul. I didn’t know what it was, but I do now. My soul’s mission was not at ease and I had to make a move.

Now this was no simple feat. It took me 10 years to get there. But I listened and took it one step at a time. I started by enrolling in a yoga teacher training program and then began teaching, with the expectation that I would return to fashion. I just wanted to dip my toe in the water, and find a deep listening and understanding of this ache. After I had been teaching for a few months, my children’s father was transferred for work and we moved to Boston. There was no Ralph Lauren or Dior, there so I just kept teaching yoga.  That’s really how it began, and continued to unfold from there.

 Eldor: What compelled you to launch The Class in 2013? Was there an “aha” moment you had experienced? 

Toomey: The creation of The Class was such an organic process. It really began with the intention to combine music and movement with community and strength. That said, I truly had no hope or expectation for what it could become, I was simply sharing my journey. When I first began teaching the method, I would invite my friends to join me in the basement gym of my apartment building. It was during that time that I realized this work had a transformative effect on not just myself, but others as well. I feel incredibly grateful that this work has been able to positively impact as many people as it has.

Eldor: I love the notion of “getting comfortable being uncomfortable,” something The Class is very much about. The idea of releasing and coming face to face with the thoughts that come up while in Class. During this current period of isolation, especially, what are some ways you recommend people do this more? 

Toomey: The body is in constant communication with us. Think about the feeling you get in your belly when you know something is off, or how your body feels after you eat certain foods. When one gets still and truly listens, the body serves as a compass. It is your intuition. 

Our emotions carry information, which oftentimes can be unexpressed or unhealed moments from our history. Tune into the emotion and ask yourself if it is a current-day feeling, or something that is being activated from the past. When in doubt, close the eyes, tune into the body and listen. The wisdom is in there. 

Eldor: The Class’ digital streaming platform is a great way to scale your business beyond your physical IRL studios, which I know you planned before COVID-19 started and our collective new normal began. How does it feel that you are now available to so many people worldwide, in their homes? 

Toomey: When I reflect back on the early days, I remember I would close my eyes when I taught and would see thousands of people. I never intellectually “knew” why, but there was this part of me that felt there was so much more to this than me. There was something bigger than I that was working through me. 

It just feels right to be in people’s homes while they are at home, in every sense of the word, doing the deep ‘inside job’ kind of work that one can only do for themselves. I wake every day and lift my hands to the sky and say ‘thank you’ over and over until my body feels it. This is what motivates me to get up and get going.

Eldor: I take your Class regularly and know you are feeling tremendous gratitude, it really emanates from you — although it’s all of us who should feel grateful! 

Toomey: That is beyond kind. It is fulfilling to know The Class is providing a place for people to go, and that it is serving.

Eldor: How do you juggle it all, as a founder and mother of two? 

Toomey: I map out my week well, understanding when I am front-loading and back-loading, and I remain flexible with it when needed. I have certain markers that I watch for. When I feel strong and embodied, I create, I support, I tune in to those around me who may need me, and I channel it. When I am feeling emotional or need to pass grief, I cry well with the intent to let it pass through and out of me, and I rest after.

I use my words well, with kindness, to those around me. I learn to take care of myself by expressing from a place of integration with my current state, while understanding that there are certain steps that must happen in order for me to continue to drive a mission-based business forward. All while being a mother to the two most precious gifts I have been given, my daughters Lettie and Finley.

Eldor: How do you recommend women learn to take up space (in every way).

Toomey: Look directly at your inherited pain in the eye, while you move your body and express it – interrupt it, purge it, and breathe as you release. You can use sounds to express unexpressed words. And then hug yourself with grace and honesty as you create the new normal for the future generations.

Eldor: What are the 3 most important traits of being a female founder? 

Toomey: Integrity, accountability, vulnerability.

Eldor: What is your mantra?

Toomey: Thank it.