Corporate Social Responsibility

1. Mission and financial management
Yogaia is part of Yogacoop SCCL, a co-operative society whose aim is to promote yoga and create a practice space that is accessible to people of all ages, physical abilities and financial circumstances. Yogacoop seeks to build its corporate reputation around the principles of fairness, diversity —understood as a source of enrichment— and respect for the environment.

Yogacoop SCCL is a worker co-operative made up of worker-members and supporting members. Its purpose is not to generate wealth, but to develop a financially sustainable space for the practice and teaching of yoga. It seeks to distribute the financial benefits of its activities fairly among the co-operative’s workers and members, while also ensuring that they benefit society and its students. Yogacoop is committed to managing its accounts fairly and transparently.

Yogacoop chooses ethical banks and does not invest in banks, securities or shares that are inconsistent with the co-operative’s environmental, pacifist and socially responsible values.

Yogacoop not only operates within the law, but also strives at all times to act in accordance with the principles of honesty and fairness.

2. Not-for-profit working conditions

Yogacoop guarantees respect for employment rights and fair financial conditions, and promotes the health and safety of everyone who works within the co-operative. Yogacoop provides its worker-members with opportunities for ongoing yoga training and practice, as well as for studying disciplines that complement their work within the co-operative. Yogaia is a space for personal growth for all its members: worker-members, supporting members, non-member employees, students and clients. Yogacoop is committed to purchasing products only from brands that respect the rights of children and workers, giving priority to locally produced goods whenever possible.

3. Environmental sustainability

Yogaia takes its name from the word yoga, an ancient discipline that enables us to experience harmony with ourselves, with others and with the world, combined with the word Gaia. Named after the Greek goddess of the Earth, Gaia refers to a view of the biosphere in which all living beings and the physical systems surrounding them —including life, geological factors and climatic conditions— form an integrated system that tends towards balance. Environmental sustainability is therefore one of Yogaia’s central missions, reflected both in its name and in its very essence, as we are not merely part of the natural environment but one with it.

Yogaia’s physical space has been designed according to a logical approach to construction that supports sustainability and follows the principles of Feng Shui. This creates a highly functional environment in which resources and space are used efficiently, with the aim of promoting people’s wellbeing. This wellbeing is also supported by comfortable lighting and by all the benefits of an indoor garden, including its visual and climatic qualities and its contribution to air renewal, as well as by the use of furniture manufactured in accordance with bioconstruction principles.

All products sold in the Yogaia shop, as well as the equipment used in the studio for yoga practice, are environmentally and socially responsible.

Yogacoop is committed to saving energy and water, and to improving the use of resources whenever the co-operative’s financial circumstances allow.

Yogacoop is committed to recycling as much material as possible.

4. Social sustainability
Yoga is for everyone. For this reason, Yogaia pays particular attention to groups that are often excluded, including older people and people with specific needs.

Yogacoop is also committed to supporting people with fewer financial resources and to contributing to the local neighbourhood. It does so by offering donation-based sessions, organising special classes both within and outside its premises, and collaborating with associations, NGOs and aligned projects that require its support.

Whenever possible, Yogacoop chooses locally sourced products made by craftspeople in the country and seeks to support local economic networks.