Meet Cristina Baciu | EKA Yoga Founder & Yoga Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cristina Baciu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cristina, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
This is such a cliche, but it started on New Year’s Day 2021. I wrote down my 1-year goals, my 5-year goals, and my lifelong goals that morning and envisioned the life that I wanted. In this life, I imagined (word for word from my notepad) my life goal to “have helped millions of people around the world to believe in themselves and revolutionized how people think and do yoga.”

At the time when I wrote that, I didn’t even think about having a business per se, let alone a yoga business. I wasn’t teaching yoga, I wasn’t certified – I just had this extreme passion to practice yoga and to share it with people. I am still very far away from that goal, but I don’t believe it is unachievable. It continues to drive me to this day.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
EKA Yoga is an online video streaming platform that connects students with yoga instructors and studios. Instructors are empowered to launch their own virtual yoga studio within minutes by producing their own on-demand classes and students can book online 1-on-1 classes with their favorite instructors.

EKA Yoga was inspired based on my own conversations and feedback from other yoga instructors and students. What I realized is that we all had very similar pain points. When I finished my 200hr yoga teacher training, there were 20 other students who graduated with me in December 2021. However, since graduating they have not been able to find consistent work at yoga studios. I faced a similar challenge finding work as an instructor because when I finished my certification, my region was in another lockdown.

A friend of mine that lives in Indiana drove 30 minutes to teach at a studio where only 2 students showed up and she was paid $10 for the full hour. A lot of yoga instructors also have full-time jobs, myself included, which doesn’t leave us much time to teach as much as we want to. These yoga instructors are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about what they do, so I wanted to find a way to help my friends use their yoga training to the fullest extent.

Getting started on EKA Yoga was the hardest part for me because I didn’t know where to start. I knew nothing about starting a business, and that scared me. But I knew yoga so I went from there. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far – if you have an idea, a goal, or a business you want to pursue – get started. It doesn’t need to be a huge step either. It can be something as simple as writing down what you want. It was the same thing when I first started practicing yoga. I had no idea what I was doing but I wanted to learn so I started by using an app and went from there..Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar said, “Yoga is not about being in a race with other people. It is up to facing yourself. That is a hard thing.” This is true not just for yoga, but for all things.

So often we hold ourselves back from doing the things we want to do – we’re afraid to start or we don’t think we’re good enough. That’s why just getting started can often be the hardest part and that’s ok. A lot of people say that their business started as a passion project but I don’t really resonate with that. EKA Yoga is not a passion project – somehow it feels like it’s more than that. I would describe it as a calling, something that feels natural. It feels like I’ve found my place in this world and how I can best be of service to others. In yoga, being in service to others is referred to as “seva.” With EKA Yoga, I’ve found my seva but I didn’t know that when I first started it.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love where I live – I am an hour away from Toronto in one direction and an hour away from Niagara Falls in the other direction so there are so many things to do! I would definitely start us off in my hometown of Hamilton. The Hamilton Waterfront Beach Trail by Lake Ontario is my favorite thing to do, so we’d take a walk along there and stop for a lunch at the Greek restaurant that’s on the beach and a must-have there is the saganaki or flaming cheese. On really clear days, you can see the CN Tower across the lake.

The next day we’d go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a town close to Niagara Falls that has the cutest downtown. We’d do a wine tour in the area because the region is known for its wine and there are so many good wineries to choose from – Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, and Peller Estates just to name a few. For a delicious snack, we’d stop at the Budapest Bake Shop which makes authentic chimney cakes in all sorts of different flavours – including a pizza-flavoured one, dill pickle, but also sweet ones like Nutella and cheesecake. After that, we’d have to check out Niagara Falls, and take the Maid of the Mist, a boat tour, to get up close to the falls.

We’d definitely spend some time in the Toronto area as well. We’re both pretty outdoorsy people so while the hustle and bustle of Toronto downtown can be fun, Toronto has lots of beautiful natural wonders as well – the Toronto Islands being one of them! We’d take a Tiki Taxi (exactly what it sounds like) to get to the islands and spend the day at the beach there. Another must-see spot close to Toronto is the Scarborough Bluffs, which stretches along the Lake Ontario shoreline. We’d hike along the trail to get to the top and have another beautiful view of the lake.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I dedicate this shoutout to my supportive and loving partner who continuously lifts me up, encourages me to pursue my dreams, and sees things in me that I might not always see in myself. My family and friends as well who have always listened to me go on and on about yoga and continuously support my passion.

Website: www.ekayoga.studio

Instagram: @ekayogastudio

Facebook: @www.ekayoga.studio

Other: Slack channel: eka-yoga.slack.com