Wellness travel has seen a boom in recent years, with droves of people seeking a true reset experience flying coast to coast for elevated spas, retreats, and studios. But what if St. Louisans didn’t actually need to leave the metro area to find their zen?
That’s the inspiration behind Namaste Yoga Studio co-founder Bobbi Baker’s upcoming brand evolution. Kirkwood’s Namaste, primarily known for its hot yoga classes, will soon become part of Equilibrium Social Wellness Club (10910 Manchester), a holistic wellness space offering everything from fitness to spa services to treatments. The major expansion in scope is planned to launch by spring 2026, and the new, larger space (located across the street from the original studio) will include a more robust and varied lineup of group fitness classes, as well as a café and juice bar, a weight room with personal trainers, and a full-service spa.
“When my husband and I travel, whether we’re going to the East Coast, Las Vegas, or whatnot, we always hit the spa,” says Baker. “I would find myself in these environments and think, Why do we not have this in St. Louis? So I ended up acquiring the building across the street from the current Namaste with my childhood friend, and we decided to partner together on this concept.”
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The Concept
Baker’s plan for the 10,000-square-foot facility is to build upon her fitness studio and combine it with the luxe spas that she loves to frequent on vacation. Her business partner Ashley Gates also brought in the idea of adding wellness amenities that aren’t as widely accessible here, from cupping to acupuncture to other trending therapies.
“It’s a membership-based facility where you can come get a massage and do all of the amenities—the cold plunge, the hot tub, the salt room, the sauna, all that,” she says. “But we also offer all these different modalities… We want to offer a one-stop shop where all of this stuff is under one roof, so you only have to have one membership.”
The fitness options will include both heated and non-heated yoga, fusion tech classes (think the Tracy Anderson Method), fusion Pilates, choreographed classes, and more. “These will all be classes that, essentially, you’ll never be able to age out of,” Baker adds. “We want to become people’s partner on longevity and to make sure, with everything we offer under this roof, that you’ll never be too ‘old’ to do it.”
This approach means that Equilibrium will be offering exercises that don’t leave practitioners too sore to function the next day, Baker says. “You want to work out, but you don’t want to kill yourself doing it, and what I’m learning as I’m getting into my mid-40s is that I cannot workout like I used to,” Baker says. “Exercise looks a lot different; it’s a lot more low-impact. My cardio looks different; I used to be in HIIT class multiple times a week, but I just realized that my body was not recovering and my cortisol levels were off.”
Baker describes this broadening of her wellness goals as a “yin and yang” that incorporates recovery, relaxation, and disconnection. “I am such a type-A personality, where I feel like I have to be overproducing all of the time, and it’s hard to just shut it off,” she says. “So we want to create this facility that when you walk in, you just feel like you stepped into a different dimension. You really have a culmination of all of these modalities under one roof that really meet you where you are.”
Baker argues that productivity isn’t in opposition to rest but actually a fundamental part of it. “People often don’t realize how much rest really aids how we function and how we move and how we feel,” she says. “So I’m really looking forward to providing a space where you can do both.”
Community has always been a cornerstone of Namaste, Baker adds, with tight-knit classes that navigate wellness journeys side by side, and Equilibrium will offer the same. The café and juice bar are intended to provide a before- or after-class or -treatment spot for socialization—another vital element to a holistic wellness experience.
“It’s a place to congregate, to be loud, if you want to, because most people think of the yoga studios and spas as more of a quiet space,” she says. “We’ll also have a beautiful, intentional lounge that’s kind of like in the epicenter of the first floor, where you can just kind of hang out, sit with your friends, grab a juice, or get an IV if you want.”
The spa will also feature seating in the wet room, where guests can spend time together or relax by themselves with a book. “We’re creating this flexible space where you really can just honor how you feel and do what you want to do that day,” Baker says.
Baker and Gates plan to evolve Equilibrium’s offerings as new innovations are introduced in the wellness arena. “We’ve already changed red-light therapy beds a couple of times because new products have come out during our planning, and we added two levels of cold plunge because research shows women do not actually need certain temperatures,” she says. “As research comes out, we want to be able to grow and be able to offer those cutting-edge modalities to our members.”
Equilibrium will sell a limited number of memberships to maintain an intimate environment and exclusivity, so members and visitors alike have as much access as possible to the amenities. Pricing will be announced in January, but the waitlist is open now. Baker describes the programs as a country-club model: There will be a wellness membership, which includes the wet room and different spa services; a fitness membership, which includes the group classes; and a hybrid membership, which includes all of the above. A small number of day passes will also be offered for a smattering of the spa and fitness options.
The Vision
The name “Equilibrium” came to Baker via an accidental text message from Gates, but it ended up indemnifying everything she wanted for her next venture. “It’s coming back to that original homeostasis state of where we started from before life takes over—just the natural pulls of this and distractions of that,” Baker says. “For us, ‘equilibrium’ is coming back to your natural state of balance. Life isn’t perfect. Life is real. Life is hard. And so we want to be able to provide that space for people where they can come back and regroup and rebalance.”
Baker describes working professionals in the “sandwich generation” as a big part of the community. “I personally feel like, for my generation and the generation below me, things are shifting in our lives,” she says. “We’re beginning to experience what it is to have aging parents. And I don’t know how we got her so fast, but we did. We’re seeing this changeover and realizing how close we are to that, and if we don’t start making shifts now, aging is not going to come easy.”
Baker says she knows she doesn’t want to be limited in her elder years by poor physical choices in her younger years, and she knows she’s not alone. “I think there is a wave of people who are coming into this awareness, and once you know something, you can’t unsee it,” she says. “It’s really special that everyone is emphasizing the importance on taking care of themselves—deciding not to drink, prioritizing self-care and good-for-you movement—and that demographic is getting younger and younger.”
Ultimately, Baker says, she and Gates looks forward to providing the space where people can change their lives—or just their day—in a profound way. “The most rewarding thing is hearing how people’s lives have changed, whether they showed up for the physical aspect and it’s really changed their mindset, or they just showed up to have that a quiet 60 minutes, and they tell me I am so strong or so softened because of this practice.”
