High above the city noise, Third Door is a yoga and arts studio along the waterfront in Brooklyn, New York. It’s a place to move, to create, to gather; where practice expands beyond the mat and expression meets care. With a full class schedule, rotating community programming, and a strong undercurrent of collaboration, Third Door offers students a third space, one that lives between home and work, structure and spontaneity.
We spoke with founder Marta Sola-Pfeffer about how the studio came to life and how the practice of sankalpa continues to guide every decision inside the space.
How did Third Door come to life?
The studio came to life because my friend, artist Tala Schlossberg, decided to temporarily leave New York and had an intuition to hand the space over to me. She invited me to come see it and imagine what it could become next. It had been her private art studio, but it was perfect for yoga with big windows and a beautiful view.
As a believer in ishvara pranidhana (surrendering to divine forces), I said yes without fully knowing what would unfold. New York’s yoga scene is incredible, but I wanted to offer something different than I was seeing, something more old school. This felt like my opportunity to bring back the 90s with donation-based classes and a genuine commitment to reaching folks who’ve been left behind by the corporatized wellness so often present today.
From that moment of trust, so many kismet things have happened, with teachers reaching out through the grapevine, and friends of friends joining the project. The whole process has been a practice in surrendering to what wants to emerge, and that openness has been the greatest teacher of all.
Your studio is described as a “third space” — a destination beyond home and work. How do you bring this idea to life?
Third Door is a third space in the truest sense: a living room with space to play, open to anyone who feels called to be here, whether they show up as a student, teacher, artist, or curious contributor. In a city like New York where so many people are doing incredible things in their own bubbles, we exist to pop those bubbles and create cross-pollination between communities, dissolving the boundaries between your physical life, your intellectual life, and the ways you care for yourself.
We've brought to life 20+ yoga classes per week alongside programming like figure drawing and action theater from local artists, thinkers, and teachers who have something they want to share with the community. Beyond just "not work, not home," this is a space where you can deepen your engagement with people and ideas, meet the people you're meant to meet, and explore what genuinely interests you rather than only centering around output and productivity.
The invitation to come early, stay after class for tea, and return for intentionally structured series creates familiarity and belonging. This is collective creativity in action: what do we offer to each other, and how do we show up as whole people in a nourishing space that's an extension of our living rooms?
How does the concept of sankalpa (intention) show up at Third Door?
Sankalpa isn't just something we teach, it's the foundation of why Third Door exists. We have a deep intention to change the wellness landscape in New York by offering accessible and meaningful art and yoga classes for our community. We invite students to bring their own dedication to their bodies, their practice, and their creativity, meeting our commitment with their own.
We begin every class by setting an intention, weaving sankalpa into the daily rhythm of practice and creating space for students to reconnect with what brought them to the mat. This practice of intention-setting extends beyond individual classes; we're building this studio with the same deliberate, heart-centered resolve we ask our students to cultivate, ensuring that every decision we make aligns with our vision of creating genuine community and accessible wellness.
Your studio also serves as a cultural space, hosting art and performance. How do yoga and the arts intersect for your community?
Our community in Brooklyn is deeply creative, and we've built Third Door to honor that. Yoga and art aren't separate pursuits here; they're both expressions of the same fundamental human need for creativity and embodied expression.
In the West, there’s this persistent idea that the mind and body are separate. Yoga teaches the opposite: the way we move our bodies in reciprocal relationship with our minds, and both yoga and art offer tools to explore that connection.
The yoga practice sets the stage for artistic exploration, and the art deepens our capacity for presence and embodiment. We see yoga itself as a creative act, not just preparation for creativity. Ultimately, both practices are gifts we give to our bodies and minds, ways of remembering our wholeness and accessing the parts of ourselves that get buried under the demands of daily life.
What made you decide to partner with Manduka?
[Manduka founder] Peter Sterio's story resonates deeply with mine. His dedication to making yoga accessible and grounded mirrors how I approach my own practice and teaching. I've been using the same Manduka mat for half a decade now, and it's one of those amazing tools that becomes invisible in the best way possible. I don't think about it when I’m practicing, I just feel supported. Quality gear like this makes my practice smoother and easier, which is exactly how it should be. So when it was time to choose which gear we would outfit Third Door with, it wasn’t a question we’d use Manduka.
Learn more at about Third Door at thirddoorbrooklyn.com and follow them on Instagram @thirddoorbrooklyn.
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