The Refuge, LLC (Online Community Yoga Studio) (“Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share your personal information when you visit therefuge.community (the “Site”) or use our services, including virtual classes, private yoga lessons, in-person or virtual courses, retreat registrations, teacher training programs, and blog content (collectively, the “Services”).
By using the Site, you consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
1. Information We Collect
We may collect the following types of information:
1.1 Personal information you provide
When you use our Services, you may provide:
- Your name and email address, and a password, which is stored only in a scrambled form we cannot read
- If you choose to add them: a photo, a short bio, and where you are
- Your time zone and which emails you would like from us
- The classes you book and attend, and what you buy, including memberships, single classes, recordings, courses and programs, and what you paid
- Practices you log and entries you write in your journal, which are private to you
- Posts, replies and reactions you share in the Lounge
- Support tickets you start, and what you and the team write in them
- Messages you send to other members, which only you and they can read unless one of you reports a message to us
- The name and email address of somebody you give or buy a guest pass for, which we use to send it to them
- If you turn on notifications on a device: the notification address your browser or phone creates for that device, and its browser and device type
- For retreats or training programs, any details the program asks for, such as an emergency contact
Your card details are entered on and kept by our payment processor. We never see or store your full card number.
1.2 Information collected automatically
When you use the Site, we automatically collect:
- Your IP address, browser type and device, which our hosting provider records briefly to run and secure the Site
- Where you stopped in a recording, so it can start again from there
- How a recording played: which one, for how long, and whether it started and played smoothly, measured by our video hosting service on your device without your name or email address, so we can see what is watched and fix what plays badly
- Whether a referral link brought you to us, and whose it was
- Which pages are visited, through Google Analytics and our hosting provider’s visit counts, so we can see how the Site is used (see Section 6)
- Cookies and browser storage (see Section 6)
We do not use advertising trackers.
1.3 Information from third parties
We may receive information from:
- Our payment processor, which tells us whether a payment went through
- The service that ran our founding membership sign-up, so that we can carry your founding membership into the Site
- The video service where our live classes take place
- Social media, if you engage with us on those platforms
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
- Provide and manage our Services
- Process payments and registrations
- Communicate with you regarding classes, retreats, training programs, private yoga lessons, other services, and updates
- Send notifications to the devices you turn them on for: a class coming up, a class that moves or is called off, a place on a waitlist, a message from another member, and a reply to your support ticket
- Send newsletters or promotional materials (you may opt out at any time)
- Improve Site functionality and user experience
- Answer your questions and support tickets
- Maintain records for legal and business purposes
- Ensure safety during retreats or training (e.g., emergency details)
We do not sell your personal information to third parties.
3. Sharing Your Information
We may share your information with:
3.1 Service providers
Trusted third parties who help us run the Services:
- Payment processing, which takes payments and pays our teachers
- Website hosting, which also counts visits to our pages without cookies, and the database that stores your account and handles signing in
- Email delivery, which sends our emails
- Notification delivery, which sends notifications to the devices you turn them on for, knowing each device only by your account number
- Video hosting, which stores and streams our recorded classes and measures how well they play
- Video conferencing, which hosts our live classes
- Our email list and newsletter
- Our own email and office tools
- Google Analytics, which counts visits to our pages (see Section 6)
These providers are only allowed to use your information as necessary to perform services on our behalf.
3.2 Legal requirements
We may disclose information if required to:
- Comply with laws or legal processes
- Protect rights, safety, or property
- Prevent fraud or security issues
3.3 Retreat or training hosts
If needed for coordination, we may share limited information (e.g., your name, dietary preferences, emergency contact) with retreat venues or training facilitators.
3.4 Other members
Other members see your first name and photo beside what you post in the Lounge. When you book a class that has a room in the Lounge, the others booked into it see your first name and photo there. Your journal and your practice record are never shown to anybody else.
If your membership includes the Lounge, other Lounge members can find you in its member directory, which shows your name, your photo and the month you joined, and lets them send you a message. If you tick the box to show where you are, it shows that too, and they can search the directory by it. You are listed unless you turn it off, on your profile or on the directory page, and you can turn it back on in either place.
When you give or buy somebody a guest pass, the email that brings it to them says it is from you.
If you teach at The Refuge, your name, photo and bio are shown on your teacher page, which anybody can see, and beside the classes, recordings and programs you teach.
A member you write to sees your name and photo beside your messages. Nobody else can read a conversation, the team included, unless one of you reports a message: then the team reads that message and may take it down. When you delete your account, the messages you sent stop showing. When you delete a message, or close your account, the words are erased from our records 30 days later, unless a report about that message is still open. Otherwise we keep your messages for as long as both of you have an account.
4. How We Protect Your Information
We implement industry-standard security measures to protect your personal data, including encryption, secure servers, and limited staff access.
However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute protection.
5. Your Rights & Choices
Depending on your location, you may have the right to:
- Access the personal data we hold about you
- Request correction or deletion of your information
- Opt out of marketing communications
- Request restriction of data processing
- Request a copy of your data in a portable format
Notifications come only to a device where you turned them on. You can turn them off for that device on your Notifications page, or in your browser or phone settings. Signing out stops them on that device, and deleting your account removes all your devices from the notification service.
You can change your details and which emails you get on your profile, and delete your account there yourself once you have no membership or upcoming class. We keep the record of what was paid, for our accounts, without your name on it.
To exercise these rights, contact us at connect@therefuge.community.
6. Cookies & Browser Storage
We use a small number of cookies, and none for advertising:
- One that keeps you signed in
- One that remembers, for 90 days, the referral link that brought you, so the person who shared it is thanked
- One that remembers you have accepted our terms and waiver, so you are not asked again
- Google Analytics cookies, which tell one visit from another so we can count them
Google Analytics is shown only which page was visited, and which of our campaigns or shared links brought you, if one did. We never send it your name, your email address, or anything you type, and Google’s advertising features are turned off. You can stop Google Analytics counting your visits on any website with Google’s opt-out add-on, at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Our hosting provider also counts visits to our pages, without a cookie, and is shown no more than Google Analytics is.
Your browser also keeps a few of your own choices on your device: your time zone, whether moving backgrounds play, and whether to play the room’s sound.
If you turn on notifications, the notification service keeps a small record on your device, and a background script your browser runs for it, so notifications can reach you when the Site is closed. Neither is kept on a device where you have never turned notifications on.
You can manage cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies will sign you out and may affect Site functionality.
7. Data Retention
We retain your personal information only as long as necessary to:
- Provide Services
- Fulfill legal, tax, or accounting requirements
- Resolve disputes
In particular:
- The words of a message you delete are erased 30 days later. When you close your account, the words of your messages, posts and replies are erased 30 days later. Either waits while a report about it is still open.
- Something the team took down is erased twelve months later, and a report the team has answered is deleted twelve months after it was made.
- Notifications are deleted twelve months after they were sent, and you can delete one sooner from your Notifications page.
- Our record of each time the support team looked at your account, and of each password link the team emailed you, is kept for twelve months.
- The record of what was paid is kept for our accounts, without your name on it once your account is deleted.
8. Children’s Privacy
Our Services are not intended for anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect data from minors. If we learn that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will delete it promptly.
9. International Users
If you access the Site from outside the United States, you consent to the transfer of your information to the U.S. and the application of U.S. privacy laws.
10. Third-Party Links
The Site may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. Please review their policies before providing personal information.
11. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The “Last Updated” date at the top reflects the latest changes. Continued use of the Site constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
If you have questions, requests, or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact The Refuge at connect@therefuge.community, or write to us at 8810 White Fir Court, Reno, NV 89523.