Deep breath, influencers. A filming ban at a Miami yoga studio is the right move | Opinion

We’ve all seen influencers in the real world. From Blue Lagoon in Iceland to Wynwood Walls in Miami, they’re everywhere, filming content and snapping selfies.

But sometimes, it’s a bit much. For me that happened in the gym, when one too many influencers propped their phones up to film themselves working out. It made me question my choice of gym. Having recently moved to Miami, I assumed this was just gym culture in the Magic City.

Turns out, it doesn’t have to be.

One Miami yoga studio is telling members to put down the phone, and it’s causing some shocked reactions. The studio in question — Mimi Yoga, a yoga and pilates studio in Wynwood — announced a new policy on its Instagram page in August: No filming allowed during classes. The decision came after repeated issues with students propping up tripods and ring lights and even taking Zoom calls during class.

“We previously made an exception allowing filming in the back row as long as other students weren’t captured in videos,” founder Mimi Ghandour told me in an email. “Unfortunately, these rules weren’t consistently followed, so we decided to implement a complete filming ban during regular classes for the comfort and safety of our students.”

The announcement sparked a wave of reactions. Some applauded the move. Others wanted “content classes” — classes where it would be OK to create social media content. But as Ghandour noted, the community response has largely been positive.

One Instagram user said it best: “Phone & Influencer culture has gotten out of hand, especially in Miami.”

I agree. And I applaud Mimi Yoga for drawing a boundary and fostering a community space where people can focus on what they are there for — to practice yoga and connect with others — rather than becoming the unwitting backdrop to someone else’s social media post.

As Ghandour reminded me, the classes at Mimi Yoga are “an opportunity to unplug and find inner peace — not to create content.”

Mimi Yoga is reinforcing something that is getting lost in the digital age: sacred spaces. Not only places of worship, but places where we can exist in the moment without the pressure to document and broadcast everything.

The gym used to be one of these places. So did restaurants, bookstores and yoga studios.

But smartphones have turned life into opportunities to curate the perfect post.

Daily life is being mined for content, feeding the algorithm and reinforcing the cycle of validation and comparison. It cheapens experiences when you can’t step away from your phone and be present.

“As a private business owner, we have the right to decide what works best for our business,” Ghandour said. If people dislike the policy, they’re free to pick a different studio.

That’s the beauty of the free market — private businesses can set their own standards, and customers can choose whether to participate. McDonald’s can require shirts and shoes to serve you, and a yoga studio can ban filming.

But the issue is bigger than one yoga studio. There’s an obsession with documenting everything and posting to social media.

Working out is just one of the daily experiences that have become commodities. Gyms and yoga studios are now social media backdrops, and in the process, we’re losing something major: community.

That’s why Mimi Yoga’s filming ban matters. It’s a reminder that not every space needs to be transformed into a set for Instagram. Some places should still belong to the people who are present.

Rules like the ones at Mimi Yoga aren’t about restricting freedom; they’re about respect. The student who films her perfect handstand may be oblivious to the classmate who feels self-conscious being caught in the background. And students who are focused on how they look onscreen aren’t going to be able to contribute much to a class.

Businesses willing to draw a line against the cultural creep of constant documentation should be applauded. In our hyperconnected world, there’s real value in offering people permission to disconnect.

Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of McClatchy’s Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com