Hidden Gems: Meet Belinda Fleming of Sol Yoga + Pilates Studio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Belinda Fleming.

Hi Belinda, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Hi, welcome to SOL. Nice to meet you.

That’s what you’ll find on the front door of SOL Yoga + Pilates Studio in Marietta, Georgia. And it’s not just a sign. It’s a philosophy. From the moment you step inside, something shifts. People say it every time… I love the sense of peace when I walk in. The space is calm, intentional, warm. Cell phones go in the cubbies. The scrolling stops. The mental chatter, the replaying of yesterday, the rehearsing of tomorrow, begins slowly to release its grip.

That’s what SOL is for. That’s why it exists.

I am Belinda Fleming, the founder and owner of SOL Studio. When our doors opened in August 2018, this community became my greatest teacher. I am a registered nurse with a background in critical care, a career built entirely around showing up for people in their most vulnerable moments. I am also a mother of five incredible children, and recently my heart has grown even fuller. My oldest son and daughter-in-law welcomed my first grandson, and my oldest daughter and son-in-law welcomed my first granddaughter. Life, in every direction, is expanding. Perhaps that is why the work of holding space for others has always felt less like a profession and more like a calling. Nursing does it. Yoga does it. SOL does it. The thread has always been the same. Walk alongside people. Be steady. Be present. Show up. Keep showing up. Because we are human, and the cyclic nature of being human is that we forget. We forget how extraordinary this life actually is. And SOL exists for exactly that, to be the place you return to when you’ve forgotten. To breathe, to move, to remember.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Yoga teaches us to see things as they are. Not through the filter of fear, not through the lens of scarcity, not through the negative bias that so many of us have been conditioned into without even realizing it. That is one of the most powerful and most difficult aspects of the practice. And owning a studio has asked me to live that teaching every single day.

Because the studio mirrors the very human patterns we study on the mat. In yoga we call it Svadhyaya, self study. The practice of turning the lens inward and observing yourself honestly, without judgment. A yoga studio, it turns out, demands exactly the same thing of its owner.

There is a deeply cyclic nature to running a studio in the suburbs. The community ebbs and flows. Life gets busy. People come in waves and seasons, drawn in by a new year’s resolution, a health scare, a divorce, a transition, a longing for something they can’t quite name. Some walk through the door and immediately recognize that they’ve found their path. Others are simply curious, dipping a toe in, exploring something unfamiliar, and that’s beautiful too. And some drift in, stay for a while, and then drift back out, not quite ready for what yoga is really asking of them. You have to love all of them equally and release them with an open hand.

In the Bhagavad Gita it is written, do the work and offer it up. Release attachment to the outcome. That is Aparigraha. That is the practice. And after nearly eight years of owning SOL, I can tell you it is the only compass that has never led me astray.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The biggest thing that keeps people from coming to SOL isn’t their schedule. It isn’t the cost. It’s fear. Fear of not being flexible enough, strong enough, experienced enough. Fear of walking into a room where everyone else seems to know what they’re doing. I see it all the time and my heart goes out to every single person sitting in their car in the parking lot working up the courage to come in.

So let me say it clearly. Everyone begins as a beginner. Everyone. And at SOL, that is not just tolerated, it is celebrated. We believe you never stop being a student of life and the mat is simply where we get to practice that truth. Whether you are stepping onto a yoga mat or lying down on a Pilates Reformer for the very first time, you will be met with patience, care, and zero judgment.

I have spent my life showing up for people. I have raised my family. I have traveled to Russia on medical mission trips, carrying supplies and medications to orphanages. As a yogi and a seeker I have studied and taught across multiple continents, from the sacred banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, from Europe to Africa to Asia and beyond. Every experience, every culture, every mat unrolled in a foreign land has found its way back into this studio and into how I teach.

We offer many styles of Vinyasa Yoga, both infrared heated and unheated, Yin Yoga which works deep into the myofascial connective tissue of the body, a specialized Back Care class, Meditation, Breathwork, and Pilates Reformer including our newest intermediate class Pilates Reformer Strength + Flow. Monthly Dharma teachings are threaded throughout our yoga classes, our teachers continue to advance and deepen their training, and our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program is where students first begin to find their voice as teachers, a journey that lasts a lifetime.

I also offer international yoga retreats, intentional pauses from everyday life where mindful movement, rest, and genuine connection come together. I welcome the opportunity to co-lead yoga retreats and embrace every collaboration that comes my way. Our most recent retreat was at Anamaya Resort in Costa Rica. Visit solyogawestcobb.com for upcoming retreats and teacher trainings.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Summers with my grandparents. Big family reunions on both my mother’s and my father’s sides of the family. Cousins running everywhere. Singing. Playing games. Bible stories and Vacation Bible School. Baking. All of the things. And always, always outdoors. Barefoot on rocks, grass under my feet, sun on my skin, long before grounding and earthing became wellness trends, I was already living it. We didn’t grow up inside in front of a television. We grew up in the world.

It was simple and it was magical, the kind of memories you don’t fully appreciate until you’re an adult. I didn’t know at the time how special it was.

But I know now.

There is a palpable energy that happens when people who love each other are simply together. I have carried that feeling with me my entire life. It is why I love leading yoga retreats. It is why I built a studio rooted in community and genuine human connection.

Pricing:

• New Student Intro Offer: 5 yoga classes for $55 within your first 30 days
• New Student Intro Offer: Pilates Reformer introductory package $100
• Monthly Unlimited Yoga Membership: $129/monthly
• Yoga Drop-in Rate: $24 per class
• Pilates Reformer Drop-in Rate: $35 per class

Contact Info:

• Website: https://SolYogaWestCobb.com
• Instagram: SolYogaWestCobb
• Facebook: Sol Yoga
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belinda-fleming-rn-ccm-379846188