Cincinnati Art Museum launches member yoga Sundays with Olympic runner instructor

Julie Isphording brought Olympic-level name recognition to the Cincinnati Art Museum’s latest member perk, guiding a soulful Vinyasa flow in the Marek Family Commons as the museum leaned harder into yoga as a reason to spend Sunday morning on its campus in Eden Park.

The Member Yoga Sundays series ran from May 10 through May 31, from 10 to 11 a.m., and the museum kept it tightly tied to membership value: members only, registration required, with Student-Collector level members paying $5 and Associate level members and above attending free. Registration opened one month in advance, giving the program the feel of a reserved weekly ritual rather than a drop-in class.

The setting is part of the appeal. Instead of a studio mirror wall and a typical fitness-room reset, the museum placed the class in the Marek Family Commons, a public space framed by soaring windows and views of the grounds. The museum described the session as a quiet morning practice built around breath, purpose, calm, strength and beauty, and it said the class was accessible to all levels and abilities with modifications offered. Members were told to bring their own yoga mats and water bottles, and the museum said free parking was available, along with free general admission made possible by a family foundation gift.

That mix of convenience and culture is exactly what makes the program stand out. Museums, studios and wellness brands are all competing for the same weekend attention, and the Cincinnati Art Museum is answering with something most studios cannot match: a yoga class wrapped inside a member experience that can extend into the galleries. The museum says members can roam the galleries before Tuesday classes or stay after Sunday sessions to visit the museum, which turns the practice into part of a fuller morning out.

Isphording gives the series a local anchor with serious athletic pedigree. The museum identifies her as an Olympic marathon runner and yoga teacher, and Olympic records show she was a surprise qualifier for the 1984 U.S. Olympic marathon team. Olympedia says she later placed 10th in the 1986 Goodwill Games marathon, while Xavier University Athletics says she was part of the United States’ first-ever women’s Olympic marathon team and finished fifth in the 1982 New York City Marathon. The museum has promoted Member Yoga Sundays in several previous runs, including September, October and December, as well as February through May 2026, signaling that this wellness-by-membership model has become a recurring part of its calendar.