Recognizing the growing need for connection in an increasingly isolated world, Brad Baldwin launched Sangha Wellness Collective, a shared space in Iowa City’s Northside neighborhood designed for mindfulness, community, and stress relief.

After 25 years in the corporate world, Baldwin discovered mindfulness as a tool to navigate the stress of juggling his career, his wife’s career, and raising their two daughters.

“All of that abundance was amazing, but I started to realize how much I was suffering and really struggling with stress,” Baldwin said. “Even though those things were largely good things, it was a lot, and I was struggling.”

Baldwin said he was referred to a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class offered through the University of Iowa’s mindfulness program at the time.

“I took that class, and it really catalyzed for me the power and value of daily mindfulness practice,” Baldwin said. “I’ve been a daily practitioner since that point, and it really helped me navigate some of those struggles and difficulties that I had.”

Mindfulness, rooted in meditation, is the practice of intentionally focusing on the present moment with awareness and without judgment, often cultivated through daily exercises like deep breathing, body scans, or mindful observation to improve focus and reduce stress.

After serving as president of MediRevv, a health care revenue cycle company, for eight years, Baldwin sold the business and sought a new professional direction. Drawing from his personal experience with mindfulness, he launched Aperture, a mindfulness-based coaching and consulting practice, in October 2021.

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“I decided to lean on something that had become pretty important in my personal and professional life, which was my mindfulness practice, and find ways to share that with others,” Baldwin said.

As part of his commitment to sharing mindfulness, Baldwin teaches the same Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction class that first inspired him to UI faculty twice a year. While he values his work with Aperture, he opened Sangha in Iowa City to combat the isolation he and other remote workers face.

“Our society is increasingly isolated, and we don’t spend as much time in proximity to one another as we have in the past,” Baldwin said. “I think that is having consequences that are not good for overall health and wellness. So, [Sangha] is meant to be a gathering place.”

He said the main program space is designed to be adaptable, whether for a business meeting with tables and chairs, a yoga studio with space to stretch, or a meditation retreat with floor cushions and a soothing atmosphere. The building also features co-working offices for rent, with a preference for wellness providers looking to grow their businesses.

“[Sangha] is not open to the public all the time, but it is open and available,” Baldwin said. “If anybody has interest and curiosity about learning more, they’re welcome to reach out to me.”

Mark Nolte, a longtime friend of Baldwin’s, said he has attended several of Baldwin’s mindfulness workshops over the years and appreciates his down-to-earth teaching style.

“I appreciate that Brad is bringing mindfulness to professionals and others who maybe were hesitant to experience that stuff before,” Nolte said. “Maybe they thought it was a little too woo-woo or religious or spiritual.”

Nolte said one of Baldwin’s strengths is his ability to present mindfulness as a credible, evidence-based method for reducing stress.

“He does it without any dogma or strings attached,” Nolte said. “I think that’s what makes him so unique.”

Since launching Sangha, Baldwin said the Iowa City Downtown District, a nonprofit focused on supporting and promoting the downtown area, has helped him find his footing. Christopher Hunter, the district’s director of marketing, said the organization has worked with Baldwin to increase awareness of Sangha.

“A new wellness collective is exciting to have,” Hunter said. “It is an open space that is inviting to other entrepreneurs and other wellness people that would like to come and kind of see what it’s like in the district and have that space and opportunity to work and collaborate with others.”