Just like every business in March 2020, The Shop Yoga Studio closed down with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. But unlike many yoga studios that reopened months later, The Shop just reopened earlier this year.
Long-time yoga instructor Sherri Russell says the building’s owner David Belz, was concerned about keeping yoga students safe.
“He was very concerned about the constraints around COVID and wanting to make sure that we were appropriately watching out for any conditions that might exist that would arise based on COVID," Russell said. "And as you’re aware, the space is relatively open, and very difficult to manage the cleaning of it. And so, he made a judgment call as to the rest of the instructors, to make sure that we had a safe environment to support the community, in the manner for which there's kind of an integrity with what we profess, right?”
The studio was thriving in 2020 and studio manager Lauren Lockey says they’re slowly growing the number of class offerings and participants.
“Starting this fall, Oct. 15, we'll have a new schedule, keeping some of the classes that we've been having, but also we have some new instructors now,” Lockey said. “Slowly people are starting to realize that we have opened. It's taking some time and some people come in there and they're like, ‘I had no idea you guys were reopened,’ don't even know we're here. But once people do walk into the studio, whether they're new, or they've been there before, they're just like, ‘Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be back here,’ because it's such a beautiful, welcoming space.”
While there are a handful of studios in the area, as well as many classes offered through community recreation programs, Russell says The Shop is different and not just because it’s not a heated studio.
“There's a spiritual energy at the shop that I feel we as teachers really have gravitated towards, I think you feel it as you enter the space," Russell said. "It's really meant to be sacred space. We're not a hot studio, as many studios have become. And we teach more in the principles of alignment with yoga.”
The studio used to be donation based, but Lockey says when it reopened, they introduced a structured fee schedule. This fall, drop-in class fees have been reduced to $15 a class. Lockey says to watch for upcoming specials on punch passes as well. Find the class schedule here.
