FEATURE FRIDAY: MEET FRESH COAST YOGA
Hello friends! Back with another Friday feature! Today we would like to introduce you to Fresh Coast Yoga! Fresh Coast Yoga is a dedicated space for people to come together, practice yoga, and build community. They are a yoga studio in downtown Houghton that offers regular weekly classes taught by certified instructors in a clean, modern studio environment. Here is our interview with Mary, one of the owners, accompanied by some photos from our experience attending a class! It was amazing, btw!!
How and when did your yoga journey start? From practicing to teaching and then opening your own studio.
I trained as a classical ballet dancer when I was a teenager, and stretching and meditation were part of my daily conditioning ritual. Later I realized that much of what I was doing were common yoga poses. When I got to college I started my formal yoga practice at a hot yoga studio that was down the street from my apartment in Pittsburgh - I would mop the sweat off the floors for free classes. After graduating I dove deeply into my yoga practice and enrolled in a teacher training program.
While going through teacher training I had the opportunity to work at the first lululemon store in Pittsburgh, which is where I started developing a better understanding of the wellness industry. We would visit local studios and build relationships with studio owners and wellness experts, it was a great experience, and I learned so much. I graduated from my teacher training program in December 2011 and a few months later my husband and I moved to Houghton.
I spent our first two years here teaching nonstop. It was a grind, but I’m so thankful for all of the connections that I was able to make through teaching 6, 8, sometimes 12 classes a week. Teaching an abundance of classes helped me develop a sense of what the yoga community here wanted, so when we started drafting out ideas for the studio I felt like had a pretty clear picture of what the Houghton yoga community was looking for.
Tell us the story behind how Fresh Coast Yoga came to be!
It's actually a long story, so to keep things short, the original inspiration to open a studio came in 2014. For many reasons that idea got back-burnered before anything concrete was put in place, but I’m a terrible secret keeper when I get excited about something so over the next couple years I would have friends randomly ask if anything was happening with the studio. In 2017 a trusted friend urged me to revisit the studio plans, and with her assistance I was able to hammer out some key details that helped turn the studio idea into a viable and sustainable business. By the summer of 2018 I had found the right space, a business partner (shout out to Drew Cramer who is not only my business partner and an instructor at the studio, but also the craftsman behind the studio’s gorgeous renovations), and we had pulled together a group of instructors who shared our vision for what the studio could be. By November 2018 we had launched our GoFundMe, and doors opened at Fresh Coast Yoga on May 1st, 2019.
What is yoga to you?
To me, yoga is the practice of learning to be present. The word yoga means union - the union of the body, the breath, and the mind. It’s so easy to be disconnected from your body, to forget about your breath, or to lose control of your thoughts and emotions. Through focused attention to each of these areas yoga can help us regain our sense of self and over time, and with practice, we can start to carry some of what is learned on the mat out into our every day lives.
What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their own yoga journey?
Be open to yoga being about more than just getting flexible or fit. So many benefits of yoga are missed if you’re only focusing on the physicality of the practice. And be patient with yourself as you try something new. Yoga can be uncomfortable, both mentally and physically, but it shouldn’t hurt, and it can be hard discerning the difference between those two things when you’re first starting out.
The studio is amazing! Where is it located and tell us why you chose that building.
Thank you! The studio is located on the second floor of 222 Sheldon Ave. in downtown Houghton (we’re above Otter River Outfitters). We chose this space for a few reasons; First of all, I knew the studio needed to be in downtown Houghton. I wanted it to be as centrally located as possible with easy access to parking. 222 Sheldon is connected to the parking deck and it also has a street side entrance, so it’s easy for students to get to and from. The building was built in 1908 so it has these beautiful high ceilings and great natural light coming in from our huge front windows. In many ways the space was a blank canvas when we signed our lease and Drew did an incredible job of turning it into the clean, modern, welcoming space it is today.
What range of classes do you offer? Tell us about a few of them.
Right now we are running 11 classes a week in a range of styles. Our hope is that there is a class to fit anyone’s ability and class preference. We’ve got several high energy classes - these are our Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga, YogaFit and Buti classes that keep students moving and physically challenged throughout practice. Our Restorative classes are slower paced and use lots of props and supports, so they are great for people who want to decompress and aren’t looking for an aerobic type of class. Yoga I and Deep Stretch are great places for beginners to come try out a class.
To learn more info or to sign up for a class, where can people find you online?
Our website is www.freshcoast.yoga! There you can find class descriptions, instructor bios, and our full schedule. You can also sign up for classes right on our website or just drop in for a class at the studio. We are also on Instagram and Facebook, where we post information about upcoming classes, workshops, and other studio updates.
Thanks so much to Fresh Coast Yoga for the inspiration and sharing your story! We can't wait to attend more of your classes.