OCEAN BLISS YOGA

OCEAN BLISS YOGA

PARTNER

OCEAN BLISS YOGA

OCEANBLISSYOGA.NET

Helen Kilgallen opened Ocean Bliss Yoga in 2009 as a small business with the intention of sharing her love of yoga in Rockaway. We are blessed to have this sacred space overlooking the water facing New York City in the Belle Harbor Yacht Club. We are a local community welcoming all into our space. A dedicated staff of skilled teachers brings individuality, kindness and compassion. It is an honor to serve our community and those who visit. We guide different types of yoga classes such as gentle, all levels, core, yin, and pilates to offer something for everyone. Additionally, we offer unique workshops monthly such as restorative, yoga nidra, chanting, meditation and sound baths.

BELLE HARBOR YACHT CLUB

533 Beach 126th St.
Belle Harbor, NY 11694

533 Beach 126th St.
Belle Harbor, NY 11694

rockawayhelen@aol.com

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PLAY YOGA

PLAY YOGA

PARTNER

PLAY YOGA

PLAYCATSKILLS.COM

We at PLaY believe there are experiences that can nourish our body and feed our soul. We believe when we share those experiences with like-hearted friends, lives change.

Come and explore our programs, yoga, meditation, hear thought provokers, thought disruptors, or just find inspiration in our thoughtfully designed space surrounded by art, music, and nature. Stroll the grounds and breathe deep. Finding the right combination of play will reveal the childhood joy that still lives in all of us.

Having spent a combined 70+ years in hospitals we looked to make the shift from “delivering “ healthcare to partnering with our friends and neighbors on a passage to wellness. Following a long and happy path to well-being, we found some amazing tools and came to build this house we call PLaY.

Under our roof are things that feed the soul, delight the senses and promote good health. Yoga, Meditation, Acupuncture, Pranayama, Essential Oils, Art, and Music. Look for stimulating talks from leading educators in all the fields of wellness, make an appointment for pain management from our in house Medical Director using primarily cannabis. We offer nutritional counseling from our in house Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and fitness plans from our certified fitness trainer.

PLAY YOGA

221 Hillcrest Drive
Roxbury, NY, 12474

221 Hillcrest Drive
Roxbury, NY, 12474

playoga2018@gmail.com

Ig Live with Terri Speck founder of Play Yoga

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RED TAIL POWER YOGA

RED TAIL POWER YOGA

PARTNER

RED TAIL POWER YOGA

REDTAILPOWERYOGA.COM

We don’t believe in levels of yoga. Come as you are and see what’s possible.

RED TAIL POWER YOGA

Hopewell Plaza
810 Route 82
Hopewell Junction, NY 12533

810 Route 82
Hopewell Junction, NY 12533

info@redtailpoweryoga.com
Our chat with owner of Red Tail Power Yoga, Maureen
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LOVE PROFILE: RED TAIL POWER YOGA

Edited by Tashya Knight

PROFILES

LOVE PROFILE: Red Tail Power Yoga

We are so excited to chat with Maureen Benedict, the owner of Red Tail Power Yoga in NY! You can catch the full interview via our YouTube link, and here is an excerpt of our fun IG live chat we had about what it is like owning a yoga studio, surviving the pandemic, and great things coming up in 2023!

Iana
We are chatting with Maureen, owner of Redtail Power Yoga here in New York. Yoga Love magazine is based in New York City so we love supporting our local studios. It’s never easy as a small business owner but it feels extra challenging now.

Maureen, tell me about your studio. You’ve been open for a few years before the pandemic hit, so at least you had a couple of years to get your bearings before the pandemic. What was that transition like for your studio?

Maureen
We opened here February of 2018, and we had pretty much just celebrated our second birthday and then March 2020 hit. We were already live streaming from here because I had a friend and colleague who was the original brainchild of Vivaya Live and had this idea probably two years before the Pandemic hit to have an interactive wellness website, and she asked if I would help launch it. So basically in 2 hours, I had every single class up and live streamed.

Iana
You’re the first studio owner I’ve spoken to who was set up basically before everything happened. I feel like in 2018, people would have been like live streaming yoga? That sounds odd. And I love that you were open to this new idea and embracing this technology to reach your community.

Maureen
Yeah, it was really interesting. She had this idea, and I told her, well, I teach through the body, is that okay? We don’t put a mat down and demonstrate. It’s just the nature of how we teach with our eyes and our words and often our hands. So I taught live classes. I would teach the people on Zoom and the people here. Then I realized my teachers also had to stay healthy and connected to the community, and the community would miss them, too. So they learned to teach live. And so when it was that we weren’t really coming back into this physical space, then it was “from our home to yours.”

I moved the furniture, the dining room out, and that was the yoga studio. My old golden retriever, he would do savasana every time. My cat would do meditation every time. We did that pretty effortlessly. And then in June, I got a permit from the town because I knew these humans needed to get together in the community and right up the road there’s a park. So we taught outdoors four times a week. Even when we were outdoors, we still live streamed the class.

And then in August, we were back in the studio with the restrictions that New York State had, and we thought, what can we do to keep people healthy? What can we do to keep people connected? And so we still live stream every class,  every single class on the schedule has the option to choose in person or view broadcast.

Iana
I love that that’s still being offered. Did you find that a lot of your community moved away during the pandemic? And have they come back or have most people stayed?

Maureen
I think in the beginning, everyone was so connected and together on the screen and really in support and then when it went on a little longer, people tended to drop off. I think in yoga in particular, there’s so much about community and connection and togetherness. We put the zoom classes on gallery view and then they were socializing and introducing their pets. When we came back in, there were still people online socializing. I think people are really ready to be in community, in connection. So, it’s been an interesting challenge.

Iana
When things got challenging, how did you get through those moments? Was there a person, a mantra, a pet, something that helped if you felt overwhelmed in that moment?

Maureen
There were definitely moments, lots of them, lots of emotion. It feels a little like despair, right? A lot of people would say, “oh, it’s so great you could keep your studio open when so many closed.” It was a conscious decision to keep the studio open. I was here to be of service for my community and my teachers, and so whatever it took to keep this place open, which meant balances on credit cards and financial commitment to hold the line.

So what was my mantra? What was my guiding faith? I have “Walk With Grace” tattooed on my arm. I actually got it for my birthday last year, because the Red Tail Hawk is my spirit animal and he always tells me to rise above, to look at the big picture, and that this too, shall pass. And that in the moment, I wanted to believe it. We’re spirits having a human experience. So to allow this human and all of the humans to have whatever experience they’re having right now is what I felt was my calling to just be space for them of love. Space of love for every human to go through whatever their human journey is taking them through right now.

“So what was my mantra? What was my guiding faith? I have ‘Walk With Grace’ tattooed on my arm. I actually got it for my birthday last year, because the Red Tail Hawk is my spirit animal and he always tells me to rise above, to look at the big picture, and that this too, shall pass. And that in the moment, I wanted to believe it.” 

Iana
That’s so beautiful. And that faith, that feeling has to be so strong within you to keep moving forward, and that’s why you’re still here. It broke my heart when I would hear of a studio or a partner that had closed. It felt like a punch in the stomach every time I heard about it. And then the ones that did stay open, it was like this joyful release. 

With everything you went through, and then you turned around and supported our business, which was amazing. Our business only survived, because you paid it forward and supported us. So thank you for doing that and for continuing to be that. It feels like a miracle!

Maureen
It is a miracle, right? Every breath we take is a miracle.

Iana
How has your personal practice changed in the last couple of years?

Maureen
I love getting on my mat with my teachers. We’re a family of teachers. We’re a team. So every teacher here is trained by me personally and then by each other, and they usually rise up through the community. We don’t do teacher training as a regular money maker, but we do two teacher trainings a year. I’ll do teacher training when I have people that come to me and want to give back to the community and they want to share what yoga has done for them. In their classes I show up as just love and support for them in whatever stage they are in their teacher training journey and their teacher journey.

I did an apprentice program with two people recently that also allows my teachers to step into leadership as a mentor. So I’ve gone from studio owner, mentor, and now I’m a professional life coach. I’ve stepped into those shoes this last year as well. It just was the natural evolution of me.

Iana 
What did you do before you owned the studio, what was your previous life?

Maureen
It’s so funny because I like to say that I’m a cat, so I’ve had so many lives. I started as a young person in fashion sales in New York City for one of the biggest manufacturers. I was a sales executive for Liz Claiborne back in the day, and then I raised three sons. I made the conscious choice to stay home and raise my boys. During that time, I had a boutique baking business, and then I worked for a nonprofit, the Eleanor Roosevelt Center up in Hyde Park, New York. It’s the nonprofit arm that does international girls leadership and I was the assistant to the director, and then I was a  yoga teacher who taught from here to Stanford, and was a Lulu ambassador for two terms. I’ve had a lot of lives.

Iana
What would one piece of advice you would give someone that’s maybe looking for a little bit of guidance to get towards their dreams or their goals? One quick piece of advice you could leave them with.

Maureen
One piece of advice for anyone that they can use at any time to move forward: Your path is where your feet are. It’s today, the present moment. If I’m opening my eyes, I’m actually focused on the present. The possibilities are there. If I’m not in fear of the future or regret of the past. Your path is where your feet are right now.

“One piece of advice for anyone that they can use at any time to move forward: Your path is where your feet are. It’s today, the present moment. If I’m opening my eyes, I’m actually focused on the present. The possibilities are there. If I’m not in fear of the future or regret of the past. Your path is where your feet are right now.”

Iana
Thank you for chatting with us this morning. Thank you for supporting us and helping us continue the work that we’re doing as well. I’m so happy to hear all the amazing things you have planned.

Maureen
Thank you for the good you guys do, and I’m honored to be a partner.

SEVAA BROOKLYN

SEVAA BROOKLYN

PARTNER

SEVAA BROOKLYN

SEVAABROOKLYN.COM

Sevaa Brooklyn, where sustainable living meets wellness. We are an boutique movement studio. A studio that believes that every body deserves to feel!!! With intelligent cuing, our classes offer integral movement based on personal alignment to allow guests a deeper understanding of their mind and body. Our offerings vary from Yoga, Pilates, Barre, Meditation, Kids Yoga, and more. We offer indoor, outdoor, corporate and livestream classes.

SEVAA BROOKLYN

287 Madison Street
Brooklyn, NY 11221

287 Madison Street
Brooklyn, NY 11221

sevaabrooklyn@gmail.com

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SHAMBHALA YOGA & DANCE

SHAMBHALA YOGA & DANCE

PARTNER

SHAMBHALA YOGA & DANCE

SHAMBHALAYOGADANCE.COM

Shambhala is an intimate, non-competitive, community- and family-oriented yoga & dance center that has served the Prospect Heights community since 2001. Our guiding mission is to provide a small oasis of peace and comfort where we join with others from our community to breathe deeply, restore our spirits, and regain the inner clarity and balance to help navigate through and celebrate all facets of this sometimes stormy, sometimes exhilarating — but always interesting — journey of life.

SHAMBHALA YOGA & DANCE

691 Washington Avenue.
Brooklyn, NY 11238

691 Washington Avenue.
Brooklyn, NY 11238

contact@shambhalayogadance.com

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SONIC YOGA

SONIC YOGA

PARTNER

SONIC YOGA

SONICYOGA.COM

We began our journey in 2001 in the heart of New York City’s bustling Hell’s Kitchen & quickly blossomed into a mecca for eclectic souls looking for a super-friendly place to come together to practice yoga. Now on the edges of Hell’s Kitchen & Columbus Circle we serve our loving community with expert teachers, diverse classes & workshops, & a supportive environment to grow at whatever level they are at. We’ve welcomed more than 30,000 students into our family and trained over 1,000 teachers.

We support people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, religions, genders, body types, and sexual orientations on their yoga journey. Compassion and inclusivity are key ingredients that make up the Sonic community. We seek opportunities for teachers to be self-reflective and clear about intentions in the classroom. We continue to reach out to underserved populations to bring the gift of yoga.

SONIC YOGA

944 8TH AVE. 2ND FLOOR
New York, NY 10019

944 8TH AVE. 2ND FLOOR
New York, NY 10019

info@sonicyoga.com

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