Shop Talk: Yoga on Main provides hot yoga classes downtown
Owner: Alison Miller
Address: 115 S Main St, Mount Pleasant, MI
Phone: (989) 621-5580
Website: https://www.yogaonmainmtpleasant.com/
Yoga on Main provides a place for students and community members to take hot yoga classes.
Formally known as Mount Pleasant Hot Yoga, Yoga on Main offers 23 classes a week. Classes start at 5:45 a.m. and go until 8 p.m. They vary from hot, warm and vinyasa flow classes.
Owner Alison Miller took ownership of the store on Sept. 14, and changed its logo and name. However, none of the classes offered before the name change has been changed. Most of the instructors before the name change still teach there, but two new instructors have been added.
Walking into the shop, there is a giant chalk drawing that covers the wall that greets them. The studio itself has bright red walls, and shiny wooden floors.
Miller said she does yoga to help with her athletics and tight muscles. She said she wants to provide these services to students and the community. Miller said students come to her studio because they are trying out yoga for the first time.
Central Michigan Life spoke with Miller to talk about her reasons for purchasing the shop, experience with yoga, and what plans she has for the business.
CM Life: Describe Yoga on Main in one or two sentences.
Miller: I would describe Yoga on Main as a hub of yoga.
Why did you purchase this location?
The former studio owner owns several other studios in Lansing. She was not able to be here as much as she wanted, (and) to make the studio as successful as it could be. She was looking for a new heart to take over the studio, and I have been teaching here for a couple of years. We started having conversations a while back, and came to me over the summer. She asked if I was ready to purchase it, and I was ready.
Did you have other experiences owning a yoga studio, or another kind of business?
No, I did not. This is all new to me.
What experience did you have with yoga beforehand?
I have been doing yoga for 25 years. I have a long history with yoga. I became a certified yoga instructor a couple of years ago, and I’m an athlete. I’ve always used yoga as therapy for my tired and sore body. I wanted to provide the same thing to clients.
What does your business offer?
We have hot and warm class environments. We offer vinyasa flow and slower classes as well. For all levels (of experience) we can accommodate folks who are brand new, or who are very experienced in yoga.
When you say hot and warm environments, what does that mean?
A hot studio is about 105 degrees Fahrenheit and the warm classes are anywhere between 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
What does a hot yoga class do differently than a regular yoga class?
It helps people like me who have very tight muscles relax and loosen the muscular system.
Explain vinyasa flow.
That is movement in the body that involves using breath for every movement that you make. Yoga teachers will use a sequence of connected movements and poses.
Is this a specific kind of class that you offer, or is it part of all yoga classes?
Not all classes are flow classes. We teach a yoga class for athletes. That has less flow and more stretching. So you may be seated more in a more static stretch. Vinyasa flow would be constant movement, all the time.
What would you recommend for people who are new to yoga?
“Yoga for Athletes” is great, because it really gets into the basics of yoga. Understanding the basics of yoga is very important to keep your body safe. And we teach a couple of slow flow classes on Monday and Wednesday morning… But we have many beginners who come into vinyasa flow or some of our more high intensity classes, and they do fine as well.
What have you already changed about the business?
We’ve given the front entrance a face-lift. We have painted it, decorated it, got a new logo and a new name. But I want people to remember that we’re still the same studio we used to be. We’re still a hot yoga studio. We will be working on where the classes take place. We haven’t done that yet because people are in the studio taking classes all the time.
Do you want to add any new classes?
We probably will keep a very consistent schedule with what people have used to in the past. We will be offering a lot what we are offering right now. One change is that I’m doing monthly workshops and presentations on various topics that people are welcome to attend. In January for example, I’m doing a workshop on intermittent fasting.
