Alice Boyd and and Jen Hayes met at their Bikram Yoga teacher training in the spring of 2000. As their friendship grew, they realized a common interest in embarking on a business venture to create a welcoming, community-building healing center, where—through yoga and pilates, various bodywork and alternative medicines, and healthful food—folks could come for support in finding balance and health in their often busy, stressful lives. Thus Yoga in the Pearl was created, complete with two yoga and pilates practice studios, four treatment rooms for bodywork, Eastern and holistic medicine, a retail boutique for props, books and clothing and an organic, vegetarian café.
The pathway to the healing arts center.
From the beginning, Alice and Jen were committed to offering a variety of styles of yoga to the community, as they felt that no one style of hatha yoga spoke to all people. Initially, the majority of classes offered in the large studio were Bikram yoga classes and other styles of yoga and pilates were taught in the smaller studio. Soon after opening, Alice attended a Power Vinyasa bootcamp with Baron Baptiste in Costa Rica and fell in love with the practice. Upon her return, Yoga in the Pearl began offering Power Vinyasa classes and the students loved it too. Jen’s practice had also shifted from Bikram to Ashtanga yoga, so the decision was made to let go of Bikram yoga and begin focusing on vinyasa-based practice.
Our reception and waiting area.
In 2004 Yoga in the Pearl got a bit of an identity makeover, emerging as Yoga Pearl. This change was inspired as a reflection of the mission to provide an urban oasis in the heart of the city, where the grit of modern life is transformed into a thing of beauty, rather than simply identifying with a geographic location. Though many of our clients and students are nearby residents of the Pearl District, a substantial number travel from all over the city and outlying areas to attend our classes and wellness activities.
Many of the healing arts practitioners at Yoga Pearl have offered their services from the start, and all are experts in their field. Our healing arts offerings include the highest quality massage, acupuncture, naturopathic medicine, and ayurvedic medicine/consultation.
All of these elements together—yoga and pilates classes, workshops offered by local and visiting master teachers, healing therapies, a healthful café, and a boutique featuring top-of-the-line clothing, books and props—have formed the healing oasis that Alice and Jen originally envisioned. Their dream of creating a space that fosters growth, health and community around the shared interest of caring for body, mind and spirit has been realized beautifully in our lovely Yoga Pearl.
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