Smiling Dog building entrance

In April, we drove from southern California to Seattle and visited various yoga studios along the coast on the way. It was great to see customers of ours from way back in the 90’s and also meet for the first time some of our newer customers. Some were studios we had not heard of. When we stopped in towns for a bathroom break or to eat lunch, Dave would ask people randomly if there was a yoga studio they liked in town, and we would go take a class or stop in and check it out.

Smiling Dog's sleek main practice studio

One new and delightful discovery was Yoga Pearl Studio, in the Pearl District of Portland, OR. Now a new customer of ours and a truly unique and lovely space to practice!

One of our many stops was in beautiful San Luis Obispo where we spent the night and took an amazing Sunday morning class at Smiling Dog Studio, one of our long time customers and friends. We tried to convey the simple beauty and taste of this studio and their organic foods cafe in these photos. Also, Smiling Dog has the best Yoga boutique north of Santa Barbara.

Check out more photos by clicking below…

Read More…

Posted under Yoga Studios

Welcome to our first “studio spotlight” post! Recently, we asked studio owners around the world how they make their studios more eco-friendly. One of the responses we received was from the owner of Heaven Meets Earth, Lisa Faremouth Weber.

Opened five years ago in Evanston, Illinois, Lisa’s vision for Heaven Meets Earth was to have an easily accessible studio for both kids and adults. She discovered a great spot in a residential part of town that was ideal for students to walk or bike to class. She also had the vision of creating an eco-friendly studio and chose to use all sustainable building materials for the construction, despite the higher costs. The studio has bamboo floors and low-to-no VOC paint. Water is available for students to fill their reusable water bottles and all paper products are made from recycled paper. Currently, Heaven Meets Earth is partnering with other businesses in Evanston to replace the older exit signs with LED signs.

The entire staff of the studio makes a conscious effort to turn off lights, whenever possible. They are also educated in eco-friendly practices, such as veganism, and share this knowledge with the community. Heaven Meets Earth has an Eco-Boutique that offers a wide array of products and uses email technology for receipts, rather than waste paper. As Lisa puts it, “Together we are creating community and setting an example of ways to care for the Earth and each other.”

We’re so inspired by the eco-efforts of studios around the world. We love to hear from studios and students, so feel free to send us an email about how your studio inspires you! Emails can be sent to info@barefootyoga.com.

~Namaste~

Posted under Yoga Studios