Ahimsa Yoga Studio is in the news!
Scroll down to see the 4 articles (Oak Leaves/Forest Leaves, Wednesday Journal, Oak Park Patch, TribLocal) and 1 blog post from BizeeBee.
Blog post from BizeeBee.com 7/29/2011
Remind students that the summer is the perfect time to do yoga – your body is already naturally warm, so you will be able to explore yoga poses in ways you haven’t been able to before. You hips, shoulders, chest are all more open, so you may be able to go a step or two further in your asana practice. Also, our studio has freeze pops that we offer to students after classes on hot days. It’s also smart to offer water and encourage hydration. On days that aren’t too hot and humid, yoga in the park is a good idea. Just make sure there is no heat advisory that day! Yoga in the park is an excellent way to get in touch with mother nature, draw energy from the earth, and connect with the season and our base, earth chakra. We turn the lights off and turn a floor fan on. Sunlight doesn’t enter the studio, but pulling the blinds down and closing the curtains seems to help keep the cool air in. If needed, we turn the air conditioning on to about 82 degrees Fahrenheit. I think it’s important to keep the temperature similar to what your body is naturally feeling in the summer and adjust the practice to allow the student to feel balanced at the end of class (not doing such a core centered or heating class in the summer). Yes, I eat more fruits and vegetables and less cooked and warmed foods. This is in line with what Ayurveda suggests for the summer in order to keep the body in balance. Why would you eat spicy food on a hot day? You’ll be too hot! Yin classes in the summer offer balance from our busy “yang” summer lives. Summer is buzzing, hot, exciting, so we need some slower vinyasa classes so balance that energy. Forward folds are great for the summer. However, some people have so much energy in the summer that they want to celebrate and enjoy flowing vinyasa classes – heart and chest openers, hip openers, and cleansing twists. There is a style out there for everyone.Keeping Yoga Studios “Cool” in the Summer
How can studios keep students coming into class when it is so hot!?
Is yoga in the park a good idea?
How do you keep the studio cool without heavy investing into cooling systems?
Do you change up your food and drink selections during the summer?
What is a popular summer time yoga style?
Oak Leaves, June 20 2011
Oak Parker trades in corporate Blackberry for yoga floor mat
Wednesday Journal, Wednesday, May 25 2011
OPRF, Beye grad opening yoga studio in Oak Park
By Terry Dean
Staff reporter
A new Oak Park yoga studio opens this week, and its founder is a former Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate. Ahimsa Yoga Studio, 441 South Blvd., opens on May 26. Owner Kelly Merydith, 23, is also a Beye Elementary School grad.
Opening a yoga studio, though, was not part of her original career plans. The Northeastern University (Boston) grad was pursuing finance and marketing. She took up yoga during her internship at a downtown Chicago investment firm to relieve stress.
After graduating from college in May 2010, Merydith ditched looking for an investment job and took classes to become a yoga trainer, using her personal savings to launch the yoga studio.
Her father, Chuck Merydith, has been helping spread the word, including emails to local media. According to his daughter's business website, www.ahimsaoakpark.com, the studio's name (ah-HIM-suh) "is a sanskrit term that means nonviolence or non-harming in thought or deed."
Oak Park Patch, Thursday May 26 2011
Namaste, Oak Park
By Casey CoraWhen the first classes begin Thursday at Ahimsa Yoga, one chapter of Kelly Merydith's life will end.
The 23-year-old Oak Park native is leaving behind a post-college life of internships and dead-end job searches for a chance to open her own yoga studio.
"I never got the job I wanted," she said. "I literally woke up one morning and wanted to open a yoga studio."
The studio, called Ahimsa Yoga, is located at 441 South Blvd.
Since May 1, that space has undergone a radical transformation — what was once a dark, stark, industrial spot for Bulldog CrossFit has been transformed into a serene space, with baby blue walls, candles and hardwood floors.
Merydith, along with teachers Gosia Ryzewska and Katie Houser will instruct students through poses and stretches in the Vinyasa tradition, a special practice that emphasizes breath and flow.
If that sounds intimidating, Merydith insists it shouldn't be.
She said the studio will welcome all levels of yoga practitioners and offer a series of classes, ranging from classic and "de-stress " Vinyasa sessions to relaxing Hatha Yoga and men's only classes.
They'll also offer beginner's workshops on Saturdays for the curious.
Asked what will separate Ahimsa from the abundance of other local yoga options in town, Merydith didn't hesitate to answer. She said it's about space.
"The practice space is 1,600 square feet, so it's not like you'll be cramped in a small classroom," she said.
Free parking and close proximity to the CTA Green Line Oak Park and Ridgeland stops shouldn't hurt, either. And that market, the stressed out after-work crowd — the one she was about to join — is one she's targeting.
"Yoga helped me manage my stress in healthier ways as opposed going out after work and having a beer...and then you're tired, and then it just perpetuates the cycle," she said. "And yoga was something that was a positive way to deal with that."
Ahimsa Yoga, 441 South Blvd., will be open seven days a week. For a complete class schedule and pricing information, see the studio's official website.
From finance to fitness: Job hunt leads to yoga studio
May 16 at 2:58 p.m. 
Kelly Merydith used the help of her father, Chuck, and high school friends to rehab the interior of Ahimsa Yoga Studio, 441 South Blvd., which she plans to open later this month. (TribLocal photo/Jim Jaworski)
After Kelly Merydith graduated from Northeastern University in Boston last May with degrees in finance and marketing, she found herself unable to find a job.
So she took the next logical step — open a yoga studio, of course.
“I woke up one morning and knew I wanted to open a yoga studio,” she said. “I didn’t want to find a job in finance.”
Merydith, 23, will open Ahimsa Yoga Studio, 441 South Blvd., May 26 after struggling to find work post-graduation. The Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate basically stumbled into yoga by accident after stress got the better of her.
“That environment just wasn’t for me,” she said.
In college, she was required to have two six-month internships, which she did at a finance firm downtown. It gave her a taste of the industry, and not a good one.
“(The internship) really stressed me out,” she said. “I had really bad anxiety, so I started doing yoga. I was going everyday an I started to see how less stressed I was.”
Merydith wrapped up the internships and graduated. Although she quickly fell in love with yoga, she kept on the career path she set up for herself, but found it difficult to break into the industry.
“I never actually knew what I wanted to do,” she said. “I was never excited about it. I thought you were supposed to go to college, graduate and get a corporate job downtown.”
The search wasn’t going well, so she decided to switch gears and follow her heart. Merydith used her savings account to travel to California to get certified in yoga training. She came home and used the rest of her savings to lease the space and overhaul the interior.
She knows there are risks, especially because there are already a handful of established yoga studios in town, but she believes it is one worth taking.
“I feel like I have nothing to lose,” she said. “Except maybe the money, but I can always make money later on in my life.”
One of the advantages of running a yoga studio, she said, is that she can cut costs and do a lot of the work herself. She has had her father, Chuck, and high school friends help with the interior work, investing $10,000 so far. After she opens the studio, costs for yoga studios are mostly labor related, but she plans to do as much as she can herself. She still lives with her parents in Oak Park, which also eases the financial burden.
In the end, she knows she is doing what feels right.
“For the first time since I graduated, I am really excited about the future,” she said.
