Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Adams.
Sally, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Amy Mihal and I were two young women teaching hot yoga at the same studio (Global Yoga) in San Francisco. San Francisco was saturated with Hot Yoga studios at the time and since there was no hot yoga in Santa Cruz, Amy suggested we should open one. Moving to one of the most beautiful places in the world and doing something that I loved sounded like a great idea! Our vision and mission was pretty simple: open and create a space for people to practice hot yoga and receive the profound benefits that we had experienced. We envisioned a community of shiny (from sweat – ha!) happy faces. We also wanted to live a balanced life full of work that creates change, friends, family and fun. We were both 27 and so clear and driven by a simple call, we didn’t realize at the time the complexities and stress that the running of a small business entails! We opened up Village Yoga in 2001 in Soquel Village (hence the name.) Four years later, we expanded to a huge space in Downtown Santa Cruz. We had the two studios for a year before we decided to let go of the Soquel space to just focus on downtown. We enjoyed 16 years there with a big studio space, showers, a yoga retail space and one our favorite parts: lots of beautiful wall space to rotate and hang local artists work. When covid arrived, like most small businesses, we took a huge hit. Our community thrived on being together in sweaty space, it did not translate to online. After opening and closing 3 times during that 9 month period and then being told we would need to shutdown again due to the building needing to do a big repair, we were at a crossroads – shut down or move. Thankfully, we decided to keep going! We opened up in our current downsized space in Midtown in early 2021. We went back to our roots creating a small, simple space like our first studio with funny similarities like the entrance in the back and even on the same street – Soquel! Everyone returned after covid with hearts full of gratitude that we were still there and we knew we had made the right decision. All of this leads us here to today, celebrating 25 years of business! We are proud of our loving community and of our business partnership that has lasted all these years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been many challenges along the way! I would say the biggest one being the financial risk, uncertainty and inconsistency. There have been multiple yoga studios that have opened over the years creating a competitive aspect, a business partnership “divorce”, and building plumbing issues that nearly derailed us. This kind of stress has made us question what we do many times. But then we hear stories of how Village Yoga has truly helped people and what it means to them and it helps us to keep pulling ourselves up by our boot straps to make it work.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We started our business teaching exclusively the Original Hot Yoga Series which consists of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises. This is a beginning series that is highly accessible to everyone! It fosters discipline & concentration while building strength, balance, and flexibility. It is always the same series and people love the predictability of it. One can use it as a touchstone to monitor their state of being or state of body from day to day and the familiarity of it is comforting, like returning home. The benefits are numerous but generally speaking, one just feels better in body, mind and spirit. The yoga bliss or lightness of being is worth the challenge it takes to get to class and to face your physical or emotional difficulties.
At some point along the 25 year road, we added a few different styles of yoga and exercise classes : Vinyasa Flow, Yin, Restorative and Pilates HIIT. All of our classes are heated (we have infrared heating panels in our ceiling that create the BEST heat!) besides the Yin and Restorative.
We love all styles of yoga and offer a great variety.
We pride ourselves in having the best instructors in Santa Cruz who create safe, fun and effective classes for our students. I believe what makes Village Yoga special is our quality instructors, kind community and our clean, warm space. There is a humbleness, authenticity and genuine sense of love & gratitude that emanates from our teachers, students and walls. The comment I hear the most from people is about how good the “vibe” is at Village and that’s a hard thing to describe or grasp. Although it speaks to what really makes a difference in people’s lives and that is how you feel – it’s a feel good place!
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Over the years, there have been so many lessons learned both on the mat through practice, as well as through the showing up each day throughout the very many ups and downs of running a small business and raising a family. And that is the biggest lesson: just keep showing up, as the best version of yourself you can manage that day, with an open mind and an open heart. There is a tenacity needed to weather the constant storms of running a small business, but the impact of our business on people’s lives and the community, as well as our passion for the work we do, makes showing up an easy choice.
Pricing:
- Intro Special – $49/two weeks
- Village Deal – $139/monthly autopay
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.villageyogasantacruz.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/villageyoga_santacruz/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/villageyogasantacruz/
