After over a year of closures and hardship for the fitness industry, two of Westchester”™s yoga instructors are making the jump from survival mode to co-owning a studio.
Shannon McGee and Nancy Puleo having been teaching yoga for years ”” together, apart, indoors, outdoors, in rented studios and elsewhere ”” and finally have plans to settle down at their new studio in Irvington, where they will make their permanent home as co-owners of Yoga Love NY.
“We”™ve just had one setback after another, and then the pandemic, but now we”™re ready to roll and finally open up our own place,” said McGee, who has been practicing yoga for over 25 years and teaching for 12.
“I”™ve been certified for almost a decade, and teaching consistently since then,” said Puleo, whose background in acting, dancing and Pilates inspired her interest in yoga. “Shannon was actually one of my teachers, which is one of the reasons why we stuck together. We taught together at a studio, and we realized what we thought was missing in the yoga world, as far as classes and what offerings were out there, and we decided, ‘You know what? We can do this better.’
“For the last three years, we”™ve been searching for the right space to make that happen,” she continued. “We thought we had found it a couple different times, and then things fell through for various reasons. Then the pandemic happened, which would have stalled us incredibly, so maybe it”™s a good thing, I guess (that it was delayed).”
During the pandemic, the pair was able to transition to online and outdoor classes, with their lack of responsibility for a physical space likely benefiting them throughout. They were able to conduct classes, weather permitting, at outdoors locations like Barnhardt Park in Tarrytown.
No matter the space, Puleo and McGee report that many of their class attendees have stuck with them throughout the years, and inspired them to clinch a permanent home.
“We had a lot of regulars who came with us from our prior studio, and most of them had been asking (about a new studio),” Puleo said. “That was the thing that inspired us to really jump into this space, besides the fact that it”™s incredibly beautiful, and a beautiful location.
“Our practitioners were saying, ”˜Oh my God, we”™re Zoomed out, we don”™t want to be on Zoom anymore. When are we going to be in person?”™” she added. “They really wanted it, and the more and more people getting vaccinated, the more inspired we became.”
They believe their Vinyasa flow classes are unique for the blend of traditional yoga philosophy and breath work with a more intense workout.
“It”™s a power class, it”™s an active class,” McGee said. “There”™s almost constant movement from posture to posture that”™s linked with the breath. It”™s not fast, it”™s just very conscious movement that goes with the breath, and it”™s fun. That”™s our focus: to make the class really challenging so that you sweat, you have fun, and there”™s great music, so that you leave feeling a little bit lighter.”
“You will stretch and you will become more flexible in our classes, but that”™s not our goal,” Puleo said. “Our goal is to give you a butt-kicking workout, but fueling people with some of that yoga philosophy that helps release stress, that helps the heart rate as you”™re working out so you become in better shape.
“There are all these tricks and tools that yoga has already under its belt,” she expanded, “that we use in a class that”™s more geared toward exercise, and yet you get that result without even trying.”
They also try to incorporate some touch into each routine, stating that it is a factor that can often draw people to their classes or make them want to return — although they had to abandon that aspect during the pandemic.
“When you think about it, a lot of people don”™t get touched that often,” Puleo said, “and so it”™s really nice to have someone help you relax our shoulders or help you feel the posture of a position a little bit better by guiding the alignment with your hands.
“Obviously only if people want it,” she noted. “We give people options.”
Whether it be their own style or any variety of yoga, McGee and Puleo acknowledged that the pandemic has left a dearth of choices for those wishing to reenter, or enter for the first time, yoga studios in person.
“There were three or four (studios) within a 5- or 10-mile radius that have completely shut down, so there”™s nothing left,” McGee said. “That was one of the other reasons we felt we had to get moving on this, because there”™s nowhere for people to go anymore on the Rivertowns.”
Yoga Love NY is looking forward to an Aug. 1 opening at the new studio at 1 Bridge St. in Irvington, inside the former Lord & Burnham factory. The building dates to the 19th century, but has been renovated and is being outfitted to become the yoga studio the pair envisions there. It features high ceilings and river views, in addition to several new precautionary features like antimicrobial UV air sanitizers and HEPA filters in the ventilation systems.
They will offer classes of all levels at the location, from strong advanced class to beginner and intermediate, for conditioning participants up to the advanced class or for students who want a workout class without getting wrapped up as much in technique.
Even after a troubling year for the industry, Yoga Love NY’s owners are remaining optimistic and hope to fulfill what they see as a need for people who are ready to be in spaces together again.
“This is like the big leap now, coming out of this pandemic, or we”™re hoping so anyway, because if things get sour again, it”™s really detrimental to a studio like ours,” Puleo said. “So we are jumping in and believing that this is the time, and this is what people need.”
