A larger yoga studio and more space for a boutique dedicated to the yoga lifestyle is not what
Seva Yoga owner Michele Fife expected for a company just five years old. But in November, she moved her yoga studio and retail shop from an upstairs space in the back corner of a building on Wealthy Street SE to a 1,800-square-foot space (2237 Wealthy St. SE) that overlooks the fountain in East Grand Rapids' Gaslight Village.
"This is my third move in five years. I started with a very small studio because I was being conservative, and 12 months later, I expanded into a larger space and stayed there four years," Fife says. "I'm constantly amazed. I had always worked for someone else since I was teenager. Until I opened the studio, it never popped into my head that I could make a living running my own business."
Seva Yoga has 12 yoga instructors that offer classes and one-on-one yoga sessions in a variety of styles: Kripalu, Anusara, Ashtanga, Yin Yoga classes, Vinyasa classes and gentle yoga classes. The boutique offers
lululemon yoga-inspired athletic clothing, books on yoga and vegetarian and vegan cooking and eating, ayurvedic aromatherapy oils,
Banyan Botanicals, plus yoga mats and other products.
"There is a variety that I like that about my studio," Fife says. "It's a blend of many different yoga styles, so we can represent everything. We have package pricing, but for any of our classes people can show up and just pay whatever they can afford. It takes a certain amount of trust that I can do something like that and believe that the business will be alright."
Fife says she's registered through
Yoga Alliance to teach people how to be yoga teachers, and conducts those classes in the studio.
You can follow her video segments on
WOOD TV's new ABC channel,
WOTV 4 Women, where she is the wellness expert.
Source: Michele Fife, Seva Yoga
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
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