09-25-2022 Capital Style - Flipbook - Page 12
HEALTH
By Micha Green Capital Style
Lynda Dardick, left, and Heather Wheeless, right, both of Severna Park, hold a warrior pose in a yoga flow class for all levels of students.
PHOTOS BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR
Timing is everything
Yoga Barn brings new wellness concept to Severna Park
The COVID-19 pandemic made former Mantra
Studio owner Carleen Birnes never want to lease a
studio space ever again. But when timing, location
and opportunity aligned, Birnes followed the flow.
“Right when COVID-19 hit … I was like, ‘I can’t wait
to spend all this time at Yoga Barn in Bali,’” said Birnes,
48. But coronavirus travel measures foiled the then
want-to-be yoga instructor’s trip to Indonesia, where
she would’ve had her first introduction to a Yoga Barn.
Two years later she got a tip from a friend that
Cindy and Doug Schafer wanted to lease their barn
off the B&A Trail.
“Here’s a barn and I wanted to teach yoga. So I
asked, [Cindy], ‘Would you consider, if I was able to
get enough teachers together, could we share the rent
overhead?’”
Birnes was ready to teach yoga, but the post-pandemic traumatic stress after decade-long studio
ownership thwarted any desire to take over a lease.
But with her new yoga certifications and stand-up
paddle instructor experience, Birnes collaborated
with the Schafers to consider Yoga Barn’s concept.
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| CAPITAL STYLE | Fall 2022
“I really love the connection between the teachers, the space, and
us as students. It really has become my little safe haven,” said Abigail
Smith, 26, who has been taking Yoga Barn classes since March.