Created with flickr slideshow.
By ANN ESCAMILLA, Staff Reporter.
The front entrance of Bay City Yoga, 921 Washington Ave, Bay City, was starting to warm up as Peter Hardy — owner and yoga teacher from Munger — joked about it being a literal “hot spot.”
Recently opening on Dec. 22, 2014, Bay City Yoga has been getting work done and spreading the word through social media, word of mouth, and the big sign out in front.
“I saw the sign out front and googled it. I got really excited,” said Michele Forgash from Bay City, who has been practicing yoga for five years.
Bay City Yoga is open Monday through Sunday with a couple of classes offered throughout the day. These classes include, morning stretch, gentle flow, traditional yoga, hatha yoga, vinyasa flow, toddler yoga, gentle traditional, decompression yoga, and ashtanga yoga.
Hardy said that the business, “grew out of a group we started at Populace. Just a little group.”
Having started off practicing yoga in the early morning at the former Populace Cafe now called Harless + Hugh Cafe, Hardy and a small group of people would get together and share their love for yoga in the small back room. From there they moved to a bigger space at Intermission Deli. Hardy and the group would come in early to practice their morning yoga.
Soon Hardy and co-owner Barb Bailey from Bay City — who met Hardy through the yoga group — decided to move on to bigger, better things by creating their own business.
“Which class do I take?” “What if I have no prior experience?” Are those questions rushing through your head? Well don’t worry. For beginners, Hardy said, “anyone can do any [of the] classes, you’ll do fine” even expressing, “…that’s the beauty of yoga. You can have a class with someone who has been doing it for decades or someone who just started out.”
Prices range from a drop-in fee of $10 to a 10-class punch card of $90, but that’s not all. If you are a high school or college student classes are priced at $5.
“I wanted to make sure we had a student rate,” said Hardy who expressed his college student daughter’s love for yoga as well.
Yoga mats are offered, but you can also bring your own. The six yoga instructors each have unique techniques they’d like to share with others.
Bailey said that what she gets out of owning Bay City Yoga is, “a lot of pride and peace. It’s nice to share a practice. It’s fun to see them explore and learn. The yoga community is a very accepting group, very friendly and caring.”
For more information on their class schedule and descriptions, go to www.baycityyoga.com
