oga, as popular as it is, has some stereotypes to overcome.

“In Western culture, yoga is often portrayed as a place where you put on your Lululemon outfit and then stretch and sweat for a good workout. That image often keeps people from trying yoga. But there are so many facets to the practice. The physical movement is just a small piece,” says Katey Inman, co-owner and director of Anchorage Yoga. “You don’t have to be able to do splits or headstands. You don’t have to look a certain way. You just have to come and breathe!”

A welcoming attitude also pervades Studio Hot Yoga at the Jewel Lake branch of The Alaska Club. The second-story space features natural light through windows on three of the four walls of the 1,600-square-foot studio with advanced heating and humidifying systems, a sound system, and expert teachers who offer empowering yoga sessions. At its entrance, Studio Hot Yoga has a lounge with lockers for storage and a place to meet other yogis.

There are no mirrors in the studio, allowing participants to focus on how they feel instead of how they look. “For someone who isn’t as comfortable or experienced in yoga, not having mirrors is more welcoming. But it doesn’t change the focus for participants,” explains Janet Warner, executive director of fitness services at The Alaska Club. “In the studio, you’re not staring at your image in a mirror; you’re listening to what’s being said and internalizing it more.”

Mirrors are present at All Life Is Yoga, but that’s mainly because the studio is also home to Eagle River Ballet. The floor was salvaged from the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts during its 2014 renovation. Mary McCormick, owner and instructor at All Life Is Yoga, likes to point out that famous danseur Mikhail Baryshnikov trod the same boards, when he performed in Anchorage in 2000.

From the floor to the subdued lighting, McCormick’s goal is to create an environment where people of all ages feel welcome. “We are about encouraging people to let go of competition and judgment and expectations so they can fully live their best life,” she says.

Yoga originated about 3,000 years ago as a method of achieving spiritual awareness through bodily consciousness, put very simply. Bodily consciousness through stretching, bending, and breathing is specifically known as Hatha yoga, which arose centuries later in Hindu and Buddhist practices.

Fast forward to the late ‘90s, when yoga studios became fashionable in Alaska and caught McCormick’s interest.

“When I was a buyer at Nordstrom, a lot of my co-workers were really into yoga, and they said, ‘You need to come to yoga.’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t,’ because I was into triathlons, so I was running, biking, and working out,” shares McCormick. “I didn’t have time to slow down and just breathe and stretch.”

Her future husband started doing yoga as training for hockey. McCormick says, “I believe in signs, and since he was doing it, I decided I should try it. So I went to The Alaska Club on a Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m., because that’s the only time I could fit it in. By the end of the class, I was literally crying. I realized yoga was what I was missing. I needed to stretch. I needed to just breathe. I needed someone to give me permission to just be still.”

From that moment on, McCormick started taking yoga and continuing all her other physical pursuits. “It became my sanctuary,” she recalls.

The following year, McCormick became a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor through a UAA program and began teaching at The Alaska Club. “I taught everything but yoga at The Alaska Club until one of the bosses asked me why I didn’t teach yoga,” says McCormick. The company paid for her first certification through YogaFit, which requires students to teach eight classes as community service after obtaining certification.

“At the time, I had two small kids at home, and I was part of the MOMS Club of Eagle River,” shares McCormick. “I began teaching the moms yoga in the garage while the kids were in the house with a babysitter. I did that once a week for two weeks, which allowed me to meet my community service requirement. But the moms wanted to continue their yoga sessions, and they offered to pay me for the classes. So my yoga career started in my garage in 2005, and I haven’t stopped since!”

Inman started her journey of teaching yoga in 2005. “It was just me then, and I taught yoga classes for community schools, in a church basement, and in other rental locations. Then I decided to actualize that into a physical space,” she recalls. “Anchorage Yoga became a brick-and-mortar business in 2010. My partner, Josh Love, helped build the facility with me, and then about six months after opening he came to work for the company as a co-owner and founder.”

The team at Anchorage Yoga believes that dedicating time on the mat awakens one’s inner strength. Guided by the vision of “fitness with soul,” Anchorage Yoga takes pride in being a supportive community and aims to inspire Alaskans to become healthier and happier through the practice of yoga.

The company’s mission is to “bring people from all backgrounds together to breathe, move, and inspire one another through both ancient and modern workout modalities.” As stated on its website, “Your heart will race, your muscles will burn, but most of all, your spirit will SOAR!”

Hot yoga, also known as Bikram yoga after the fitness guru who invented the style in the ‘70s, became popular after the more traditional forms had gained a foothold. As the largest fitness network in the state, The Alaska Club took notice of the trend.

“Studio Hot Yoga originated from the brainstorming of our CEO, Robert Brewster, and our vice president of sales and marketing, Debbie Cedeno, to bring the hot yoga experience to The Alaska Club,” says Warner. “It is a unique stand-alone boutique, and you do not have to be a member of The Alaska Club to participate at Studio Hot Yoga.”

Classes offered at Studio Hot Yoga include options for people new to yoga and for those with physical limitations. “One of the main principles of yoga is breath. Everything else is extra, and, of course, there are always modifications,” explains Warner. “We have classes for experienced yogis that may be a little more fitness oriented. We also have people that are accustomed to fitness classes but are new to yoga that we introduce to the benefits of yoga. Then we have people who need both. They could be new to fitness and new to yoga as well. Everyone is welcome.”

Non-members can participate in hot yoga sessions by booking a single class, a class pack, or an unlimited monthly studio-only option. Studio Hot Yoga is automatically included with membership for Alaska Club Gold and Platinum members.

The studio accommodates up to forty people per class. Hot flow is the signature class with a room temperature of 95°F. “This heat is not just about turning the thermostat up to 95 degrees,” says Warner. “This is infrared heat, and there are panels in the ceiling from which the heat radiates down. It almost feels like being in an infrared sauna.”

All Life Is Yoga provides a variety of classes to meet everyone’s yoga needs and interests. In the summer, baby goats from Tiny Homestead in Chugiak visit Eagle River to join goat yoga, where kids (the hoofed kind) frolic around and upon posing yogis. Other unique offerings include Sound Bath—an immersive, full-body listening experience to promote healing and relaxation. Gentle yoga is a calming floor-based class focused on seated stretches, restorative postures, and deep relaxation. The studio also offers hot yoga, restorative yoga, tai chi, and conventional weight training. More than thirty-five classes each week are held in person and online.

Anchorage Yoga likewise accommodates a broad clientele, including those with physical disabilities. “We have practices for everyone in every state of life because it’s not all about the physical posturing. If you’re in a wheelchair, for example, you could absolutely practice yoga. You can practice hundreds of breath work techniques and hundreds of chanting,” explains Inman.

At its Midtown studio at 36th Avenue and Arctic Boulevard, Anchorage Yoga offers numerous class styles. “We offer so much, from a slow, deep stretching class to lying on props and just breathing, and then we have more vigorous classes. When people ask what kind of yoga we teach, I say we teach all types of yoga for all types of people,” says Inman. “We have people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. We even have people in their 90s that are practicing with us.”

Whether yoga leads to spiritual liberation through moksha or nirvana is up to the practitioner. What’s certain is the material benefits that come from moving and breathing.

“If you’re looking for stress relief, you’re going to find it with yoga because you are concentrating on manipulating the movement of your breath, which affects your autonomic nervous system, and that is how we regulate our stress responses in the body,” says Inman. “Yoga positively impacts neural communication and brain function by promoting neuroplasticity and enhancing connectivity between brain regions, and that helps everyone regardless of disability.”

Yoga is also valuable for people working to overcome illnesses. “At one point, I had parasites. I lost all the muscle in my body, and I had vertigo for forty days. I had to start all over again, and that’s what led me to yoga,” shares Inman. “I strengthened my body with the practices of yoga—not a rigorous yoga, but a slow, methodical, very concentrated practice.”

Inman also notes that hydration and lubrication are the most important things to maintaining a useful body at any age. “Joint deterioration and dehydration affect our ability experience mobility, especially as we age. Yoga helps to lubricate and hydrate our joint systems,” says Inman. “And why couldn’t you run around the planet in your 80s or 90s if you focus on mobility!”

Hot yoga has the extra stimulation of elevated skin temperature. “It improves circulation and helps with inflammation,” Warner says, adding that Studio Hot Yoga’s radiant infrared acts on the body differently than warming the air in the room. “This benefits the body significantly compared to regular thermostat heat. Also, the studio has humidifiers, which are helpful for everyone, but even more so for anyone who might experience things triggered by dryness, like allergies.”

McCormick sees the benefits of yoga as part of a life-enriching totality. “We are about creating an environment where people feel safe,” she says, “where you can explore and be curious about how to get stronger, how to get more flexible, how to increase your balance, and maybe how to look at things from a different perspective.”

Inman lights up when focusing on helping the Anchorage community through yoga. “We all have those moments in life when we feel that nobody really understands what we’re going through,” she observes. “Through yoga we’ve built a space for individuals to validate each other’s experiences, whether you’re a stay-at-home mom meeting the needs of your children, running a business, managing a medical career, or working as a public defender. I believe connection is at the core of all healing, and yoga provides a unique opportunity to connect with others.”

Connection to community helped Anchorage Yoga, Studio Hot Yoga, and All Life is Yoga stand out as Best of Alaska Business winners in the first year for the category.

“What I hear from a lot of the folks, especially in the Jewel Lake community, is that they love having this type of business in their neighborhood,” shares Warner. Studio Hot Yoga is one side of the building; the other side is an express version of The Alaska Club. Warner adds, “Members enjoy the convenience of doing cardio and weights on the fitness side of the building and then participating in hot yoga at the studio boutique on the other side.”

Making everyone feel welcome is always a priority at Studio Hot Yoga. Warner says, “If you look around, you’ll see someone modifying movements in the class, and you might think that’s something you need to do. Or you might see someone taking it to another level or two, but that’s OK because you’re working at the level you need to be, finding benefits, and feeling strong. That’s where we grow!”

McCormick believes the self-improvement that comes with regular practice of yoga frees energy for individuals to connect with family and friends. And she says it’s accessible for anyone who can breathe. “In one of our rooms, we have an area where people can come in their wheelchairs and practice breathing techniques,” she explains. “We want people to try and see what they can do, and sometimes all they can do is breathe, and that’s enough.”