FELTON - At 26, Amanda Hamilton has turned her dream of opening a yoga studio into reality.
She will host grand opening for Earth Yoga, at 6245A Highway 9, from 5-7 p.m. today.
She is borrowing the business model of a studio in Santa Monica where she took classes, asking people to donate $10 to $15 per class but opening her doors to anyone regardless of what they give.
"I feel strongly that this is what the universe is calling me to do," she said. "The need for a safe space to gather and re-center is greater now especially due to the hard economic times that we are in."
Hamilton's dream has brought her full circle back to Santa Cruz County.
Originally from North Monterey County, she attended UC Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to the University of Illinois at Chicago. After graduating with a degree in history, she moved back to California.
She found yoga and took her first teacher training in the Vinyasa Flow style in Monterey. Next she moved to the Los Angeles area where she taught yoga.
In Santa Monica, she discovered kirtan, the chanting practice that led her to participate in a teacher training at Bhakti Yoga Shala, a donation-based yoga studio led by a husband and wife, Govindas and Radha.
That training, she said, taught her to trust herself.
When she visited a friend in the Santa Cruz Mountains, she discovered the empty shop in downtown Felton next to Chopstix restaurant.
It's small,
with room for at most a dozen yoga mats, but with "the beautiful redwood tree and the totem of a bear" outside, she felt it was the right place.
"The space found me," she said. "I called my teacher and asked 'Am I ready?' He asked, 'Do you think you are ready?'"
Her answer was yes.
After crunching the numbers, she signed a two-year lease and called on friends and family members to help make over what used to be Scoob's DVD. They redid the floor, removed lots of staples and painted the walls cream.
"It's nice and intimate," said Hamilton, who dressed up the ceiling with colorful fabric. "Some people are intimidated by larger places."
There are five instructors, some "well-seasoned" and others "fresh out of training," she said.
"I loved what she was doing this with the donation-based thing," said Roxy, an instructor who trained with Mark Stephens last year and saw Hamilton's ad on Craigslist.
Down the street is a long-established yoga practice, the Center for Healing, which offers classes at drop-in fees of $12 to $14, with discounts for students and senior citizens.
"We welcome any new business in town," said Claire Campbell, who owns Outback Trading Company on Highway 9 and practices yoga at home when she's not exercising her horse. "I wish her a lot of luck."
IF YOU GO
Grand opening of Earth Yoga
WHERE: 6245 A Highway 9 Felton CA, 95018
WHEN: Introductory classes 5-7 p.m. today; vegetarian food at 7 p.m. and live kirtan music at 8 p.m.
COST: Free
INFORMATION: www.earth-yoga.net or 206-5856
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