Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Hansen.
Hi Leah, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I started taking yoga classes in 2005. I was 24 years old. I was a poor college student and was in the middle of a toxic marriage. I wanted to leave the relationship but I felt stuck and committed to my vows. I had resolved to depression and tears as a part of my daily living. When I first started taking yoga classes, I was just going for college stress relief, but what I started to find was that I felt AWAKE! Every time I got on my mat I felt ever-present to my body and my pain. Something started to awaken in me that I was in control of my life’s path AND my happiness and or suffering. I very lovingly left a 7-year toxic relationship and started over with a fresh perspective.
It was one of the scariest things I had ever done but also one of the most freeing. I was a young independent 24 year old on the brink of completing my college chemistry degree and I landed a corporate job at Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. I worked at JNJ living my best happiest life and continued my yoga practice as a way to stay awake and present to living my best self on and off the mat. I was working on an incredibly challenging project with a man that would 2 years later become a romantic interest. When the project was complete I discovered that I had feelings for him but didn’t want to fail in marriage again so I kept him at an arm’s length.
My yoga practice kept me present with the possibility of letting love in again and so I took the chance on him. It more than worked out and today we have been nurturing our healthy relationship for 13 years. In those 13 years, I left Corporate America to pursue my dreams of giving back to others through the service of teaching yoga and how to incorporate yogic teachings into everyday life. In 2011, my husband and I opened our first yoga studio: Hot Spot Power Yoga San Marco. The studio thrived and we continued to work our corporate careers. After suffering several miscarriages and the loss of our only son, Charlie; we took pause. Yoga and Jon were my rocks to work through such incredible suffering. I decided to dedicate my life to yoga.
After seven years of working in Corporate America, I left an incredible job to grow my yoga business and the healing that this practice had offered me. In 2014, we opened our 2nd location in Harbour Village. Shortly after I gave birth to our rainbow child Piper. The studios continued to grow and I continued to both experience and witness the powerful transformations of steady yoga practice and the transformations of implementing yogic teachings into one’s life. I was not only personally thriving but the teaching team and students at HSPY were thriving. We were teaching yoga, but we were also teaching the power of community. The power of coming together to do hard things physically, and how we could take what we learn about ourselves on the mat out into our everyday living. We were teaching people to be in charge of their choices and their happiness.
We used our studio platform to give back financially to underserved populations like re-threaded, Yoga 4 Change, and Africa Yoga Project. The work we were doing was miraculous and so fulfilling. We went on to take on 2 business partners that opened up 2 more locations. Whitney Heflin opened the Baymeadows location in 2018 and Caia McInerney opened up the St. John’s location in 2020. Jon and I adopted our sweet son, Arie in 2017 and gave birth to our baby, Bodhi that same year. The studios survived two hurricanes with Irma requiring a complete shutdown, remodel, and re-opening of the business. All of the studios were hit hard with the pandemic, but somehow we are still open. When did I ask myself how is this possible?
The answer is clearly that Hot Spot Power Yoga studios are not just offering yoga classes. We are offering a sense of community, we are offering a sense of acceptance. Our team is cultured and different and diverse and messy and beautiful and so is our student community. We are all vibrant loving human beings who have been transformed by the teachings and practices of yoga. We are walking the walk and talking the talk. We SEE our students. We celebrate their differences and who they are as human beings. We hold them in their healing and we celebrate them in both their breakdowns and in their breakthroughs.
We hear every day that the practices and techniques of yoga “saved my life”. And so here we are 10 years later committed to something bigger than ourselves as a teaching community and while we have been operating at 50% revenue loss for over a year we are “thriving” in the sense of perseverance and commitment to this practice. Will the studios survive this reduced revenue?
We are moving in the right direction. Is it enough? I don’t know. What I do know is that in 10 years we have done incredible work. And I am beyond proud of this incredible team that I get to work alongside.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I outlined most of these but what I would say is no it hasn’t been a smooth road personally I suffered a total of four miscarriages. Our son Charlie was born premature and died 11 days after birth in the NICU. It almost killed me and Jon to witness his promise of life and the loss of his little life. The yoga studios and the community surrounded us. They showed us more love and support than we would ever imagine. We felt held. And his short life was certainly acknowledged. San Marco studio was hit hard by Irma.
The storm surge and the high tide of the St. Johns river actually devastated the San Marco community. Many families suffered and businesses closed down. San Marco studio had 6 ft. of standing water for days while our family felt helpless and evacuated several miles away. When we returned safely the devastation of the area was shocking. We had to make the decision to close the business or rebuild the business. As soon as the question was asked, I knew the answer was re-build. It was a 50K rebuild with six weeks down and opened to a community that was working through their own devastation, but we found our way together.
The pandemic has by far been our biggest struggle. Thankfully, we did receive the first round of PPP and government aid but that was quickly gone operating at 50% revenue loss for one and a half years now. We have lost many membership and team members. We are slowly rebuilding but I feel like I grieved the loss of the studios over the last six months. I have hope because when I look back at what we have accomplished all I see is miracles and possibility. But yes, it’s been pretty rough. During the covid shut down, we recreated our platform to be a zoom platform and we offered that until June 2021 with hybrid in-person classes being offered in June 2020 with the government-approved “re-opening”.
That entire zoom platform brought many technical challenges and financial costs to stay open. I am grateful to have been able to pivot so quickly and manage the breakdowns with grace. I truly hope we can make it… especially our harbor village location.
As you know, we’re big fans of Hot Spot Power Yoga. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
What we specialize in is teaching Baptiste Inspired Yoga, Meditation, Healthy Living, and Living Life on purpose. We specialize in creating awareness of self, awareness of others, and awareness of communities in need. We specialize in creating community and having a deep connection to the humanity of each individual that steps foot into our studios. We celebrate diversity and we see the beauty in each and every.
We specialize in teacher training. This program is our most transformative program to create awareness of toxic patterns and gives specific tools to help individuals move from living a life of circumstance to a life on purpose regardless of circumstance.
What sets us apart from other yoga studios is that our teaching team is in the work of personal growth and development. We work effortlessly together to create a culture of love, acceptance, and living our best life. This personal practice makes us most effective to inspire others to reach for their fullest potential on and off the mat.
What I am most proud of brand-wise is what the brand has persevered through and the fact that we have given Grown from a single location with 7 teachers to 4 locations with 96 team members (60 teachers). We have raised over 30K for local and global non-profit organizations; Namely Yoga 4 Change, Rethreaded, and Africa Yoga Project. Collectively we served over 15,000 students between our 4 locations over 10 years. We have certified 117 teachers through our teacher training program.
I want readers to know that the studios offer yoga and tools to everybody. You do not need to look like a certain way to do yoga and receive the benefits of yoga. My favorite quote is this, “How to get a yoga body. Have a body. Do yoga.” To gain the benefits of yoga and to truly have a practice that is more than physical it takes a steady practice of 3 or more times a week.
The more you get on your mat the more you will benefit from the practice. We offer 30 days for $30. You might not like your first class because it is hot and challenging and what is “chaturanga”? but over 30 days with regular practice you will begin to feel happier, lighter, and more awake to what you want in your life.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.
“Maybe,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.
“Maybe,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy for what they called his “misfortune.”
“Maybe,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.
“Maybe,” said the farmer.
There is really no such thing as good luck or bad luck. Life is an experience of a deeper understanding of the human spirit. We learn from our pain and our suffering and we always walk towards the experience that we want to create. I practice and teach not to get stuck in the good luck/ bad luck of life. Change is always coming all we can do is handle that change with grace, and kindness to ourselves and to others.
Pricing:
- Intro Month 30 Days for $30
- Monthly Unlimited Membership $89/ month
- Monthly Unlimited Membership with access to all locations $99/ month
- Yearly Unlimited Membership $949/ year
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://hotspotpoweryoga.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hotspotpoweryoga/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hotspotpoweryogaharbourvillage
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/hot-spot-power-yoga-jacksonville-3?osq=hot+spot+power+yoga
Image Credits
Jason Cohen
