A Washington D.C.-based yoga provider has opened a new studio in downtown Silver Spring.
Yoga Heights took over the space in Suite 320 of 1111 Spring St. formerly occupied by Sky House Yoga and opened Dec. 1, said owner and founder Jess Pierno.
Pierno and cofounder Amy Rizzotto opened their first studio in 2014 on Georgia Avenue in the Columbia Heights/Petworth area. They expanded to the Takoma neighborhood at 255 Carroll Ave. N.W., opening that studio on Dec. 1, 2017.
The Silver Spring location, managed by Becca Thomas, is the third studio for the group and was driven by local customers, Pierno said.
“We were hearing demand for it,” she said, “when our students and our clients were telling us, ‘We want more. We don’t want to commute to Takoma. Come to Silver Spring.’”
Initially, the Silver Spring location offers classes every day but Friday, with about 20–25 teachers working in the studio (from a team of teachers and studio assistants that numbers about 100 people).
“Overall, Yoga Heights does a lot of flow, or vinyasa flow, yoga,” Pierno said. “Within that, there’s power yoga, which is a little more intense an sweaty and might move a little faster.
“There’s gentle, candlelight yoga, which is the opposite,” she continued. “And then we also are adding, more and more, a very restful type of yoga called yin yoga, and restorative yoga.”
The latter is a period of and hour or hour and a quarter of simply holding still.
“It’s very soothing and meditative,” Pierno said, adding that it’s particularly helpful for people who are active and/or stressed and want to slow down for a time.
The Silver Spring studio also will offer aerial yoga classes, which aren’t available at the other locations.
For the opening, the studio is offering a month of unlimited yoga classes for $39.
“That’s what we really want people to start with,” Pierno said. “To come in and really test out different styles and people and teachers and see what their ‘flavor’ is going to be.”
The studio also offers unlimited monthly or annual memberships and other pricing.
Their mission statement, Pierno said, is “Every Body, Every Level, Every Budget.”
“We work really hard on that budget piece,” she said.
For example, the front desk staff includes people who are in a work-trade program, Pierno said.
“We do that so people who couldn’t otherwise perhaps afford to do yoga can trade out a few hours of desk time in exchange for yoga,” she said.
“If you want to be coming to yoga, we’re going to find a way for you to come and take a class,” Pierno added. “We don’t want money to be the barrier.”
Photo of Jess Pierno at the front desk by Mike Diegel