12-22-09

 

Hot Yoga & Pilates Opens in Walpole

 

By Chuck Bingaman

 

            Hot Yoga and Pilates, managed by Putney entrepreneur Ellen Abraham is now offering Bikram yoga and Pilates training in a new studio at 52 Main Street, Walpole.

 

            Abraham, who also runs yoga, pilates and spinning studios in Brattleboro and Putney, is hoping that New Hampshirites will be attracted to her “hot room” sessions and also to her selection of exercise clothing, jewelry skin care products on sale at the studio.

 

            The lithe and wiry Abraham comes from a background of yoga training as well as training and experience in cooking natural foods in New York and Los Angeles.  But along the way she also studied aroma and massage therapies before gaining certifications in Pilates and “spinning”, fitness-oriented indoor cycling. 

 

            “Five years ago,” Abraham said last week, “my sister and I decided we had to move.  We put organic foods, local foods and yoga into the computer and it came out Brattleboro!  When we came we started a specialty cookie business, and I also taught yoga.  But then I decided to open up a studio on my own and I called it Hot Yoga of Putney.”  It wasn’t long before the satisfactions of the yoga business exerted a stronger pull on her than the cookie business and Abraham had identified her true calling.

 

            “I got so excited when someone would buy a ticket for five classes, and when I started to see the same people coming back regularly,” Abraham said, “I said, you now what? I should be offering all these related things that I love for yoga like towels, cushions and head things. And it helped my business grow.  So I had all these things stacked up in my Putney studio!”

 

            “Then,” she says, someone moved out downstairs under my Putney studio, “and I said, ‘I can do spinning! Like I did in LA!  In fact, this business has just morphed!  It became Hot Yoga and Spinning!  I must have changed my signs at least eight times!  And I began to recruit other teachers so we could offer more classes for more people than I could teach by myself.  And the people who came in stuck with me.  It’s just an amazing relationship!”

 

            Unfortunately, while building the new studio, Abraham threw her back out!  “And that’s when I discovered Pilates!” she says.  “And what it did for me I couldn’t even believe! I thought everybody should be doing this!  So I got trained in Pilates and it became Hot Yoga, Spinning & Pilates!  And the people that had been yoga and spinning students got into Pilates with me and many of them have become my instructors. And I brought the training sessions here rather than requiring my people to go to New York, Los Angeles or even India.”

 

            “But,” says Abraham, “I'm not the type of person to sit still! Now we have 10 or 11 teachers and we have software that links all the three studios.  And you can have a class card that lets you do yoga, spinning and Pilates at any of the three studios—Brattleboro, Putney or Walpole.  It’s seamless!”

 

            So what kind of yoga does Abraham teach in Walpole?  “It’s called Bikram, and it’s a ‘fiery’ yoga.  You do the same 26 postures in each session and you do them in a heated room because that lets you get into the postures easier.  The postures stay the same, but YOU change!  It’s about breath, about connection, about being present.  The most amazing thing is that you are zeroing in on you for that time.  People do not get hurt doing it like they do in some other yoga disciplines.”

 

            Pilates, says Abraham, is all about our container, how our bodies work and how we can help them work better.  “It’s about putting your body through a series of ‘rote’ movements with 100% awareness.  It’s the smartest movement for our bodies, and it’s what I suggest people start with.   It all functions off of your core—from your shoulders down to your thighs.  It’s designed to offset the memories our bodies develop from sitting so much, whether we work at a desk, sit and eat, or drive a car a lot.  Pilates re-educates simple ranges of motion.  You are reeducating flexible paths of motion.  It’s kind of like math in the body: you do this work and you get these results! Your muscles get longer, you get taller, you get safer in how you move.  YOU move with grace, consciousness and strength.”

 

            So what will it be? Abraham says to try all three because you need them all to have the body—and mind—that you need!

 

            To see the full range of classes and tuition fees offered at Hot Yoga in Walpole, plus Hot Yoga, Spinning and Pilates in Putney and Brattleboro, see www.hotyogavt.com.  For more information, call Ellen Abraham in Walpole at 603-756-3660.

 

                                                            --30--

 

           

 

           

 

           

 

           

            “Then,” she says, someone moved out downstairs under my Putney studio, “and I said, ‘I can do spinning! Like I did in LA!  In fact, this business has just morphed!  It became Hot Yoga and Spinning!  I must have changed my signs at least eight times!  And I began to recruit other teachers so we could offer more classes for more people than I could teach by myself.  And the people who came in stuck with me.  It’s just an amazing relationship!”

 

            Unfortunately, while building the new studio, Abraham threw her back out!  “And that’s when I discovered Pilates!” she says.  “And what it did for me I couldn’t even believe! I thought everybody should be doing this!  So I got trained in Pilates and it became Hot Yoga, Spinning & Pilates!  And the people that had been yoga and spinning students got into Pilates with me and many of them have become my instructors. And I brought the training sessions here rather than requiring my people to go to New York, Los Angeles or even India.”

 

 

            “But,” says Abraham, “I'm not the type of person to sit still! Now we have 10 or 11 teachers and we have software that links all the three studios.  And you can have a class card that lets you do yoga, spinning and Pilates at any of the three studios—Brattleboro, Putney or Walpole.  It’s seamless!”

 

            So what kind of yoga does Abraham teach in Walpole?  “It’s called Bikram, and it’s a ‘fiery’ yoga.  You do the same 26 postures in each session and you do them in a heated room because that lets you get into the postures easier.  The postures stay the same, but YOU change!  It’s about breath, about connection, about being present.  The most amazing thing is that you are zeroing in on you for that time.  People do not get hurt doing it like they do in some other yoga disciplines.”

 

            Pilates, says Abraham, is all about our container, how our bodies work and how we can help them work better.  “It’s about putting your body through a series of ‘rote’ movements with 100% awareness.  It’s the smartest movement for our bodies, and it’s what I suggest people start with.   It all functions off of your core—from your shoulders down to your thighs.  It’s designed to offset the memories our bodies develop from sitting so much, whether we work at a desk, sit and eat, or drive a car a lot.  Pilates re-educates simple ranges of motion.  You are reeducating flexible paths of motion.  It’s kind of like math in the body: you do this work and you get these results! Your muscles get longer, you get taller, you get safer in how you move.  YOU move with grace, consciousness and strength.”

 

            So what will it be? Abraham says to try all three because you need them all to have the body—and mind—that you need!

 

            To see the full range of classes and tuition fees offered at Hot Yoga in Walpole, plus Hot Yoga, Spinning and Pilates in Putney and Brattleboro, see www.hotyogavt.com.  For more information, call Ellen Abraham in Walpole at 603-756-_____

 

                                                            --30--