After discovering a special form of aerial yoga, healing practitioner and entrepreneur Anna Noel let her vision take flight. She opened Uplift Yoga & Healing Arts Studio where students practice yoga in a very unusual way, by defying gravity in a silk hammock.
Uplift Yoga is a full-service yoga studio and healing arts center located in downtown Tacoma, specializing in AntiGravity
Aerial Yoga. This type of yoga uses a specialty silk apparatus to support the body and allowing for greater range of movement and freedom.
The studio also offers a variety of new and unique forms of yoga like Acro Yoga, Wheel Flow Yoga, and Glow Flow Yoga to name a few. In the near future Anna plans on selling apparel, jewelry, essential oils, and other holistic products.
Anna discovered the health and fun benefits of AntiGravity Aerial Yoga in the spring of 2014, and immediately became hooked. Soon after she was teaching weekly classes at Seattle’s first aerial yoga studio.
After moving to Tacoma, Anna rented a space in another yoga studio for two years. Finally she decided to expand the business and move into her own studio space. Although she had many years of experience as a yoga instructor she knew that she needed more tools before she could take the leap. That’s why she applied and got accepted to Spaceworks’ Creative Enterprise Tier I program in the spring of 2017.
“I really didn’t know much about how to run a successful business before entering the program, except for what I’ve had to learn on my own the hard way over the past two years,” Anna said. “Now I feel a lot more confident knowing the ins and outs, and technicalities of running a business like, for example, which business structure would work best for me, how to keep track of my financials more easily, as well as knowing which questions to ask when looking at commercial spaces to rent.”
With constant support, advice, and business coaching she began to look for studio spaces on her own while writing a new business plan. “I have definitely gained a lot of knowledge over the course of the Creative Enterprise program, and am very grateful to all the Spaceworks staff and guest speakers that have made presentations throughout the course of the program. I now feel much more confident in being able to open & run my own studio compared to when I started this process.”
Uplift Yoga & Healing Arts Studio opened up in May of 2017 at 1127 Broadway in a commercial space that hasn’t been occupied for over 10 years. After the completion of renovations Anna added aerial yoga equipment and prepared rooms for additional services.
In addition to yoga classes, the new studio space will also have two treatment rooms, offering services like Sound Healing and Thai Yoga Therapy, and allowing for a broader booking schedule. The students will also be able to shop for athletic gear from one of Anna’s favorite companies, Inner Fire, an eco-conscious and highly respected company based in Vancouver, BC. “I want to be able to fully stand behind the products we are selling and give our students access to some of the finest in yoga apparel out there,” says Anna.
Building on her existing student base, Anna plans to expand classes schedule, draw in more students, and continue building relationships with surrounding businesses. For example this summer Uplift Yoga plans to partner with Dunagan Brewing Company, a neighboring business downstairs of her studio, to offer unique Boga events where participants will enjoy locally brewed beer and yoga.
Another addition this summer will be teaching Paddleboard (SUP) Yoga, potentially partnering with a SUP place out in Gig Harbor. SUP Yoga is another very new, exciting, and challenging form of yoga that has been gaining in popularity over the last few years.
To sign up for classes and learn more visit their website www.uplift-yoga.com, as well as Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/upliftyogahealingarts/ for the most up-to-date info and announcements.
Uplift Yoga & Healing Arts Studio
1127 Broadway,
Tacoma, WA 98402
www.uplift-yoga.com
Anna Noel of Uplift Yoga was accepted into Spaceworks Tacoma in January 2017, then participated in the Spaceworks’ Creative Enterprise Training program and during this time was able to identify a space and sign a lease on her own. Spaceworks is proud to support creative entrepreneurs like Uplift Yoga as they launch exciting new businesses in Tacoma.
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