Wildfire Yoga and Wellness with Kelli Gabat!

Kelli Gabat, owner of Wildfire Yoga and Wellness Studio, shares her journey from an 800-square-foot sublease to a thriving wellness sanctuary in the Warehouse Block. Discover how her studio blends hot yoga, slow flow, mat Pilates, and tone-and-flow classes to build strength, mobility, and calm. Kelli explains why yoga complements any fitness routine, how their four-week beginner series builds confidence, and why repetition creates moving meditation that rewires your brain.

Beyond the mat, Wildfire offers red light therapy, PEMF, massage, sauna, and cold plunge for faster recovery and reduced inflammation. With an on-site smoothie bar, monthly events, and a genuine community vibe, this is where consistency meets results.

Wildfire Yoga is offering major specials for first-timers this January! It's the perfect way to start your year energized and fresh.

Transcript

Meet Kelly And Wildfire Yoga

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Hi, and welcome back to the Inside the Block podcast, where we interview a different business owner in the warehouse block each and every episode. And today I'm so excited because I am at Wildfire Yoga with Kelly Gabbott, the owner.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

How are you? I'm good. Thanks for having us. Yeah, absolutely welcome to my second home.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah. I mean, I would venture to say you might have one of the largest like properties in the warehouse block. Like, this is a sprawling complex. So tell us about you. Who are you? Where'd you come from? How did you open Wildfire Yoga?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Oh gosh. Okay. That's a lot where I came from. Um, so I'm originally from Ohio. Cool. What where? Mansfield, Ohio. In between Cleveland and Columbus. I always had to say that because we'd be like, what where is that? So like Shawshank. Okay. That's our prison. Yeah. Like Shawshank Redemption? Yes. Fun. Yes. Yeah, all right. Yeah, that's what we're known for. Yeah, yeah. How amazing that place is. Great movie. Yeah. My family still lives there. So um, but uh, yeah, so that's where I'm from, Ohio. So Kentucky is much more welcoming than nothing is to Ohio, but um I what'd you say? Well, where yeah, where'd why'd you come to Lexington? Um, I came to Lexington through uh my corporate job, teach or training there, and then I met my husband here.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Cool. Is he like originally from here?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

And he's lived here for a long time. Has he? Yeah. Cool. And so were you always into yoga? No. No, no, I wasn't always into yoga. No, I started in my late 20s. Um, I was just going through some like depression and anxiety, and I was like, I need to do something else because my corporate job was a lot, and I had a three-year-old at home. And so I got into actually Bikram yoga, hot yoga.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, which is wildly controversial, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

It became it became very well, yes, it is. Yeah, yeah. I think the the place that I went to had to pivot um because it's all they taught.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Yeah. And so for our viewers and listeners that might not know about the background of Bikram, can we talk about that for a second? Because I think it's I I saw the documentary and I thought it was a really fascinating like story. Could you give us like a little bit of a background on that?

Bikram Origins And Hot Yoga Risks

SPEAKER_00 2:15

If you don't mind. Yeah, I did not meet him. Bikram. Yeah. Is that his first name or last name? I don't know. I don't know either. Yeah. Yeah. The guru. The guru, right? Um, I don't know if he's still fleeting or not, to be honest. Yeah. He might be. Uh, but he did originate Bickram, and um, which is now called 26-2. It's still offered in Lexington as 26-2. Um, it's a hot room that you would teach in like 105, and um, it's 26 poses. You do them twice.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

So okay, I was wondering what the numbers meant. But really, it was the origination. Was that the first time like Bikram w had sort of introduced or this like wave of like hot yoga?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

That I don't know either. You know, um it could be that hot yoga, I know hot yoga has become a lot more popular um these days. And even I think there's yeah, I think people enjoy hot yoga a lot because it's just sit and sweat. But personally, that's not my favorite anymore because I've gotten older. But did you like it at one point? I did like it. I was there for two years, so I did the 105. I did stay in the room, 262. Miserable.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Why do people like it?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

I I mean, I think people like it because it's it's the they're sweating. They think it's there, it's a workout, you know, if they're sweating.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

So you're getting rid of like the toxins.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Right. I think to a certain degree that the heat is um soothing. Is not even maybe soothing, but like can um help you get deeper into your practice. But our at a certain point I feel like it can be dangerous because you can push too far when it's too when it's too hot, personally. Right. I know I have like injured myself doing bikram just by pushing myself too far.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Oh wow. So are injuries common in yoga or more common in like a hot setting?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

I mean, that could be. Yeah. Uh we we don't injure a lot of people here.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

No, no, of course not. No, no, no. I'm just being like, are do people often like push themselves maybe too hard?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

I think that I know I did, you know, because the more I got into it, the more you get deeper. Because when you do 26-2, the the idea is that you do learn to, you know, toast hands, like you do get deeper into the the pose. So there is like an end goal. And I think anything anybody does, they want an end goal, right? They like want to get to that, what that looks like, to what that pose looks like, no matter how they get to that pose, yeah, to what it looks like, you know. So um, but that studio has been around, still around for a long time, like 18 years. But when that came out, they had to pivot. That's all they taught. I can't imagine what that looked like at that time. And when I decided to go through a teacher training, I honestly didn't know there was other types of yoga. That sounds crazy, probably, and ridiculous. No, not at all. But I was like, what is vinyasa? What is slow flow? What is because that's all I knew. Like that was my first experience with yoga was Bikram.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

So I've always been active. Like I've always was like active in lifting weights. I was always in like, I guess you consider an athlete, you know, in high school, like I did tennis. I played fast but softball. Dang girl. Yeah. Yeah. So I did, I did all the things and um Endeavor a cheerleader, but couldn't make the team on that one. But I know their loss, obviously. Their loss, yes. Very, very more athletic than a cheerleader. Absolutely, yeah. But um, but so always into something, into group fitness. I've always been into that. But yoga attracted me because I hadn't learned it yet. You know, it was something for mentally, honestly, mentally though, it it it changed who I was. Like those two years, I would go four days a week, and that mom guilt, I finally got over that because I'm a better mother.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

When you're taking care of it, I came home.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah. Like I was more patient, I was probably more kind. I'm sure I was more kind. And um, yeah, and I it just literally can change your brain. I mean, it's neuroscience. You can change your brain by yoga because you're creating space in the mind and like chaotic. Like, so it's a meditation, it's like almost like a meditation movement after a while because you're doing something over and over again that you're just focused on that pose, you're focused on your body. And that is the beautiful thing about yoga, is that if you stay with it long enough, it's not like lifting weights. You're not gonna just see your muscles pop after two weeks. You're not gonna, you know, get to that specific yoga pose or splits or anything that really you're working towards just like being in the room and it's part of the journey. And for me, it's about mental health. Yeah. Not the workout.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah, that's so interesting. I mean, is uh it you've really gotten me thinking about how is do we think that yoga is the closest, you know, form of meditation of like all the ways in which to to work out or to you know express that through the body.

Yoga For Mental Health And Mobility

SPEAKER_00 7:06

I mean, I personally think so. There's no other, and again, I'm I'm still very active other than yoga. I've done, you know, Pilates, love reformers, I love lifting heavy, but there's no I mean, running, I'm not a big runner, but I always think when I'm running and I think on other things with this, I can just stop. Yeah, and like shut the wire off. Yeah, and it's a total reset. So, and you can take it to your 102, you know, like you can keep doing this forever where some things you just can't.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

And it's so yeah, so wildly beneficial, like muscle-wise, too, and stretching and that I've I've seen some research out there that says that it's really important for older people to consider yoga too, just because it like helps with like potential falls that they have and then being able to like bounce back in terms of balance. I mean, it really helps with balance, too.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, and one thing you'll hear a lot is mobility these days. Right. I think you hear it more than you ever have. Um, but you do, you do need to be mobile. You need to get up from the ground. Um, when you get older, what if you fall? You know, so you need to get up, and I think without using just using your hands too, like you need to be able to squat properly. There's a lot of things that um if you and it complements everything. Like you can go lift weights, you can go do crossfit, you can do anything, you know, you can do tennis, you could do Pilates, but it also you can come back and do yoga as well. It's a great compliment to anything else. Yeah, and people say it's stretching and it's like only stretching, and I'm like, try it. Yeah, just try it.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Because you're using resistance, you're using your whole body. I've had literally men in here that like could lift, look like they could lift a car and they struggled to do a down dog or to get their self to the top of the mat, you know? Yeah. Because the flexibility, the muscles just shorten if you don't stretch them out. So it's gonna be harder. Um, and when you when people, you know, lift weights, I did it too. It was like, oh, my I'm done, my 30 minutes or my hours up, I'm done. I'm gonna go home and eat a protein shake and be done. But like, if you don't stretch, like those muscles are gonna shorten anyway.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

So it's just like I think everybody needs to do yoga.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

Yes, it's so complimentary to whatever else to enhance whatever else you're already doing. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So tell me about your sprawling complex here in the warehouse block. I know. Yeah, we talked a little bit before we came in, but I think viewers and listeners would love to hear that you had started on one side, but we're now in sort of the newer side over here. So tell us like the year that you came in, the process. We love having you in the warehouse block. And so yeah, well, thank you. I like being here.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

It is evolving, and I just can't, I'm just excited to be here part of it all. Um, it's grown so much in eight years that I've been here. Uh, I got my teacher training, and that's what kind of started the whole thing about owning my own studio. I thought and knew that even in my YTT that I was going to own a yoga studio, and everybody thought I was full of it. They're like, no way, Kelly, you're not leaving your corporate job and 401k, and you had a baby and at home. And it was like watch me basically that it's finding the right space. So a bunch of us girls were gonna get into like sharing a space and doing privates out of it. And so I started doing that and and they decided not to. So I subleased um at Breath and the other half and then renovated that. It was 800 square foot, and I barely had a I mean, it was like coming home, literally. Like I would turn around and be like, hey, like I had a corner desk, old corner desk. So it was like all in one it was. I had some carpet there, and then I had wood, and like people loved it. Like, I love it. We loved it. Yeah, it was great. We loved it. We loved that 800 square foot. And then we ended up growing out of it like almost into the hallway, 25 deep after a year and a half. So I was like, Chad, I need I need more space. Yeah, like I need more space. So we came over here to 833, which again used to be Kentucky Mudworks, this whole space, like from my space all the way, you know, where the um where the willow is now, and also Ryan's um hair salon. Hair salon. So I was the first person to come into that and took now. I have two studios there, infrared, and then an industrial one that doesn't have heat, um, but it has the skylights and everything like that. And so I've had that since 2019, right before COVID in October, I moved there, which was thank God, because COVID having 800 square foot and COVID would have shut me down, I think.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So how did COVID affect you? Like you just moved into the space and then COVID hit. Was that oh gosh?

Starting Small And Growing The Studio

SPEAKER_00 11:53

I mean, like honestly, I didn't, it sounds maybe it's all the yoga done. But I didn't realize it was coming. I didn't really realize what COVID was. I didn't know none of us did the minute I know, but the minute they're like, you gotta shut down, it was like literally two days before. And I was like, What? So one of my instructors who ended up being one of my managers for a while, she were like moved it to virtual, like now. Like so the next day that we weren't even open, we moved to virtual and we did virtual the whole time. I think that's that saved me and my members. They didn't leave me.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah. So the instructors still got paid, and we all did it virtually from home, and we kept that going for months. Um and my father passed during COVID and he didn't even know what COVID was, thank God, you know. But um, it was a wild time in my life that he passed in April. We shut down in March, and um, this was my savior. Like I could come here and work. It was an exhale when I came into the space. It it's been my saving grace, my yoga studio. And so it was a really healing part. And also I started I did a 300 hour in COVID in 2020. So I did 200 hour YTT and then I did another 300 hour. Um, and that also was nice being in community with like 10 other women, which I know sounds crazy, but we we did a mask. Yeah, and I went through a whole nother training in Richmond, Kentucky during that time after I lost my father. And I again that was that was a lifesaver, and that was so healing for me to be in community, be with other women and studying yoga really helped me get through that part.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, I mean, we all had to find uh, you know, I mean, you at least you found very like healthy outlets during that. But it was, you know, it was people were it we distraction was like so necessary, and yet the irony was that like everything you wanted to do to distract yourself, if it involved people, you couldn't. So like such a crazy time.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Oh, yeah, it was horrible for kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My daughter, you know, I mean, it set her back. Yeah, then you had to do virtual from home. I'm like, this is not gonna work for me.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

My daughter's a first grader. She's like, I don't know what a Chromebook is.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

And I was like, Well, we're gonna figure it out together. I know. I I guess that wasn't one of those mom, like, we're gonna do it right now, you know. But it's like, I mean, I had to do it, but it's hard to get a kid to sit down and you know, it's like really you should just go outside and let's just play and whatever. But uh it was a wild time for everybody, I know, and how everybody maneuvered through it. Yeah, everybody had their own different outlets. We did, and and and the the thing is everybody was selling like their bolsters, their blankets, their blocks, and and so I was like, oh, then that's what's what I was supposed to do. So I literally sold all my props through that, which is wild. Like, I don't know if everybody thought that this was the end game, like we're all done from here. Um, but I I was I did it too, and then I still see half blocks everywhere, and I call my COVID blocks because they're literally half a block. That's all they you could get because everybody I think in the world was like, I can't work out somewhere, I'm gonna work out at home. Like they sold out of workout like weights and blocks and everything, like probably with like weeks that COVID it was hard to get anything.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

That's incredible. I didn't realize like how it would have affected like the yoga and like wellness community in that sense. Like people were like selling their stuff, but then yet buying.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

People sold because they're like, Well, this is COVID, so does it is it, you know, is it not safe, right? Sure. So we'll sell it, but also I think people were like, I'm closing.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

Yeah.

Pivoting To Virtual And Surviving COVID

SPEAKER_00 15:42

Like some studios closed, like literally just closed their door. And I was like, that never crossed my mind why I stole my blocks and stuff. I guess I was following suit. I have no idea, but but I was not gonna close down. I knew that that was not even an option. I I thought if I could act like nothing was happening, totally ignore it, no one else would think there was either. Yes, for real. Like I like that mentality. That's how I handle all my problems. Yeah, and I'm like, if I don't make a big deal about it, my members aren't gonna think like something's going on, you know. And so I just kept things very good though.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Like they wanted like a calm in the storm too. Like it's like you're shutting your doors, like, you know, within 24 hours of hearing, you know, these announcements. Like it's it's like your whole world is turned upside down. So like to keep that sense of normalcy, good on you, yeah, Kelly Gabbott. Good on you.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

I mean, I I was like, if I freak out, they trust me. You know, if I freak out, they'll freak out. And I'm like, this is just not an option for me. I'm not closing down. I just never, I never thought of that. Um, but we did virtual for a year and just got exhausted because you have to do every single class. I mean, it's it's physically exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

I'm sure. Yeah. How many instructors did you have?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

I had, I think I had eight. Okay. And I let them all do virtual and paid them.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Incredible.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So how many instructors do you have now? A lot. A lot? Like 14. Wow. Yeah. Now, some of them just sub. Okay. But I have probably eight that do teach. We have 26 classes a week. So wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Okay. Tell me about your classes because I'm like wildly interested. Yes. I think you've converted me. I mean how you can try one of these. Yeah, good, good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Well, we have well, yen and restore, which is awesome at night. It's a good time to like have it at night, like yin restore, slow flow restore, use bolsters, blocks. We got them all back now. Great. Okay. I was wondering what the stuff is. We're stopped up. We are stopped up. If you see a half block, we just throw it out. It's like bad memories. But uh bad juju. Bad juju. We also do matte pilates. One of our instructors, Julie, does Matte Pilates. And she's actually used the outdoor um this week because it's been so nice outside. Um, so we have Matte Pilates, we've got uh tone and flow. We use weights, a little bit of weights, resistance, sliders, and then a little bit of uh yoga flow to it. Um slow flow, yeah, tone and flow, bar yoga blend. We have one class like that. And yeah, so just a variety.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Yeah. And so do you get a lot of like beginners along with like the more veterans in your classes? Because I would definitely be like a full-blown beginner.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm hosting a beginner series actually on the 21st of October. Of October. And we do one like every quarter, but it's actually been like five months since I've done it. And it's four weeks. It's Tuesday at 6 30 p.m. for four weeks. And so by the time that you're done that hour, 6 30, 7 30 for four, you could you'll be able to take any class and have the foundational poses that you need. And and so that's really popular. That gets popular to do that because people are like ready to start something and definitely just getting it out. But in general, do we get beginners? We do. Yeah, we do. Are people revisiting their practice? Yeah. Um, we have a great community, you know, of members and hence why I I expanded.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah. I mean, I'm not I you I think you have the biggest space in the warehouse block. Like, there's no doubt. I mean, it's just and and it's so beautifully done and appointed, and I love like it's like so calming and very zen in here. It's everything I'd want in a yoga studio. Okay, great. Yes, yes, and you've included um tell us about the protein shake bar and the nutrition. I mean, like this is incredibly delicious.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

So everything takes time, and I and I'm the kind of person that wants things to happen like right away. And so with this space, I had to really, I had to really um just let things happen um like they should, I guess, and and in time. And so we now have floor and bloom, but they are this is their second location, actually. They're in why they're in the YMCA in Hamburg as well, as uh feel good nutrition. So I actually was in their DMs and was like, are you interested in this kitchen? Are you interested in starting like a second? location because I wanted people to virtually work here. I wanted people to, you're hungry after yoga. You're hungry after like you want something to like I wanted that for the community. I wanted them to have um something healthy to have afterwards so they could sit and in community because our community they hang out like they stay a while, you know? And so the space we had over there in the yoga space, it seems like a lot, but it really wasn't a lot for everybody to hang out. And so hence while I have this huge space that's so great for people to sit and the treatment rooms came like I said it was a it was the process of a year and a half. I thought the studio was going to be here I was going to give up the space over there. There was some different moving parts with different small businesses that um and then it came to well let's let's do some treatment rooms. We build out these treatment rooms and do some more like you can say somewhat holistic but you know these are my favorite ways of um being more healthy. So like the red light I love that I love the red light. Yeah tell us about all the different the red light therapy we have red light therapy with PMF mat which is just an amethyst mat. It's it's like 22 pounds but you heat it up and it takes like the negative ions out. So like your phones and your TVs um it doesn't like jolt you or anything it almost feels like a heating pad like a really hot heating pad but it is the most popular because it really does work. And I it's like what what is this? It's just like you know I'm gonna go lay on it and it's like just try it. Like if you have any aches and pains or arthritis like you will get off that and be like I can I don't need to take a pill like for my arthritis. Like incredible it might last a day it might last but it absolutely does work. Red light is my favorite like for collagen anti-aging yeah yeah well the red light masks right those have become like really popular for like skincare and stuff too.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah so there's a lot of good research out there.

Classes, Beginner Series, And Community

SPEAKER_00 21:58

I haven't really looked into red light there but I just know it's like definitely picked up steam yeah I started with the mask my I I got it for my birthday and I've used it for over a year and and you like it? Oh yeah it's changed my skin a ton like just with pores and anti-aging and like collagen and more firming and yeah and it's been amazing. It helps with inflammation there's just so many things out there and that's like it's trending but it's like trending for the right reason because it it's amazing like it's so good for the body. So true they're actually using it for like um white teeth whitening and gum recession like so I mean dentists are standing by popping on the train yeah big deal. So we have that and we have a table a massage table which you're not gonna get a massage while you're doing red light but but oh but could you imagine? Yeah well you could we do have a massage uh therapist on site which is really great yeah and she's super busy her name's Sarah Gardner and um so she has her own room but so red light with um the table it's just nice because you like flip flop you just lay for 15 flip the most you want to do is like 15 to 20 minutes on the front 15 to 20 minutes on the back. So it's a pretty quick process and again it's kind of like yoga you just got to do it like three days a week or four days a week and then I think after literally like 45 days I think you'll see a huge difference in your skin.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Yeah incredible and then we've got cold plunge.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Yeah the cold plunge yes yeah which I'm sure is like no pun intended very polarizing for people because I feel like people either like really love something like that like me like I would love a cold plunge or me like my mom would be like never you know it's too cold or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Right and we do give people they like say never right and so we set it for 50 degrees. Yeah. Okay. And I know you're like that's that's a lot but that's how we eased our people into it like 50 degrees and now some of them want it lower. Some people come in and request 58 and we'll turn it up. I mean it could be a hot tub too you could turn it all the way up and heat. Love it. But so you can you can vary the temperature so you can turn it to whatever the um the client wants and what's the benefits of cold plunge it's so good. We have a contrast so we do the sauna and the and the cold plunge. Yeah you have the sauna yeah so when I like doing the the hot to the cold um again there's research on that you can look that up but why that's so good going from hot to cold. But um it helps with inflammation in the body it helps for muscle recovery it helps for energy it helps for nervous system reset. When I I literally think the best description for me is that when a massage therapist and a talk therapist get together after three minutes that's what you feel like you feel like just so level and you have this energy about you but you're like so chill and then you feel like I was like oh my caps are like someone just massage them like I had no idea they probably were so tight because it would just it like naturally loosens it.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah yeah the muscles and stuff so we have people that come in just for that yeah yeah and then we have the sauna by itself which is yeah uh another new addition. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Do people ever do like sauna cold plunge and then back to sauna or is it really just like one to the other?

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Oh yeah for sure they do it back and forth yeah you could spend 40 minutes in each room. Everything's set for an hour. Okay. So it could be like one to two you could be in there for 40 minutes and then we clean on that 20 minutes and then turn it so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

So how do I as somebody who's interested in starting this up like how do I I just go to your website Instagram how's what what's the best way for me to find more information and be able to sign up for the classes that I know that I would be good at yeah so you could go to our website for the yoga classes and you'll see Wildfire Wellness is one of the tabs above and then that'll show you um each room and they're all like labeled like that like PMF Matt, red light red light table it's all like infrared and then fire nice is your cool plunge. So you could pick which room you want and then we have a drop in rate for 35 or you can do unlimited for 109 a month which is a really great price. If you're like I want to do the yoga and this it's$200 a month. So it's a hundred for each unlimited. Okay. Yeah cool. And if you just want to try the yoga too and and you're like I just want to try out yoga I'm beginner and I just want to kind of get in there. Yeah it's$59 for the first month. Okay. So that's our intro offer.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Very cool. Man that's wildly reasonable for all this and to get to chat afterwards with fellow you know classmates. Yeah yeah yeah I can that was always my problem too is that like the times that I would go because I love group fitness. I think there's like such a an amazing especially like with women you know but it's like such a great level of camaraderie and then it's like oftentimes like you're you're blood spamming or you're having this like experience together. You're not it's like your own individual experience but you're still like all collectively together and then there's nowhere to go afterwards to like continue the conversation or to get to know each other. So you've like really created such like a sanctuary and an oasis for that. Like I mean it's different.

Wellness Add‑Ons: Red Light And Massage

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Like like you don't see this everywhere after classes and yeah and I think community has just been so important to me um it just and be like oh you've you know made the and I was like I just show up who I am like I just create the space like this is this is just who I am and I'm not that that means anything I guess but I mean everybody I I would say our community is solid. I we I mean we talk before class you might introduce yourselves I mean we laugh it's not like we say we take the yoga seriously we don't take ourselves so seriously um that it's it's fun and our community is just so welcoming to new people even like I I've had the same um members of me for like eight years. I have seven years I have teachers been with me for eight years. You know everybody's stuck around you know and so the community is huge. It is the biggest part for me is is community and that is so good for mental health too. I mean there's so many studies saying that we all need community um to to to feel better mentally.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah or like the idea of the third space. Yeah you heard you know you got your home you got your work but oftentimes like people don't have that third space where they're able to have that sense of community like outside of these two other entities and I mean this is like an incredible third space so to speak yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

And that I mean honestly that's what I've focused on is is building community we do Third Friday of the month we do happy hour at Mir twin we've done that for three years. So we've done book clubs we do all kinds of events in here um from sound healing to tarot readings to Reiki. I mean we we do it all and they try it all and um it's just it's fun like we we should anything that could but bring community together I'm like a hundred percent for yeah for sure and all under the umbrella of like really cool wellness yeah like yeah so cool. So what's next for I mean you've expanded I even like I always ask business owners that and they're like well we're gonna do but it's like you're really like living the what's next life anyway that are like right I know how much bigger can you get how much more can you get you know I have before we opened it was you know months and months of me just being in this space and like one plant at a time just seeing how they acclimated to the space because the you got skylights and everything it's a beautiful like it it loves plants and I love plants and to me it didn't it didn't seem that big eventually and I know it can be like wow this is a whole lot but it feels really home like oh yeah yeah no you've made it wildly cozy yeah yeah yeah and it it is a lot it is a little it is a whole cloth right here I get it and and um you know the Montessori school she's like oh my what are you doing in there you know and it's like she's like are you moving over I'm like no I'm just taking it all and I know that probably sounds crazy to some people like just take it all Kelly did I ever imagine that this no I never would imagine in 2017 like this is where I would be in 2025 you know but this is like my third renovation in eight years so because I renovated that's the yoga space my sublease and then now this so um this this is it though like we're growing in it's good for nice this is it this is it there's there is nothing really left but the smoothies um coming back to her yes are yeah banana nut is probably my favorite that's what I have and it's incredible that was a really good recommendation but I was also thinking about you know the Twix and the Pina Colada the buckeye got definitely recommended by someone else and then a cookie dough moment.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

So I have I have a I have a list of well then you gotta come back.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Yeah well trust me yeah you're gonna some of our people have their favorites here for sure and it's like but they've been here a little it feels like more than a month but just like a a little over a month now and so it did take a little bit to find the right um people but it was the best the best addition.

Cold Plunge, Sauna, And Contrast Therapy

SPEAKER_01 30:56

But also smoothie bowls and different types of like energy teas dirty teas dirty teas. Yeah what is a dirty tea it adds protein she probably explained it more to me but um it added protein to the top basically so you get some collagen in there too oh great I know who doesn't need some collagen in their life always it's like my favorite word it's like give me the the the protein shake with everything you know then I get all the vitamins in there too totally but you know what's wild about our culture too is the way that collagen and skincare has now hit some of the youngest girl I mean my daughter's 11 and she's like I need a collagen mask I need a face roller and I was like your skin will never be better than it is right now.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Like you have more coll like I'd kill for the amount no kidding I'm a 13 year old so what is that they're like I needed my skincare routine I know I'm like really don't I'm hiding my good stuff you know because I'm like that is for 40 and up.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Yeah absolutely you know like you can't have that yeah she wants like the under eye corrector and I'm like you don't have anything under your eyes she's she's up with all the TikTok things and like mom you need to get this one day she had Vaseline on her face I was like I would not do that she's like no it's so good for your face and I'm like I've looked into it yeah slugging your button slugging like what what's going on or like I opened up the freezer the other day to like make my kids something and there's her like little face roller and like all these because she like has figured out that it's supposed to be in the freezer so it's cold compressed or I'm like you're 11.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Like I don't know how I got through you know out all this product because I know my mom didn't buy any of that stuff or I didn't get any of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

I don't even think I used lotion or any kind of a thing. It's like maybe college you know I did tanny booth at 15.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Oh heck yes for prompt safe. So I definitely met off but that's that's why we need all the skincare now is because we were we were all like tanny booths have they gotten worse is that why I haven't been as affected you know by these tanny booths but now the tanning places are doing red light in there too now. Oh oh interesting way to full circle that well I mean they're probably figuring out that yeah that that's probably not the best way to go definitely with a lot of you know and moving towards more of like a spray tan thing too yeah that is yeah it's pretty rough on your skin.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Yeah it's too bad that it's really effective and you look great and your it makes your skin really soft though too like it's addicting it. Yeah I rem there was a couple summers in college where I was like I think I'm addicted. And as a redhead like it was the only way I could get a tan. Oh gosh yeah I don't know it's so funny but so true right how things have yeah when I was 13 overtime yeah for sure well this has been so much fun. Yes yeah any anything else to tell us about wildfire before we sign off gosh yeah I I think that's it did we cover it all?

SPEAKER_00 33:54

We really did we covered a lot and if you haven't we got our new sign up out there which is also very large and you should be able to see it from the street. Absolutely but with the wellness space I we've been taking people through tours which is great like come see the space like just get a little tour and see what you think.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Can anybody just like drop in anytime? Yeah cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Well they could come and take a tour and if we have you know if we have that you know if they're like hey can I get in the infrared right now like usually we can make it work right now but as we start to get busier I don't know how that's going to develop but yeah but drop in at least to see the space and see what we can what we can do.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Definitely do you find that you're busier um because to me that sounds so wildly comforting and cosing especially in like the winter months like the colder months do you find people are more like is it more popular? I mean you already have like a very set you know level of of community that you know patronizes this like year round but like I could see people being like I want to do a sauna in the the winter.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

I will say the sauna's already started picking up yeah I'm sure yeah yeah it's only 70 degrees right now I know they're like it's full gotta gotta sput this out but uh I think that we will get we always get busier in every aspect as the winter months come up. That's so interesting.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yeah because usually October November December are some of our busiest months that's so interesting because usually they drop off for yoga too what do you think because it's colder and people just want to be inside doing that more?

Pricing, Access, And Member Options

SPEAKER_00 35:22

Yeah they just want to probably get out of the house and go somewhere that you know hot yoga or you know where they could sweat and you know totally but we we do we call it warm yoga but it can get up to 90 degrees. So that's some people are like that's hot you know when you're in your 40s you're like that's that's hot. Yeah yeah and I mean I would say our community doesn't like 105. They don't like like overwhelmingly yeah not at all our demographic is a little different. Okay interesting cool they they prefer they'll take 80 but that's about you know they they if they start sweating they're like oh yeah it's like in all my pores I'd like oh my god yeah it's from that heat down yeah dirt it down a little bit well it's cool that you fluctuate it based on like preference for we try I mean we try to keep it consistent because you it consistency is best it's like if it says it's gonna be 86 in here it should be 86 in here. Yeah but um yeah we do know our people you don't want them to like we know our people they're not going anywhere but it's like okay we'll might you know smidge open the door for you or just go by more that's doesn't have the infrared right underneath your yeah your face totally just go to the back a little bit yeah just do yeah yeah we do our best we do yeah yeah it sounds like it well thanks so much for having me thanks for having me so good you're fun well it's just me I really like what you're doing here thank you you're welcome thank you so much Erica you'd love to come and I want to do all of it I want to do the beginner thing yeah I will oh please do I would love to have you in class great yeah all right deal you heard it here first yes is there's a record now well you're in good hands I'll be your teacher okay great teacher that's what I meant to ask you at the very beginning which is how many do you actually lead like how many classes a lot no no no I just the beginners uh I lead I have three classes three set classes cool but I teach privates and I do teacher trainings which we're in the midst of now it's a six month teacher training because we actually have teacher training this weekend so I teach teachers how to teach so we have a 200 hour yeah teacher training which is again this weekend so I'm busy with that I'm busy with events planning I do a lot of the behind the scenes yeah I'm very small business yeah you're wearing a lot of hats I wear a lot of hats and then when it's time to be a teacher I wear that teacher hat but I have so many instructors now and to be honest it I didn't want to be you know I have a daughter that's 13. I don't want to be the last um person that has to pick up the class if there's a sub like I never have to sub yeah good like no yeah not anymore yeah yeah yeah yeah I teach the morning and I'll teach the night I've done that I've already done all that right right right you put in shifts you put in your dues yes I've worked nice shifts you know so we have some yeah younger instructors who work the night you know as they should yes that's good yes okay so you got it all figured out Kelly I don't know how to figure it out but I'm just doing it yeah I'm doing it so yeah all right well thanks again thank you