What If Balance Is A Skill You Practice - Corinne Farrell

You can feel “fine” on paper and still be stuck in the red zone, always revved up, always rushing, always bracing for what’s next. That’s why I sat down with Corinne Farrell, the owner of Balance Yoga & Wellness, to talk about what yoga looks like when it’s built for real people with real schedules and real stress. Her studio offers vinyasa along with slower, more nervous-system-friendly options like restorative, yin, and slow flow, all aimed at one thing: helping you practice tools that make life feel easier. 

Corinne shares her personal path from rock climbing and endurance sports to a deeper need most of us recognize: learning how to slow down. We talk about how relaxation is a skill you can develop, how yoga can change the way you show up at home and at work, and why feeling good in your body often makes it easier to be kind, patient, and present. We also tackle the biggest misconceptions that keep beginners away, especially the belief that you must be flexible to start and the worry that yoga is tied to a specific religion. 

We get into the behind-the-scenes side of running a local wellness business too, including why marketing self care can feel oddly difficult, how referrals drive growth, and the advice Corinne gives to anyone trying to choose a class: the best one is the one you can make it to. If you’ve been searching for beginner yoga, stress relief, mindfulness, or a welcoming yoga studio community in Northeast PA, this conversation will point you in a practical direction. 

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review so more neighbors can find the show. What’s the biggest thing that keeps you from taking time to breathe and move?

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Joe Longo.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of some relaxation or maybe some yoga? Or maybe you're just looking to feel good? Well, you are lucky today, my friend, because I am talking and introducing you to our good neighbor, Corinne Farrow. Corinne, owner of Balance Yoga. Thank you so much for being here. How's it going?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Wonderful. Thanks. Thank you so much for having me.

What Balance Yoga Offers

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Yeah, I'm so happy that that you are here and you get to be my first guest on the Good Neighbor podcast. Could you tell us all about Balance Yoga?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Of course. Uh Balance Yoga is a call it a traditional yoga studio. So we have uh vinyasa style classes. We also do things that are slower, uh, styles like restorative yin and one that's actually called like slow flow. The whole premise for us is to provide an uh space for people to practice tools to help them live uh the most balanced life, not to like quote the word balance, but um a place where you can practice your stress-relieving techniques and tap into that space so that life is a little easier.

From Athlete To Yoga Owner

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Yeah, we all need a little bit of an easier life. How did you get into uh yoga and this business?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I started practicing yoga as a rock climber. Um, it would sort of come in and out of my life periodically during my pregnancy. Um, and then when I was a very active, like triathlete, runner, cyclist, I came back to yoga again, realized that for as much as I enjoyed the stretching and the physicality, the ability to slow down was something I was really lacking in my life. So that wanting to learn that skill set, to be able to relax, uh, to sort of come out of the red. It felt like I was always like revved up in the red section of life. And being able to like drop in just made like life feel easier. It made me like a nicer mom, like a a less less yelly, frustrated mom, and um helped me to enjoy my life more. So after that, I was like sold. Um not only did I want to practice yoga, but I wanted to start teaching. And then um I worked at the yoga studio to earn my yoga teacher certificate. I like did a bartering there uh and then um started teaching classes, and then before you know it, I was a massage therapist trying to find other ways to help people relax, and then I purchased the yoga studio so that I could run that as my own.

Flexibility And Religion Misconceptions

SPEAKER_02 3:03

That's wonderful, and it really leads in to the next question because you hit so many good points there about your journey. And the the question is, what are some of the misconceptions about yoga and relaxing, if you will, and really letting ourself move from that red state over here to a more calm, balanced state?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

So, number one is probably that I'm not flexible. Um, we hear that all the time. Um, I'm not flexible, so therefore I can't do this. Um, but I tell people that's like going, like walking into the gym and being like, Oh, I can't do this because I'm not strong. Like we go to the gym to develop strength, we go to the yoga studio to develop somewhat flexibility in our body, uh, but mostly it's just so that your body feels good, so that you're just a nicer person. It's easier to be nice to people when your body feels good. Um, and then um the other part I would say, like there's a a major misconception that uh that it would be like uh against the religion or like um that it's a religious practice that we're doing. And um it's not, it's uh sort of falls in line with I guess many, many different religions, but like the philosophy of um you know devotion, of being a good person, of breathing, um, of living intentionally is uh can kind of go along with with any kind of uh views as well.

Marketing Self Care Through Referrals

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Oh that's that's awesome. And so many misconceptions. I know for myself that I was one of those people that I'm I'm just not I'm just not flexible. I can't even wiggle my toes. And before you knew it, my toes were wiggling, and I was I was amazed. So, you know, we know that marketing is a big part of being a business owner. How are you targeting customers and how are you attracting them and getting them to come in and do those down dogs?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

So I would say that that's a great uh a great question for me. I struggle with marketing because uh I find it difficult to continuously convince people to try to take care of themselves. It just feels like such a basic uh like of course you want to take care of yourself, right? Like this uh this coming in and making time to to breathe and and move uh is difficult at all ages. There's never a time in your life where it's like, okay, well now it's easy, or like now is a good time. So uh we I have enlisted the the support of many of my like staff members to to lean into it. Um we have a social media uh person who's like helping us with the social media part of the marketing. Um our goal is is that we just want to stay as true as possible to our uh our what do I call it? Like uh not like our motto, but like our core values that uh this really is for everyone. Um that if you when people ask me what's the best time to come to a class, uh whenever you have time, when is the best which class is best for me? It's like the one that you can make it to. That's the best class for you. Um so the uh trying to draw people in, like we get so many referrals. I would say that's our biggest avenue for bringing people in.

Podcast Idea And Life Outside Yoga

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Yeah, that that is big in the yoga world. I know for me when I started, someone said, Hey, you should come try this. And obviously, I had all of the excuses of why I couldn't. But I eventually went in the door. Um, that was also a long time ago, when really was just word of mouth, somebody was saying, Hey, hey, come do this. Have you ever thought about um jumping behind a microphone and doing a podcast about yoga or the benefits of really all of the health and wellness world?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

You know, I've had many people suggest that to me. Um, and I think that that would be an amazing idea. I would love to.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Interesting. Yeah, I mean, I love it. I absolutely love it. Um, but it's also part of my personality to just be want to be talking and be in a microphone. Like I really enjoy the the process of it. So outside of the yoga studio, what are you doing for fun?

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Oh my goodness. Well, I really enjoy adventure racing. So that's like a that's a great like uh kind of consistent fun thing in my life. Um, and adventure racing is like team racing with map and compass out in the woods. Um, there's biking sections and foot sections and uh usually some kind of water section. But um this current like moment in time, my youngest is graduating from high school and my oldest is uh applying to med school. So my I would say like a lot of my fun is uh really being excited and being there for like my birds, sort of like strongly leaving the nest and being uh their biggest supporter and like cheering as they stretch those wings and step forward into these new spaces.

Space For Everyone And How To Visit

SPEAKER_02 8:35

That's awesome and congratulations with with everyone as well, and and allowing those little birds to to pop out of the nest. And it's amazing, right? Watching the little birds grow is as well. Us being friends, it's been a joy watching watching them grow and and bloom. So if you can tell our listeners one thing about balanced yoga that they should remember, what would that be?

SPEAKER_01 9:05

That there is space for everyone.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Beautiful. Space for everyone. We all belong, and it really is that work that we do on the mat that helps us out in the world. So, where can our listeners learn more about balance yoga?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

So we have uh our website, of course, which is balancenep a dot com. Uh, we're also on uh Facebook and um Instagram and Snapchat and you know all the all the social media things. Um and they can come visit us in 44. It would be amazing. Just come to the studio, come check it out, come take a tour and see what you think.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Awesome. Well, Corinna, I really, really appreciate you being on the show and taking some time to chat with me today. From everyone at the Good Neighbor Podcast, we wish you and your business the best moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Thanks, Joe.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GMPA.com. That's GMPA.com. Or call 574.