Willow Yoga Set to Open in Willow Street

By Taylor Miles

WILLOW STREET – Willow Yoga will host an open house next Sunday, 23 July from 1 to 3 p.m. to welcome the public to the new space, at 25 Nolt Avenue in Willow Street, Lancaster County. Those interested can meet with the instructors and receive specials on membership plans. There will also be prizes and giveaways, as well as snacks. This new studio, which will merge with Bridge Yoga on Lincoln Highway, strives to be an inclusive space for anyone interested in yoga.

“We want to bring different people in that maybe would have never tried yoga,” co-owner Monica Kirchner said. “We want it to be very welcoming.”

Monica Kirchner and Leah Margerum are set to welcome you at Willow Yoga. (Photo by Taylor Miles)
Monica Kirchner and Leah Margerum are set to welcome you at Willow Yoga. (Photo by Taylor Miles)

Willow Yoga began when Kirchner, the previous owner of Bridge Yoga, wanted to find a larger space for her studio. “It was a great little studio,” Kirchner said, “but it didn’t really have room to grow.” After seeing that her friend, Leah Margerum, had found a building in Willow Street, Kirchner approached her with the idea of a partnership. Margerum happily accepted, and they began planning for Willow Yoga. The studio will officially open on Sunday, 31 July.

The new studio is not only close enough for Bridge Yoga regulars to continue there, but is also easily accessible for people living in Downtown Lancaster, Millersville, Stroudsburg, and the whole Southern End.

With a focus on keeping the studio a welcoming and inclusive space, Willow Yoga will offer a broad selection of classes and workshops. According to Margerum, the studio wants people to focus on what yoga “feels like, rather than what it looks like.”

A free beginner yoga workshop for men will be offered from September 24 to October 22 on Sundays from 3 to 4 p.m. Willow Yoga felt this workshop was important because men are “definitely underrepresented in the yoga community,” according to Margerum. Another free option will be the Yoga Dojo workshop, which will be a fusion of martial arts and yoga. This workshop is from August 23 to October 26 on Thursdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Chair yoga classes will be also be offered for people who have mobility issues and find it difficult to constantly move up and down in a typical yoga class.

On every second Saturday of the month, Willow Yoga will offer free yoga for beginners’ workshops “for anyone who has thought about yoga and wanted to try it, but has no idea what it really is,” Margerum said. These workshops will include informational discussions and demonstrations on poses to ease participants into yoga.

Classes that will be added to the schedule in the future include courses that have participants hold poses for long periods of time to reset the nervous system such as restorative yoga and yin yoga.

Other plans include adding a health and wellness portion to the building, which will eventually include a workshop in Ayurveda for menopause and a workshop in aromatherapy. The studio is also looking to include a massage therapist, an energy worker, and a nutritionist to their facility. The goal is for the studio to become “a little wellness hub,” Margerum said.

To learn more about the studio, visit Willow Yoga’s Facebook page or call 717-617-2128.

Photo by Taylor Miles