Balancing act

Jowee Aulston recently opened The Yogic Lounge in downtown Reno. They do the one-person-one-mat kind of yoga with which you may be familiar, as well as Thai yoga. But what sets them apart is their interactive, playful acroyoga. She can tell you all about it. The studio is at 100 N. Arlington Ave. For more information, call 303-7366, or visit their in-the-works website at www.theyogiclounge.com.

When did you open?

We’re coming up on our third month, so it was April first.

And there was a name change, right?

We were the Vajra Yogic Lounge, and now we’re just The Yogic Lounge.

What do you offer?

We’re a community–first based studio, and we offer yoga and other forms of movement. We all met through acroyoga, so it’s kind of the home of acroyoga.

What is that?

It’s a form of yoga with three components—acrobatics, yoga and Thai yoga. And so we also have Thai bodyworks here, as well. Our two main offerings are acroyoga and Thai yoga. We do a lot of traditional yoga, as well. We’re just about to open a retail space called Souk. [The goods are from] a couple girls that have been traveling around East Asia just getting cultural, eclectic goods. There’ll be clothing and home decor and trinkets, jewelry.

How’d you get into yoga?

I’ve been into yoga for the past 10 or 15 years. I did a yoga service-in-community at the Mount Madonna Center in 2001 when I graduated from university. That started my path to yoga teaching. Then the acroyoga instilled a sense of community building because a lot of it is trust and partner work and building community that way. So basically we’re trying to build community through healthy play and provide an alternative for people to get together and socialize.

Acroyoga doesn’t sound like the typical yoga class where you get on your mat and do your poses alone. Are you balancing against each other?

Absolutely. It’s a lot of partner balancing. A really good opportunity to check it out is at our acroyoga play night from 7-10 p.m. on Friday nights—it’s open to the public, free to members, and is a time for people to come in and observe and play a bit. It’s nonstructured, just fun. It’s a great chance to explore it without having to fully commit.

One of my mantras is “meditate every day, work honestly, meet people without fear, and play.” [Acroyoga] is so much fun, and it’s a lot easier than it looks. It’s basic bone stacking. People can do things with their body they didn’t even know was possible. You only do that when you were a little kid and didn’t have any fear. … That’s kind of what we assist people to do.

And you’re certified in this?

[Co-owner] Anastasia [Bobadilla] and I are the only two certified acroyoga teachers in Nevada, and it’s world wide. I had four countries represented in my teacher training. There were a few girls from Holland, a couple people from Germany and from the East and West Coast in the United States. … I have multiple certifications. Mount Madonna Center is my original teacher training, which is more of an Ashtanga-based community. But I got certified to do acrogyoga in Hawaii, which is where I lived before I moved here.

So you’re new to Reno?

I’ve been here about three years.

What does an average class cost?

We’re trying to build community and encourage people to become members. There’s a monthly membership of $32, and then it’s $7 per class. And you get discounts on all sorts of things. Non-member drop-ins are $14.