DigitalLove
Goat yoga, Harry Potter yoga, even beer yoga- it can be hard to keep up with the ever-changing fads sweeping through the fitness world. At Hola Yoga in East Nashville, you won’t find any live animals roaming the mats (or wizarding wands floating high above them), but, what you will find is an inclusive yoga studio founded on education, quality, community, and joy; where people of all backgrounds can discover the authentic mind/body/soul connection derived from traditional yoga.
Owner Khrystyne Baltodano believed in this “less-is-more” yoga approach, along with yoga’s rich history and philosophy, long before she knew that she would open her own studio. In fact, her transition from student to teacher came as quite a surprise. Living in Boston and working a corporate job, Baltodano completed her yoga teacher training in 2015 simply to learn more about the practice she loved so much.
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“I was really interested in diving in and doing more than just the physical postures—sort of learning the history and philosophies of yoga. I studied philosophy in college, so I always had an interest in some of those ancient texts,” she says. “I did my yoga teacher training really never with any intention of teaching. I had a full-time corporate job, it was really just kind of like, ‘I want to know more but I don’t necessarily want to teach.’”
Working in downtown Boston’s financial district sparked an unexpected passion for teaching when co-workers learned of Baltodano’s certification and asked her to help improve corporate wellness by teaching yoga classes at the office gyms. She loved teaching people who had no yoga experience, but who wanted an escape from their desk for some much-needed relaxation.
When Baltodano relocated to Nashville in 2017, she noticed a newly growing yoga community that was successful, but heavily fitness oriented. Not satisfied with her corporate work options, and with what started off as a joking, ‘Oh I should just open a yoga studio,’ Baltodano did just that. Now, two years later, she has opened Hola Yoga in East Nashville, where she offers a yoga experience less based strictly on heart-pounding fitness, and more based on education, history, and overall wellness.
“There are eight limbs to a yoga practice. One of those eight limbs are the physical postures that we do; meaning that one-eighth of yoga is the movements that we do, which is a very small portion in my opinion. So, if you’re doing yoga and you only think of the physical postures, there are seven-eighths of what a yoga practice is that you’re missing out on,” says Baltodano.
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“It’s the entirety of it. It’s meditation, and breath, and the ethical rules, and all of these things of yoga…and I think we’re selling ourselves short if we’re doing a Down Dog but don’t understand why we are doing this pose.”
Baltodano and her staff understand that not everyone who walks into Hola Yoga will know the history, philosophies, and education that accompany the practice. This is not only accepted but encouraged. She views the studio as a classroom, where people of all backgrounds, skill-levels, ethnicities, and socio-economic standings can gather to not only practice yoga, but to learn and connect with their community.
“It’s a place you come meet people from your community. You want to feel like you’re not just popping into class and popping right out. You’re getting to know people; you’re finding likeminded people; you’re becoming friendly with your teachers and your fellow students. It’s just feeling really integrated into the East Nashville community, and also finding ways to give back to that community,” she says.
The name Hola Yoga itself serves as an invitation. As a first-generation, bilingual, Spanish-speaking American, the name is a nod to Baltodano’s culture and heritage; but it has evolved into an even deeper meaning.
“It was just like, hello to yoga. If you’re brand new, I feel like it’s a very welcoming, endearing greeting. I just feel like it makes the space feel approachable because it’s a little whimsical in that way as well, and I want yoga to feel approachable to all people.”
With a diverse lineup of teachers and classes there is something for everyone at this vinyasa-based studio. But for Baltodano, it’s far more than the excellent classes- it’s the entire experience that encompasses her values of education, quality, community, and joy.
“You’re really walking into an experience, moreso than just a fitness class. We’re not just here to collect your money and throw you into class and hope that you like it. It’s experience from beginning to end, and I hope it’s a place that people want to share with other people.We’re trying to be more than just a yoga studio—more than just boutique fitness.”
1077 East Trinity Lane, Suite 102, 615-964-7886; holayogastudio.com