Business

New yoga studio opens in Belmont County

By ROBERT A. DEFRANK

Times Leader Staff Writer

ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- A longtime yoga instructor opened the doors of her own studio earlier this month, offering a variety of exercises to promote health and fitness.

Nicole Snodgrass said the St. Clairsville location is her first venture into owning her own studio, Restore Yoga & Wellness.

"I started teaching yoga in 2002 here in the valley. I've been teaching about 16 years. Having my own studio has always been a dream of mine," she said, adding that she found a lack of yoga studios in the area. "I really saw a need for a healing space for our community here."

The studio has been open since July 4, but it held a grand opening celebration last weekend.

Snodgrass, who grew up in Flushing and graduated from Union Local High School, has practiced yoga since the 1990s.

"I started doing it to VHS tapes in my living room a long, long time ago," she said. "I was living in Virginia at the time. When I moved back here in 2000, I couldn't really find a yoga studio in the area. Then I decided that we needed one, so I went and got trained and started teaching classes in the Belmont Christian Church basement.

"Since then I've done public classes and private classes. I've done several types of trainings," she added.

Snodgrass offers a range of classes for beginners and for advanced yoga practitioners. They include more vigorous power yoga classes and suspension yoga, which involves hanging in the air by a hammock.

"We here have all different types of classes for all different levels," she said, adding that this type of exercise carries benefits such as decompressing of the spine and increasing blood flow to the brain.

"The suspension class can be challenging," she said. "You can do a lot of poses in the aerial swing that some people might not be able to do on the floor because of their knees or hip issues. You can get a really deep stretch inside the hammock."

Snodgrass added that the studio will begin offering hot yoga soon, with an infra-red system creating hot, humid conditions in the designated room.

"The room temperature will start out at about 85 to 100 degrees during the class," she said, adding that this form of yoga has detoxifying effects and may allow calories to be burned faster.

She specializes mainly in Hatha and Vinyasa styles. She also offers classes to assist injured athletes in recovering, and various other therapies. Participants range from athletes to older people who wish to retain flexibility.

"The majority of our members are people who just want to keep their bodies mobile and keep their bodies strong," she said.

"What sets us apart is the feeling of community that we are trying to strive here to have -- the feeling that you can come to our space and not have judgment," she said. "We're trying to convey a place of community and non-judgment and a place of peace. Somebody new who is coming into yoga, they don't always have the self-confidence to walk into a public class."

There are two large yoga rooms in the studio and smaller rooms for specialized classes. Class sizes range from five to 15 participants, depending on the time. Many morning classes are held around 9:15 a.m., while evening sessions are scheduled at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., when smaller and private classes are also offered. The hours vary according to the size and needs of the classes. Participants are asked to sign a waiver.

The studio is located on the upper floor of 150 W. Main St., St. Clairsville. For more information, call 740-296-5959.