Lincoln Blvd Gets Some Yoga Love
A new yoga studio is set to debut on Lincoln Blvd. next week. Montauk import Love Yoga wants to add some East Coast-style Vinyasa to Venice at its bright and beachy studio that will open with a full class schedule starting Monday, October 5.
Taking over the former American Replay vintage clothing shop, Love Yoga joins a new wave of retailers and restaurants changing the scene of Venice's busy strip of Highway 1, including nearby newcomers Flowerboy Coffee Shop and custom hat maker Nick Fouquet.
When owner and instructor Kyle Miller moved from New York, she found many yoga experiences in the area to be a little too body conscious, she says. Leaving classes physically depleted, she felt there was more emphasis on physique than energizing and uplifting body and mind. With fellow NY transplant and yoga instructor Sian Gordon, she hopes to invigorate the local yoga scene with something fresh for everyone, at any level.
The studio is infused with plenty of high energy color and local details. The floor is painted seafoam green, and stacks of blue Mexican beach blankets reference their roots in Montauk as well as their new home, and second location, in Venice. Topanga-based artist and Mercado Segrado founder Carly Margolis created the geometric snake mural, and the front desk was handcrafted by local carpenter and designer Chad Hagerman using a 1,000-year-old piece of cedar. Succulents through the interior and potted olive trees out front add living texture and soften the space that's situated along the bustling boulevard. The space, which in a former life was Red Hot Video, has also been adequately saged and cleared of weird energy, they said.
Classes will include 60- and 75-minute Vinyasa for all levels with an emphasis on grace and flow. Miller adds that Love Yoga is distinctly not power yoga: "You won't leave exhausted, but rather uplifted and in perfect balance. And yes, you will get that workout in."
Instructors include some of L.A.'s finest, she says, including Caley Alyssa and Liz Arch as well as "our favorite transplants from NYC."
To celebrate the debut, Love Yoga will have an opening party this Friday, October 2 from 6 to 9 p.m. There's also a full retreat program set for 2016 with trips to Goa, India; the cliffs of Moher, Ireland in a fully renovated 19th century farmhouse; a secret surf spot at a North African beach in Morocco; and the coast of Turkey—a collaboration between Gordon and Sky Ting founder Krissy Jones.
Love Yoga Venice // 835 Lincoln Blvd., Venice 90291
Follow @lincolnandrose for more neighborhood updates.
