EFFINGHAM – It’s always difficult to start a small business. But the challenges of starting something new will be compounded when it launches in February 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns and business restrictions across the country.
Barbara Schütte found herself in this situation when she decided to pursue her passion and teach Yoga in Effingham. She started with Lotus Room Yoga. After a year of setbacks and growth, it opened a new location in downtown Effingham on Monday.
Schütte said the early days of her studio were “scary and unsafe”. But their goal was to help people.
Schuette’s studio has seven instructors and offers a variety of classes including restorative yoga, bodyweight training, introductory classes, and private lessons. Her most popular offer is “Hot Yoga”, in which the participants practice poses and breathing exercises in a heat of 100 degrees. Schütte is surprised at how popular the class is with its students.
“You are obsessed with hot yoga!” Said Schütte.
In the first year of their studio, the pandemic forced Schütte to close several times. She did what many companies did in 2020 and experimented with building a community in other ways.
“It was fight or flight so I started fighting,” she said. “I’ve posted videos and posted videos and posted videos.”
These videos were posted on the studio’s Facebook page, where she slowly built an online community that she could enjoy offline. This came in handy when COVID-19 cases increased last winter.
“During our second shutdown in December and January, I had challenges and people were doing live zoom yoga classes,” she said.
She added that some of her students still take virtual classes when they can’t come in person.
Although Schütte is smart and isn’t afraid to talk about business strategy, her face lights up when she talks about yoga.
Schütte has worked as an MRI technologist for more than 30 years, but has developed a growing passion for yoga after a friend introduced her to it years ago.
“I never dreamed of owning my own studio,” she says. “I loved my job, but I wasn’t passionate about MRI. It doesn’t even feel like work. “
Schütte has company when it comes to new entrepreneurs.
New business applications reached historic levels during the pandemic. According to the US Census Bureau, there were more business applications in the US in 2020 than ever in the past 15 years. There were 551,000 new businesses in July 2020, up from 282,000 the year before.
Schuette’s approach has drawn students from all over the city. Rebecca McIntire only discovered Lotus Room Yoga – and yoga in general – four months ago when her massage therapist recommended it to stay flexible and help with hip pain.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever,” she said.
Despite the hesitation, McIntire took a class to see what it was like.
“It was really hard,” said McIntire with a laugh. “I thought, ‘I’m out of shape, but I’m in top shape!”
An avid athlete, McIntire is currently training for her seventh Ironman triathlon, an endurance race that consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike race, and a marathon run.
Even so, she had not trained for flexibility and was concerned that when she continued to practice yoga she would not be able to keep up.
“I was very careful not to be so lithe,” she said.
Now that she had practice and an encouraging community, she has become an advocate for more people to try yoga.
“I suggest that everyone, regardless of age, should get involved,” she said.
Academic research on yoga suggests that there are some health benefits. Clinical psychiatrist Sudha Prathikanti of the University of California San Francisco found that yoga can relieve symptoms of depression. Professor Lisa Susan Wieland at the University of Maryland School of Medicine reviewed a database of studies on yoga and found that it can relieve back pain at rates similar to other exercise methods.
Lotus Room Yoga maintains a Facebook group with updates on the studio and offers a schedule at momoyoga.com/lotus-room-yoga. Lotus Room is now the second yoga studio in Effingham, the other is the Mika Yoga Studio.
