Meet Me in Down Dog is aiming to make the discipline of yoga more accessible.
“The idea behind the community yoga, especially during the pandemic, has been to bring people together and to offer a space that was affordable,” said founder and yoga instructor Lauren Otto. “I’ve had students actually thank us for making it so reasonable because otherwise they can’t do yoga.”
Classes are held on Saturdays from 10 to 11 a.m. for a $5 drop-in fee paid at the door at the Mercantile, Doylestown, which provides a platform for local artists and small businesses. Otto said she is able to offer an inexpensive rate since she does not pay for a studio. A monthly studio membership could run between $100 and $200, a price that some interested in practicing yoga cannot afford, Otto expressed.
“It’s a space where anybody should be able to come to yoga and not only just financially but physically. It is a slow flow practice so there is an element of required fitness, but we look to accommodate and offer scenarios to make it accessible for everyone,” Otto said, explaining that classes are for people of all levels.
Meet Me in Down Dog is also a family affair. Otto works alongside her two children, Marissa and Seth. Otto, who has been doing yoga for 25 years, said she never pushed the discipline on them, but as they “became adults and experienced the stresses of life” they appreciated yoga as a form of “physical and inner fitness” and took yoga teacher training on their own.
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