FLOW YOGA CENTER
BRINGS PRACTICE TO
LOGAN CIRCLE
DC North February 2005
Eco-Friendly Studio offers
several types of exercise
Once you open up the possibilities, it all falls into place.” That’s what Flow Yoga Center owner Debra Perlson- Mishalove feels is a key tenant of yoga and also explains how she opened her own yoga studio on P St., NW. Flow Yoga Center opened next to Whole Foods on July 19. Owner Perlson-Mishalove started practicing yoga nine years ago while living in San Francisco and working for an organization called Get Active Software, where she worked with progressive organizations to get their message out. She then moved to New York where she started taking yoga teaching courses and was greatly inspired by one of her teachers. “Once I started taking the teaching courses,
I realized I felt happy and comfortable teaching yoga,” says Perlson-Mishalove. “I knew then that I would want to create my own yoga space to teach in.” After New York, Perlson-Mishalove moved to Washington and started putting the plans together to open Flow Yoga Center. She visited several parts of the city and
realized that Logan Circle was the perfect place to create her space. “There was no other yoga studio in Logan Circle,” says Perlson-Mishalove. “Whole Foods was already here and attracting health-conscious
people so I thought it was a perfect fit.” When she started designing the space, Perlson-Mishalove had specific goals in mind, one of which was to create an environmentally friendly studio. The floors of the studio are made from bamboo, glass cups are offered for tea instead of plastic and the class brochures are printed on recycled paper.
Flow offers 40 different classes a week, most of which are drop-in–meaning that reservations aren’t required and students can show up 10 minutes before the class starts to participate. Drop-in classes can be paid for per individual class. Flow also offers several series classes, which are group classes occurring each week that are
taught in a sequential order, building upon what was learned in previous classes. Series classes are priced per series and reservations are required. Classes at Flow range in length from one hour and 15 minutes to one hour and 30 minutes and prices per class range from $10-16. In addition to several different types and levels of yoga, Flow also offers Pilates, Belly Dancing, Afro-Brazilian Dance and meditation classes and series. Flow student Amy Marietta has been doing yoga for two years and recently moved to Washington from St. Louis. “It was important
for me to find the right fit in a yoga studio,” says Marietta. “I tried out a lot of different studios and felt a really strong sense of community at Flow. It has a welcoming environment and a lot of different options of classes.” Flow’s 11 teachers offer a good blend of talents and are required to complete a certain level of certification.
Perlson-Mishalove notes that there are many benefits of practicing yoga. “Yoga helps you sleep better, feel better and digest better,” she says. “Yoga is the perfect form of exercise; it improves the cardio system, tones all major organs and body systems and reduces stress. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It also helps you uncover what your heart says.” Each month, Perlson-Mishalove designates a specific tenet of yoga to focus on in the classes. In November it was meditation and in December it was chanting. At Flow, Perlson-Mishalove incorporates
another humanistic practice: giving back to the community. Each month a local charity is chosen and students are encouraged to contribute to the brown box hanging on the wall. “One month, we raised $55 for Green Door,” says Perlson- Mishalove. Green Door is a Washington program that prepares people with severe
and persistent mental illness to work and live independently. Perlson-Mishalove also offers community
yoga passes to people who otherwise couldn’t afford to practice. And several students at Flow are part of a Work
Study program, where the students perform tasks around the studio–such as checking people in and preparing the studios for classes–in exchange for free yoga classes. To shake things up, Flow often brings in renowned yoga instructors for special workshops. On Feb. 28, Flow welcomes Sharon Salzberg, co-founder of the Insight
Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. Salzberg has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Flow will also host a partner yoga workshop in February to celebrate Valentine’s Day. For
more information on classes and schedules, visit www.flowyogacenter.com.
Flow Yoga Center is located at 1450 P St., NW, 3rd Fl. Phone: 202.462.FLOW (3569); email
flowyogacenter@yahoo.com
—By Melissa Schiffman
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