Yoga for All: The Yoga Garden offers 85 classes per week for all ability levels
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Yoga for All: The Yoga Garden offers 85 classes per week for all ability levels

Yoga for All

Loren Collarile Posca, 34, is the owner of The Yoga Garden, now with two Space Coast locations. Posca opened the first studio in the Eau Gallie Arts District in August 2016 as a way to fill a need she saw in the greater community. It is located at 1482 Pineapple Avenue in Melbourne.

“I wanted one spot where people could try a variety of yoga styles and instructors and find the one that fit their needs,” Posca said. 

Her idea proved so popular that in September, Posca opened her second location in the Adventure HQ building, at 5270 North US Highway 1 in Palm Shores. Between the two locations, 85 yoga classes are offered each week divided among 25 instructors.  

The classes are intended to give access to students of all levels and abilities. Options include gentle and restorative yoga, active power yoga and Vinyasa — a practice that requires more physical stamina. 

“We don’t force flexibility. That’s not a teaching style,” Posca said.

Posca teaches 13 of those weekly classes herself and says that she encourages her practitioners to remove expectations of what yoga “should” look like for all people. 

Also missing from The Yoga Garden studios: mirrors. This is so practitioners can feel the movement and poses without feeling self-conscious or comparing themselves to others next to them.

“We want each person to be successful, whatever that means for him or her,” Posca said.

Posca discovered yoga at the age of 19 while studying fine art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After her initial training in 2007, she sought out even more learning opportunities to glean insight from world-renowned instructors. 

Following several injuries related to her early yoga practice, Posca started to question her approach to it all. 

“Why do we believe that bending beyond our limitations will somehow shape our minds and lives into what we desire?” Posca said. “Why are we preaching mindfulness but practicing mindless, ego-driven, fast-paced movement?”

Six years ago, Posca moved to Brevard County when her husband was relocated for work. Posca first thought it could be the perfect time to pursue a career in the visual arts but quickly felt the call to return full time to the pursuit of yoga, eventually leading to The Yoga Garden opening its doors in Eau Gallie. 

Aesthetically, Posca was drawn to the appeal of the quaint white house situated in a thriving cultural area, with a welcoming front porch. She got to know her neighbors, making friends with other local business owners and even planting a community garden that continues to add crops.  

“When it came time to expand the practice, I didn’t want to leave the Eau Gallie space. It just made sense to add more options in another spot,” Posca said. 

Inspiring Others

There’s a reason why Posca’s business required expansion in just three short years. A loyal following of The Yoga Garden is growing — and some have been so inspired that they have joined the ranks of instructor.

 “During my trial week, I scoped out teachers and classes that I could sustain over the next few months. A chronic pain sufferer, I was weary of taking on the harder classes for a long time to come,” said P.J. Riemer of Satellite Beach, who has been attending classes for two years. “The Yoga Garden provided me a safe place to learn. In the last year, I have become more and more pain free and I attribute most of my progress to yoga.” 

Reimer’s experience was so profound that she went through The Yoga Garden’s teacher training program and is an instructor at the new location. 

Sember Baker of Melbourne has had a similar quality of life boost since starting to practice at The Yoga Garden. 

“I quickly realized that The Yoga Garden isn’t just a yoga studio, it is a community. A year ago, I decided to do Loren’s Yoga Teacher Training. I have been given many opportunities to grow as a new teacher, however, I continue to be a student and I take every chance to learn and get better,” Baker said. 

Catherine McCarthy of Rockledge has been a student of The Yoga Garden since it first opened in 2016 and she, too, was so moved by the inclusive message of the practice that she obtained her teacher training from Posca. 

“The teaching philosophy is to provide different options for poses so students of any ability level experience the intent of the pose,” McCarthy said. “The focus is meeting our body where it is each day, recognizing some days are better than others, and we are all anatomically different from each other.” 

 “It’s a practice, not a performance” is a common phrase heard at The Yoga Garden, McCarthy explained.

 “Embracing contentment along the way garners peace and fosters patience with our body,” McCarthy said.



The Yoga Garden

https://www.yogagardenfl.com/

Free intro class 

 

1482 Pineapple Ave.

Melbourne

 

5270 North U.S. 1

Palm Shores

(Inside Adventure HQ)


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