At Artemis Yoga, we believe in creating a welcoming, clean, and inclusive oasis for you to nourish your body and mind. Support from our members allows us to sustain our robust schedule, expert teaching, and friendly environment. Towards the end of 2023, we publish a “wrapped” or “year in review” and Artemis members attended 14,596 classes*. 2024 is sure to bring lots more yoga to our amazing community!
To celebrate an incredible year of yoga, we’re highlighting our members’ yoga journeys. We are thrilled to share these reflections as inspiration for all! In turn, the gift of presence that each student brings to class is what makes this community so special and we are so grateful.
* Numbers reflect member attendance from January to November 2023
“One thing that is absolutely different from other studios is that Artemis really is a community as well as a yoga studio. Teachers are always eager to answer our questions during classes. The staff are also super friendly. They really care about each and every student!”
Sarasa has been a member at Artemis Yoga since February 2023 and she’s taken 116 classes this year! Learn about her yoga journey below:
✨What is your “why” for practicing yoga?
Originally, I started practicing yoga to manage my spine condition, scoliosis. I was having constant headaches and lower back pain. Since medical care is so expensive in the US, I was only scheduling physical therapy appointments once a month to save money. I didn’t feel like it wasn’t helping and I felt like I needed to have more control over my treatment. Since most of the exercises recommended by physical therapy were yoga poses, I decided to switch to practicing yoga regularly. Now, in addition to managing back pain, yoga helps me achieve a better state of mental calmness.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
I’m confident to say that I have fewer headaches and less lower back pain. My scoliosis is incurable, but I think yoga has improved my spine’s alignment for a better quality of life. My breathing has also improved. I hadn’t really paid attention to how I breathed before, but yoga has taught me to be aware and in control of each breath. I find that it has a very positive effect on my mind and body.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
Less physical pain caused by my scoliosis. I also was very surprised that I’m slightly taller than I was a year ago. I’m not sure if this is from practicing yoga, but it makes sense to me because Iyengar yoga is about improving your body’s alignment and posture!
Ben has been an Artemis member since January 2023 and has taken 280 classes! Read on to hear about his experience:
“I am truly grateful for, humbled by, and overjoyed at the opportunities that Artemis continues to provide to all of its guests, members, staff, and teachers.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I practice yoga for deep self-study, paying attention to the mind and the body, feeling strong and confident, being part of a community, laughing, and playing.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
Being more flexible in my body, and by extension my mind, is the biggest benefit. I see it as crucial to adapting to the difficult circumstances inherent in life, both internally and externally.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
I honestly think that being able to hold musical notes longer while singing in the car is the most surprising benefit. This is no joke! My lung capacity and breath control have increased in some interestingly unexpected ways, and I now feel that my driving experience while listening and singing along to tunes has improved tenfold.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I would say any variation of Sue Gormley’s Iyengar classes (Fundamentals, General, Experienced) is my favorite. This is a clear and respectful shout-out to the inimitable Sue Gormley, with no disrespect to the other wonderful teachers whose classes I regularly attend.
Cynthia has been an Artemis Yoga member since 2018! In 2023, she took 290 classes. Read on to hear about what brings her to the mat (at least once) every day:
“Artemis is head and shoulders above the rest, for newcomers as well as long-time practitioners: superb teachers, welcoming staff, clean and calming space, warm and caring community.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
Yoga is transformative for both body and mind.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
Strength, flexibility, balance, concentration, reduced stress, better sleep. And after every class, I feel like I just had a massage.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
Never would have believed, with my first taste of yoga 30 years ago, that someday I’d take classes every day (often twice a day!). Before retirement, I used to say how much better life would be if I could take yoga every day. Now I can, and it is.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
Iyengar: love the precision and the attention to alignment. And Ropes classes are a treat, allowing for new insights on poses plus the exhilaration of safely hanging upside down.
✨Anything else you want to share?
Artemis is head and shoulders above the rest, for newcomers as well as long-time practitioners: superb teachers, welcoming staff, clean and calming space, warm and caring community.
Summar took 93 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! She’s been a member since April 2023. Read below about how Summar found that yoga philosophies extend beyond the mat:
“I’m so very grateful for the community at Artemis, including all the teachers who are so generous with their knowledge, skill, support & encouragement. Artemis is such an inviting & welcoming studio.”
✨ What’s your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I practice yoga because it helps me be more loving toward myself & others. One of the Artemis teachers, Katherine Worth, will sometimes invite us to ask ourselves “Can I [physically] do that today?” and this encouragement to be curious about my body has really helped me engage with it in a more compassionate & respectful way. Then, when I move off the mat, I find that it is much easier to extend compassion to other people.
✨ What benefits do you experience from yoga?
I could go on & on about the ways that yoga has benefited me. I suppose the most significant way is helping me shift my focus from achieving to experiencing. I can be a little tightly wound & my tendency is to push forward to the next goal; however, in my practice of yoga, I’m learning to go deeper into a posture by noticing more.
✨ What benefit was most surprising?
I started practicing yoga because I wanted to gain physical strength & flexibility, and yet some of the most significant benefits of my practice have been my mind & heart. Through my practice, my mind is becoming much calmer & my heart is becoming much more open.
✨ What’s your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
One of my favorite things about Artemis is the variety of yoga lineages represented in the class offerings. I really appreciate being able to adjust my yoga practice depending on what my body needs. At the moment, my favorite classes are the intense & challenging flow classes, I guess my body is needing more heat this winter!
Annie took 75 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! She’s been a member since 2019. She started out taking Flow classes and has begun an Ashtanga practice this year. Learn more about her yoga journey:
“The yoga community at Artemis is fantastic – I appreciate all of you!”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
Yoga helps me be physically and psychologically stronger.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
The discipline and focus of Ashtanga has been amazing for me. I can do poses that felt impossible a few months ago. My hamstrings are looser. My balance has improved. I feel more detached from the stressors of daily life in a very helpful way. Also, there is so much freedom in being a complete beginner and building a new skillset from scratch.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
Ashtanga has motivated me to get up early on a regular basis, which has been fantastic.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I love the Ashtanga Mysore classes for discipline and building strength. I also love the Friday evening restorative classes, which are amazing after a long work week.
Jean took 142 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! He’s been a member since November 2021. Learn more about his yoga journey:
“Artemis Yoga has become a huge part of my life. Every journey I take there makes me feel a little bit better.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I need a regular fitness routine, and the meditation is a bonus.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
Calm, peace, strength, balance, sometimes bliss.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
The joy of community
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
Victoria’s Iyengar, 5:30 Wednesday
✨Anything else you want to share?
While I have known about Yoga my entire life, it wasn’t until I started going to Artemis Yoga that realized it was something I needed.
Annie attended 266 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! She’s been an Artemis member since 2016. After a career as a professional ballerina, Annie found yoga. Read on to hear about her experience at Artemis:
“Doing yoga at Artemis has given me a fantastic community of people with whom to interact. Having survived years of competitive dance studios (not all but most) I find the welcoming, kind and variety of people who are of all ages, backgrounds and body types so refreshing and reassuring.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I love doing it! Flow yoga is similar to dance and I can relate to that style.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
It is a healthy yet physically and emotionally balanced way to keep active.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
How intense, active and varied yoga is. It’s not passive or limited.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I enjoy all of them. While vinyasa style is what I practice most of the time, I also like doing Iyengar for precise alignment, ropes work for the sheer challenge of doing poses from a different perspective – literally! Yin yoga is special to me since one can get deeply into a floor pose for a long time and savor it.
Christina took 77 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! She has been a member since December 2021. We’re so grateful to have Christina in our community! Learn more about her yoga experience:
“I really appreciate the comfortable, judgment-free atmosphere at Artemis where people are encouraged to listen to their bodies and modify their practice accordingly.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I practice yoga because it makes me feel good! No matter how hectic daily life becomes, flowing on the mat allays tension and resets me.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
I love how practicing yoga grounds me in the present moment and leaves me feeling rejuvenated and calm.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
The lingering sense of a peaceful mind that lasts long after savasana.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I especially enjoy the morning flow classes (when I make it to them!) – they are a great way to start the day with mindfulness.
Artemis member, Eileen, attended 213 classes in 2023! She’s been at the studio since 2017 and we’re so lucky to have her in our community. If you’ve been to a morning Flow class here, you’ve probably practiced with Eileen (and her sister Joan!) Read on to hear about her yoga experience:
“The staff at Artemis are the best!”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
I practice yoga as part of my regimen to maintain my overall health and well being.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
The benefits are endless… not only physical, and spiritual benefits, but also the chance to practice in such a welcoming environment with the nicest group of people.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
The sense of community that this studio provides. I look forward to seeing “my yoga friends” each time I go. It is the best part of my day.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I do mostly flow classes and could not pick a favorite class or instructor, as they are all different and all amazing.
Joan has been at Artemis since 2017 and she took 154 classes in 2023! We’re so grateful to have Joan and her sister, Eileen in our community. Learn more about Joan’s yoga experience:
“I have really enjoyed my classes at Artemis yoga. All the instructors are excellent. And I like how I don’t feel pressured to perfect the poses. I like that I can modify poses, when I need to.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
My “why” for practicing yoga is to be healthier, both physically and mentally.
✨What benefits do you experience from yoga?
I experience many benefits from yoga. I feel stronger and healthier, and I enjoy the calming that my mind feels.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
What was surprising is how I was able to do poses that I could not do starting out.
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
I especially like the flow classes. I find that by linking the breath with movement, it helps me to focus on the poses and movements. And I’ve taken a few Yin classes, and I like the calming and grounding affect it gives me.
Alyssa took 82 classes at Artemis Yoga in 2023! She has been a member since January 2023. Read below to learn about Alyssa’s sanctuary:
“I feel that practicing regularly helps me carry more calm and patience into the rest of my life.”
✨What is your “Why” for practicing yoga?
Yoga is my sanctuary. The moment I step into the studio, I feel at peace. It is one of the only places that I can truly slow down my mind and take a break from everything else going on in the world.
✨What benefits do you experience from your yoga practice?
I experience both mental and physical benefits from yoga. My body feels so much better after practicing, stronger and also loosened up and relaxed. I have seen myself improve in my poses and mobility in the last year that I’ve been coming to Artemis.
✨What benefit was most surprising?
Every front desk staff member knows your name within just a few visits. All the staff and teachers are so friendly and welcoming and really show an interest in you. And as a member, I love the option of bringing monthly guests to the studio!
✨What is your favorite yoga class at Artemis?
My favorite classes are the Flow classes. I love Tracy’s and Einat’s classes! In the future, I hope to try more of the Restorative classes and some of the workshops.