By Michele Miller
What’s What New Port Richey
Published June 2020
The space is familiar but oddly stark, the sound a bit echoey as Janel Norton welcomes clients to her gentle yoga class at Trinity Yoga.
You might need a strap or a block, she says, adding that those without props handy might want to pause the video to fetch them.
If you need a drink of water or have to use the restroom, that’s okay, too. She’ll wait.
Flexibility is one of the advantages of online yoga – in more ways than one.
Courtesy|Trinity Yoga
The classes – about 50 hours worth – are pre-recorded, so there’s the option to mix it up with a 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. gentle, Hatha class or yin class in the comfort of your own home.
And while countless yoga classes are offered on other streaming platforms, this class offers regulars the comfort of hearing a familiar voice guide them from plank to downward dog, to child’s pose.
The studio may be empty, but if you just close your eyes you’re there.
The brick-and-mortar studio, located in Greenbrook Plaza on Old County Road 54, is the heart of Trinity Yoga.
It’s where Janel Norton, a former newspaper and combat photojournalist, started taking classes as a way to ease the stress after a career change. She studied, became a certified instructor and taught her first class there. In 2013 she became a business partner. In 2015 she took full ownership with her husband, Ray, a Pinellas County District Fire Chief.
PHOTO|Courtesy Trinity Yoga
The studio employs about 20 instructors teaching a variety of classes and workshops – hatha, hot, power, slow-flow, aerial, and yin among them. The studio also hosts special classes for veterans, sponsored by Warriors at Ease.
Pre-COVID-19, they were serving about 2,000 clients a month in the studio, Ray said. Some have paused their memberships since then. There’s concern some won’t be back.
Other parts of their business model have been affected as well.
Janel, an Air Force veteran, was also teaching traveling yoga and iRest workshops with 02X, a veteran-led human performance training program that works with first responders, and the military and federal agencies.
PHOTO|Courtesy Trinity Yoga
Six future trips were canceled, she said.
In 2018 the couple expanded their footprint to an adjacent space for a wellness center. They recently completed a build-out of one of the two practice rooms.
“In hindsight, it wasn’t the best timing,” Ray said, with a shrug.
But now’s the time for forward-thinking.
The Nortons have applied for and received grants from the Pasco Economic Development Council and Paycheck Protection Program, and are waiting for approval for a CARES Small Business Administration Loan.
“That will help keep us going – pay rent and payroll until we can open again,” Janel said.
As yoga studios throughout the country shut their doors for good, they are joining others in bringing their business model online.
“Most of our (client) population is elderly,” Ray said. “We have to have some platform that is going to keep people practicing, keep people safe, and keep the studio alive with some kind of revenue stream.”
Trinity Studio will re-open the studio on June 1. Classes will be limited and clients will have to book ahead to reserve a spot, Janel said.
“It’s still a little weird,” she said, adding that she has been reading up on what other studio owners are doing locally and throughout the country. “It’s split down the middle, the way we read it. Some are saying, ‘No group classes.’ Others say it’s okay to gather as long as you are six feet apart, and no more than a group of ten.”
While some clients are eager to be back in the studio, others might like the freedom of taking classes whenever they want with the online membership, Janel said. For some, home might be the safest place to practice yoga while still supporting a local business. For others, it could be an appealing supplement to their studio membership, particularly snowbirds who can now take their teachers on the road.
“It’s a crazy time and people want to feel some regularity in their lives and see a familiar face. This is a way to give them their teachers and their space.”
NOTE: Trinity Yoga online monthly membership is presently $35, with a free two-week trial. Monthly membership for unlimited studio classes is $75 for a one-year commitment or $108 for month-to-month. Class cards are also available. For information on Trinity Yoga and to access online classes, go to www.trinity-yoga.com
Sign up to have the What’s What New Port Richey newsletter delivered directly to your inbox.
