Local Yoga Studio Will Leave You Sweating for More

Dana Barone was hooked on hot yoga.  So hooked, in fact, she decided to open her own yoga studio in March 2010.

“When I took my first hot yoga class, I knew I wanted others to experience what I had experienced,” Barone said. “The class was intense, and required a different kind of focus than anything I had previously encountered. I came to recognize the effects of consciously finding stillness and intentionally facing the physical challenges of a yoga practice. The effects have included moving beyond the boundaries of what I thought was possible on my yoga mat and in my life. After 24 years as a personal trainer, I knew it was time to commit myself totally to my practice and that of my family, friends and clients.”

This is how Yoga Innovations, LLC on Broughton Road in Bethel Park was born.  Barone opened Yoga Innovations to introduce hot yoga to a broad range of people and make it accessible and easy for them to try. “While we focus primarily on hot yoga classes taught in classrooms that are heated from 90 to 98 degrees, we also offer one warm flow class a month, and two non-heated Pilates classes weekly.”

Private Yoga, Pilates mat and Pilates reformer instruction also is available at the studio, and on site.

All of the hot yoga classes taught by five different instructors are power flow style. Barone emphasized that individuals who are interested in taking a class do not need to already have strength or power abilities. “I always tell people that the power to practice yoga, comes from within. We encourage people to do as much as they can, when they can, and to try to stick with it, as yoga is a lifestyle practice.”

Barone said her goal is to give every student a new and different experience every time they walk into the studio. That is how the name, Yoga “Innovations” was born.

Yoga has so many health benefits, that Barone said the easiest way to describe them all is by asking, “What doesn’t it benefit?”

“Yoga is designed for people to work within their own abilities so that they may reach goals they have set for themselves, be it flexibility,
weight loss or peace of mind in a very hurried world,” Barone explained.  “The heat is beneficial in allowing the body to release more readily into the practice as well as the cleansing of our external
organ, the skin.  Some of the twisting poses assist in the cleansing of the internal organs.  Each pose can be modified so that it is accessible to everyone. Some will take a pose and make it more challenging, and
some will modify it to make it less challenging. We encourage our students to do what works for them.”

And that work will pay off if they continue the practice, as is the case for one of Yoga Innovations’ students who no longer takes blood pressure medications, after consulting with their doctor, another who has lost 15 pounds, and another who has found a way to cope with every day challenges.

“Anyone can practice yoga,” Barone said. “We offer basic to advanced classes. Our focus in our practice is the bringing together of mind,
body and spirit through breath, movement and stillness. Nobody is trying to prove anything to anyone during our hot yoga classes. Everyone is just living in the moment and being true to themselves, which is the basis for yoga practice, in my opinion.”

For more information about hot yoga or Pilates classes, call (412) 851-YOGA (9642) or visit http://www.yogainnovations.com