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December 6, 2002/Tevet 1 5763, Vol. 55, No. 15
Partners make yoga stylish
RAEANNE MARSH
Special to Jewish News
Long lines give most people an anxiety attack. To the young entrepreneurs who founded At One Yoga, they gave inspiration.
"We could see yoga was booming," says co-founder David Romanelli, who credits fellow co-founder Ian Lopatin with recognizing the business opportunity that offered. "Ian called us from Los Angeles, telling us about lines of people waiting to get into the yoga studios."
However, in spite of the popularity of those traditional yoga studios, the four friends - Aaron King, Alex Kump, Ian Lopatin, and David Romanelli - decided to take the concept and go it one better: creating a yoga studio that would embody the whole yoga lifestyle. Friends since their college days, when Kump, Lopatin, and Romanelli attended Vanderbilt University together in Nashville, Tenn., they found that they had all been recently drawn to yoga, and they were excited by the prospect of exposing more people to it. They decided Phoenix's wide-open business climate made it the best place to set up shop. Converging on Phoenix from the opposite sides of the country to which they had scattered after college, they opened their first studio at 32nd Street and Lincoln Drive in 1996.
Yoga is a living art that must continue to evolve, they believe. They developed At One Yoga to fulfill the experience of health club and social center along with spiritual sanctuary. Facilities include massage rooms and a boutique stocked with clothing, candles, and yoga props, along with yoga videos, books and compact discs. The company offers seminars taught by world-renowned instructors, and sponsors yoga retreats to exotic places around the world. The classes themselves run the full gamut from gentle movement to vigorous workout, with an extensive schedule that even includes kids' classes at popular times so that the family can share the yoga experience together.
A far cry from the stereotypical yoga ambience - a starkly bare room in which to follow the exercises and meditative direction of the instructor - At One Yoga presents an external environment that is conducive to yoga's inner journey. "We felt there was a demand for a beautiful studio, something that encompassed the whole experience," asserts Romanelli. The d‚cor of At One Yoga studios incorporates the principles of feng shui, exhibited subtly through the profound effect of color, the soothing sound of the low pumping water system, and the muting effect of the cork floor.
"Yoga is incredible in the way it brings together mind, body, and spirit," says Romanelli.
Created in India, it is a way of life over 5,000 years old. Notwithstanding its spiritual aspect, yoga is not a religion, notes Romanelli, explaining that there is no contradiction in the fact that he and co-founders King and Lopatin all are Jewish and yogis. Yogis seek to find universal truths but recognize there are different ways of realizing those truths, and, he points out, many well-known yoga teachers are Jewish. In fact, At One Yoga members include a rabbi from a local synagogue, and the company is exploring ways to get involved with an outreach program of that synagogue.
Each of the founders brings special talents and skills to the company. Lopatin, CEO, is considered the visionary; Kump, president, has a business background in sales and marketing; Romanelli, manager of advertising and public relations, has a background in marketing and writing; and King has a background in distribution as well as marketing. This was, then, a male-run company, but ironically, Romanelli reports, most clients have been women. Thus, he relates, boutique director Karla Marolf brought something special when she joined the partners in 1999 - a woman's outlook. Laughing at the memory of King rather haphazardly ordering women's clothing for the boutique, Romanelli describes Marolf's contribution of expertise in business and merchandising as invaluable.
Studios are located at 3153 E. Lincoln Drive, Phoenix; 10050 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale; and 20831 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale. Call 602-954-YOGA.
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