Tennessean Interview with Beyond Yoga!
The Beyond Yoga Studio and owner Keleah Anderson were highlighted in this article from The Tennessean (as well as some pictures of one of our beautiful instructors Amanda Low!) Check out the story of Beyond Yoga here!
From the article:
“Sunday classes at Keleah Anderson’s new Christian yoga studio in Franklin may be just like classes on any other day of the week, but they have a special name – yoga church.
During the planning stages of Beyond Yoga, Anderson considered following the practice of other Christian businesses like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A that are closed on Sundays when many believers attend church. But she worried about students who see the classes as a form of worship or a supplement to attending Sunday service.
“So the question was do we close our doors on Sunday? And then it occurred to me well why would we do that if we can provide a place where people can come and worship God with their whole totality — their breath, their movement, their mind,” Anderson said. “We read the Bible and we pray and we use praise and worship music and we raise our hands and we fold them and we bow down. It’s difficult, active church.”
Yoga’s stretching and breathing exercises are often associated with Hinduism, but at Beyond Yoga, classes are Christ centered. Teachers integrate Bible verses into their instruction and opt for a nondenominational Christian framing over Sanskrit, like swapping “sun salutation” with “Son salutation” when referring to a common series of yoga poses.
Anderson, who attends Journey Church in Franklin, wouldn’t consider a yoga class a replacement for her own Sunday worship, but she knows that for some of her students yoga church is exactly the kind of worship they need to feel spiritually fed. Anderson, who sees her studio as her own form of evangelism, also recognizes that some people will never step foot in a church building, but will come to a yoga studio.”