Shree Yoga Taos

/ December 3, 2014
One of the most wonderful things about being a student of yoga is enjoying the beautiful environments, and unique aesthetics of the yoga studios in which classes are taught. Yoga studios in general are designed with great care to the aesthetic experience, which infuses the yogi’s practice with more appreciation for the beauty of diversity and life.

Shree Yoga Taos is a unique yoga studio in many ways.  For one, the studio is located in an old Taos Adobe built in the early Twentieth Century with Depression Era details.  Our Puja (altar) is set on a Works Progress Administration style fireplace holding the central focus of the practice space which, with it’s hard wood floors, thick adobe walls, stucco interior plaster, and vigas on the ceiling, add a special and distinctive charm to our studio’s aesthetic, all very uncommon for yoga studios in general to say the least.  Adding to this special and uncommon charm of Shree Yoga Taos are the many single pane, industrial style, steel framed windows that span every wall of the fourteen hundred square foot space.  The plethora of windows permit great light to shine into the space, enhancing the rich colors of the wood floors and ceiling.

Starting with the blank slate of one long room with a double side door entrance we were invited to be creative in a layout that enabled traffic to move kindly and with grace through the entry way to the front desk and into the heart of the practice space.  Following the lead of the previous tenants who had installed a long wrought iron curtain rod over the south facing windows we installed two crescent shaped rods in the north western portion of the space creating first an insulating and privacy wall between the entrance and studio space, as well as a smaller changing area to be used in addition to the rest room.  Softening the square features of the space the curves of the curtains in true yogic fashion, impart a more balanced feeling to the whole.

The interior decoration was an organic process that began, as many things do, with a mistake.  In remedying the horrendous yellow that covered the northern wall for the first couple of seasons we eventually fashioned a color palate of pale gold’s and peaches, rich maroons, royal purple, and olive green.  Working with this unique template has given us the opportunity to have custom items built by a master woodworker family member, as well as highlighting empty space with beautiful late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century home décor such as silver candelabras and trays, mirrors, tray carts, and a gorgeous bird cage that adds significant meaning to the practice of liberation in a limited experience.

Adding to the canvas the traditional inclusion of a myriad of Hindu Murties (statues), we have created a special place that continues to support our mission, empowering and uplifting everyone who enters.

 





Photographs of Genevieve by Zoe Zimmerman for Sundara Studios

zoezimmerman.com

Other photos c/o Shree Yoga Taos



Shree is located in downtown Taos, New Mexico, on the corner of Historic Ledoux Street.
 
Guest posting by Genevieve Oswald co-owner Shree Yoga Taos
 
 

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