“There was no yoga studio in downtown so I wanted to open one. I started ballet when I was about four years old in Greenville, Mississippi. Dancing has been my life and I was a dance major in college. I grew as a performer and learned more artistry by majoring in dance more than I would have by going straight to a company. I danced with Alabama Ballet and the Mobile Ballet but quit dancing when I became in charge of Mobile Ballet’s dance school. Physically it was time to quit dancing because the injuries were starting to catch up with me. After that, I got into yoga and I found that my body liked it and the freedom of movement and I started to like myself and my body. As a dancer, you stare at your body all of the time and you are so critical of yourself and your weight. The dance world had not been good about the mental health of dancers. You learn to bottle up your emotions at a young age. Yoga has helped me accept myself for who I am. I started teaching yoga and realized there needs to be a yoga studio closer to downtown and thought why don’t I do it. My husband and I also had a dream of having a gallery downtown and we realized this was the time to do it because so many of the buildings have already been snapped up. The name of our art gallery is The Space at Sway and we want it to be a gallery for artists who don’t usually show their work

I teach seven classes a day. Two in the morning, three in the afternoon and two at night. I try to have a class for everyone’s schedule. I also teach ballet. I want this to be approachable for anyone to try. There are no mirrors here so people don’t judge themselves or doing everything perfectly. It feels good to help people feel good and move their bodies in different ways and appreciate themselves. I want people to come here and just breathe and appreciate their mind/body connection.”