Child's pose. Downward-facing dog. Mountain pose.
Now Auburn-Opelika residents can learn these yoga poses in a brand-new studio.
Kimberly Sotelo, owner of Yoga Ananda on Gay Street, recently opened The White Lotus Heath and Wellness Center, located at 705 Ave. D in Opelika.
The White Lotus has a number of rooms and provides more space than Yoga Ananda. With a larger work area, Sotelo plans to offer more classes and provide a comfortable environment to clients.
"The idea is to build more of a community here," Sotelo said.
While Yoga Ananda is still open and offering classes, Sotelo said it was time to expand.
"I needed more space," Sotelo said. "There was no space for me to bring in any other teachers, so I needed some place where we could have smaller classes going on at the same time."
Although the new location is farther from campus, the White Lotus is located in a large, newly renovated building and is easily accessible.
Susan Brinson has been taking classes with Sotelo for 18 months and is also a professor at Auburn.
Brinson said she enjoys the new space.
"I liked the Gay Street location, but it could be very noisy, especially in the evenings, and parking was troublesome," Brinson said. "The new location has lots of parking and is in a very quiet part of Opelika."
While the White Lotus is a new operation, the building is not. Built in 1915, it was set to be demolished around the time Sotelo discovered it.
"I have a thing for renovating places," Sotelo said. "I can see potential."
Just months after renovations began, the building looks polished and clean.
"Renovations started in July, and we moved in by November," Sotelo said.
Karen Rogers, associate dean for graduate studies and external affairs in the College of Architecture, attends every evening class at the White Lotus.
"I do Thai one day a week, and I do yoga five days a week," Rogers said.
Having been a student at Yoga Ananda for three years, Rogers said she loves the new location.
"It's beautiful," Rogers said. "Because Kimberly was so closely involved in the design and the remodeling of the new center, you can sense her in the building itself.
"It's a building that has been remade with a lot of thought and a lot of love, and you can sense that."
Although there are still a few finishing touches to be made, the White Lotus is up and running.
"We are open," Sotelo said. "I have been teaching and doing Thai. We were only closed for one week."
With a variety of yoga and Thai classes, the White Lotus caters to all experience levels.
"She has extensive training, helps everyone whatever their level of ability and has a great sense of humor," Brinson said. "She is very supportive, in an understated way."
Another focus of the center is to help those with physical ailments cope with pain.
Sotelo said the healing aspects of yoga are what initially drew her to the activity.
"I had fibromyalgia, and I needed to change something," Sotelo said. "It was painful for me to lift my arms over my head, I sometimes couldn't put my own jackets on, couldn't put my hair up.
"For some reason, I knew that yoga was something I needed to do."
So while on a family vacation, Sotelo decided she wanted to become a yoga instructor so she could help herself and others.
"No one was doing it here locally, and I needed to build some community," she said.
After a month of training, Sotelo said she stopped taking her pain medications.
This sense of healing through yoga is an aspect Sotelo strives to maintain through her classes.
"I think she's a very gifted healer," Rogers said. "She really tries to understand any kind of physical problem that her students have and help them work with and through those problems. She's really unique in that sense."
Sotelo said she loves her work and could not be more excited about the White Lotus and continuing to help others through yoga.
"Not only does yoga make you physically fit, but it has an effect on the mind that is calming and subtle," Sotelo said. "Yoga makes you happy, and who doesn't want that?"
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