Old house proves good fit for yoga business

A yoga instructor and three clients market a line of artistic yoga clothing.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF, Times Correspondent
Published November 12, 2007

Yoga students including Michelle Baker, left, participate in a class at Flow Yoga, Pilates and Personal Training in an old cracker-styled house on the Cotee River in Port Richey.
	[Stephen J. Coddington | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Stephen J. Coddington | Times] Faith Bevan wears one of the yoga shirts from a small side business that she and three other women, all yoga devotees, have started. [Stephen J. Coddington | Times] A frog in a yoga lotus position.

PORT RICHEY - The first time yoga instructor Faith Bevan walked into this 1929 Florida cracker house along the Cotee River, she heard what she calls "the ocean breath."

"I actually felt it resonate," she explains of the breathing technique often used in association with yoga poses, which sounds distinctly like the inside of a seashell.

"Or Darth Vader," she says with a laugh.

She knew instantly that the old yellow house - known long ago as the Indian Key Tearoom - and the blissful setting among live oaks and palms were ideal for her budding yoga business. The house had original wide-plank wood floors, dark cypress paneling and a breathtaking view of the river.

"It needed very little work," she recalls.

Now, the business - Flow Yoga, Pilates and Personal Training - is attracting a wide swath of clients who come to stretch and breath on mats in the wide open rooms, decorated sparingly with wicker furniture and gifts from friends.

Flow is also drawing a diverse group of creative local women: Recently, Bevan and three clients, Diane Prekup, Carol Tract-Kader and Ann Delmonico, began marketing their own line of artistic, comfortable yoga clothing.

It's a true labor of love shared among the women who literally make the items in their kitchens and living rooms. The project was born out of their need for comfortable, pretty and reasonably priced yoga clothes.

"A lot of the yoga clothes that were out there were expensive and not very good," Bevan says.

Their label, "To Each His Om," began accidentally enough, a result of the four women talking about what they could produce on a cottage industry level. The line now includes a selection of tanks, long-sleeve tops, pants, cover ups, ball caps and yoga-mat bags made from recycled denim.

"No two items are the same, each is unique and done with inspiration," Bevan explains. "I had someone say to me recently, 'oh, I know how you could outsource this,' and I thought, 'no, it wouldn't be the same. Part of what makes this so perfect are the imperfections.' "

Here's how it works: Bevan selects and buys most of the basic, undecorated clothing items. Tract-Kader, a microbiologist by profession, uses a stenciling technique that actually removes colors and leaves and earthy image of yoga-inspired words and symbols; and Delmonico applies the decorative "To Each His 'Om" label. Prekup, an artist who designs wearable art and handmade clothing that she sells in boutiques and galleries nationwide, helps the group with their marketing efforts.

"I worked as an art director for years, so I know if we need promotional pieces or marketing materials," says Prekup who lives in New Port Richey. "We talk a lot and know what each of us is capable of doing."

The four women meet monthly for a group-think breakfast at a nearby diner.

"That's our business meeting," Bevan says. "My husband jokes that we all 'play really well together.' "

Bevan and the other women have been taking the line of clothes to yoga conferences everywhere from Maui to Miami. This year, Bevan even took the clothes on a yoga cruise - and she sold a lot of them.

"I've told the others that I think we're on to something here," she says. The group recently launched their own website: www.toeachhisom.com and they're holding a small fashion show at the Flow studio Friday night. A portion of the proceeds from the show as well as annual clothing sales will go to the Women's Resource Center of Tampa Bay.

Bevan, who has been a fitness instructor since 1979 and had been teaching at fitness courses and yoga at New Port Richey gyms, moved to New Port Richey a few years ago by way of South Carolina with her husband, an engineer.

She dreamed for years of opening her own yoga business because the noise level in gyms, she says, isn't conducive to the level of concentration yoga requires. After doing many things in her life, she says, she just wanted her own studio, a place of peace.

For years, she noticed the old yellow cracker house along the river while driving to work. One day she saw a "For Sale" sign in the yard, approached the owner, liked what she saw and the rest is history.

She's definitely found her bliss: classes that once had just one student have grown to 16.

"They say old hippies never die," she says, laughing a little, "They just go on to teach yoga."

Fast facts

To learn more

A Web site for the clothing line is under construction at www.toeachhisom.com.

[Last modified November 11, 2007, 21:31:26]