Connecting Community

Retailer Spotlight: South Perry Yoga

There are no chance meetings for Shawn Brow.

About 15 years ago Brow was looking for a way to balance the demands of motherhood and her busy career as a nurse anesthetist. When she found the answer she not only changed her life; she eventually opened a yoga studio and revitalized a community along the way.

Shawn Brow recently opened Ground Up, an espresso, tea and smoothie shop in the Buddhio, the building that also houses her South Perry Yoga studio.

Brow experienced an instant connection with yoga.

“Yoga is a very grounded practice that is comforting and calming to our body and mind,” Brow says. “The breath has a powerful effect on calming our nervous system and, not unlike a finely balanced anesthetic, it helps bring our lives back into balance.”

In 2006, to encourage others to do yoga, Brow opened a small studio in the historic South Perry neighborhood of Spokane, Washington. Four years later she was invited by the Spokane Buddhist Temple (no chance meeting here) to move into its adjacent property.

The building was run-down, to say the least, and needed major TLC. If Brow would oversee the building’s renovation, the temple offered rent in exchange for improvements.

It was an opportunity she couldn’t pass on.

Four years later, the 2,700-square-foot former eyesore—built 108 years ago—has helped turn the area into a bustling meeting spot with new restaurants, vintage shops, a brewery, tea and smoothie shop and Brow’s yoga studio, South Perry Yoga. The Buddhio Project, as its known by the locals, continues with additional construction projects underway.

“The Buddhio Project has been about creating community, which is also the greater reach of a yoga practice,” Brow says. “While it is a path toward deeper awareness of self, on a broader lever, its ripple effect connects us through community. ”

Today, South Perry Yoga has tripled its number of classes, offered seven days a week for every level of yogi. The studio has a small retail space that sells yoga mats, blocks and other necessities. There are also dryer balls on the shelves.

Instead of tennis balls, Brow has found LooHoo Wool Dryer Balls to be the perfect tool in working marma points, energy points important in the Ayurvedic healing traditions.

“I came across LooHoos on the Internet when I was looking for dryer balls for marma point work and I instantly connected with their vision of sustainability and their commitment to the environment,” Brow says. “They serve two purposes and I’m proud to market both.”

To learn more about South Perry Yoga, check out www.southperryoga.com.