Maureen Oar considered herself a “dabbler” in yoga for the first 20 or so years she practiced. The Yoga Loft owner didn’t become serious about the practice until a major illness changed her life, her focus, and her direction.
A Washington-native, Maureen moved from Grays Harbor, to Seattle, and eventually to Olympia, where she founded the Yoga Loft, a downtown Olympia yoga studio. Though she had practiced yoga on and off for decades, she really looked to yoga for healing after her cancer diagnosis in 2000 when she started taking a yoga class specifically for cancer patients.
“I found it to be so helpful in de-stressing and enjoyed the simple, gentle movements, and being around people who were going through the same thing. It became kind of like a support group. And I decided that yoga was my calling after that. I wanted to come full circle in my own journey and to teach yoga for cancer patients and therapeutic yoga,” says Maureen, or Mo, as she’s known by friends and family. After yoga teacher training, she taught yoga for cancer patients at Providence. At the Yoga Loft, she still focuses on gentle, more therapeutic types of yoga.
“We have entry level classes for people who have never done yoga before, or people who have been injured,” she says, describing her favorite part of teaching, when someone new attends a class, enjoys it, even if they are nervous, and sticks with it. She describes it as “witnessing the changes, not just in their body, but sort of in their ease around movement. Today my focus is developing strength and letting go of fear around our bodies. Not just the movement, but the breathing and the meditation can become a valuable tool for anybody. That’s my story,” she adds, “I just feel in love with it.”
Maureen went through teacher training in order to learn more about yoga and deepen her own practice, and she only intended to teach small classes for people fighting cancer. She describes teaching her very first yoga class, when a friend and fellow teacher asked her to sub for her one day. “I labored over that script, like you can’t believe. It was like I was in a play. I had every word written down. I was so nervous,” she shares. She got good feedback on that first class and enjoyed teaching, so she started to fill in more often, and then eventually landed her own teaching spot.
And then, six years ago, she opened the Yoga Loft. “I just feel so blessed. I feel like I’ve got to meet the most amazing people, through yoga. It’s such a community.”
“The therapeutic approach to yoga is my calling,” Maureen says. “I find great joy in seeing the evolution of people coming into yoga, and hearing their testimonials, such as ‘yoga changed my life, yoga’s been so good for me, and my body, and my anxiety, or my depression.’ It’s been very rewarding.”
Her students echo the sentiment. “My experience today is that I felt so in tune with myself, however clumsy, wobbly and shaking I was at times,” says student Jason Hogle. “I am truly grateful that I found the Yoga Loft and am discovering that balance and peace and confidence all reside within me. This is helping me in many ways beyond what I was expecting.”
The studio is a gorgeous renovated space, one high-ceilinged room overlooking Capitol Lake and Puget Sound. Maureen doesn’t take the scenic surroundings for granted. “Here’s where the Deschutes River meets the Salish Sea, the very tip of Puget Sound, such a special place,” she says. Maureen’s husband Gerry renovated the space, and not a day goes by that Maureen doesn’t appreciate the location. She talks about watching the seasons change with the trees, water, and wildlife outside, the song of rain on the roof, and the sun shining in the windows. “We are just so grateful to be here and be part of the community and to be downtown,” she notes. “It is important to acknowledge the actual beauty of the space, the historic building and its location.”
Maureen emphasizes that there is truly a class for everyone at the Yoga Loft. “We have a wide variety of educated and intelligent teachers. They bring their own style, so there’s really something for everyone. Right now we have 13 instructors all the way from Yin to Power Flow,” Maureen says.
“My style of teaching and practicing is to go a little slower and deeper,” she describes. “Every teacher is a little unique in their approach, so there’s something out there for everyone. We have some teachers that are awesome at the more challenging and vigorous types of yoga. I’m so in awe of the instructors. I am really proud of the Yoga Loft and its place in the community, and I’m really proud of the level and integrity of instructors we have here.”
“My favorite reason for teaching here is that there is a lot of encouragement from Mo to pursue and teach what inspires us,” says instructor Kristi Lyons. “The Yoga Loft is really helpful and encouraging to teachers. The Yoga Loft has so many different teachers, and they’re all so different. There are so many teachers you can try out. I guarantee you’ll find someone who is what you’re after. It’s a beautiful space, it’s very open, very welcoming.”
“People always thank me for being here, thank me for bringing this into our community, but really I feel that every time I walk in here, I am so grateful that I get to do this. I love what I do, and I really do feel like I’m living the dream,” says Maureen. “This is a dream and I get to live it in the most beautiful place on the planet.”
Yoga Loft offers classes 7 days a week in their downtown Olympia studio. They offer new student introductory rates and discounted weekday daytime classes, as well as 3-week immersion courses.
