Have you ever entered into a yoga studio and felt that the space wasn't conducive to your practice? Maybe it was located on a busy street and the sound of traffic was too distracting. Possibly, it was in a cold basement and the color scheme was too bright. Creating a zen-like yoga studio doesn't require the hiring of an interior designer. Using yogic philosophy and your natural intuition, a soothing space can be created in almost any open area. Whether you are a yoga studio owner or a dedicated home yogi, you will want your practice space to reflect both your practice and state of inner peace. There are many factors to consider when experimenting with design: lighting, cleanliness and clutter, placement of furnishings, ambience, and color scheme all need to work together to create a fresh and soul-soothing space that is favorable to meditation. We put together a list of considerations for creating a successfully soothing space:
• Natural Elements: Fire, earth, water, air, and space. These are the five natural elements that make up all matter on this planet. Knowledge and understanding of these elements can be integrated into a yoga studio for an all-natural ambiance. Earth tones are great when creating a color scheme, using a palette of browns, tans, greens, and warm greys. Slate blue and terracotta can also be incorporated for a splash of color. Luckily, at Yoga Direct, our best-selling yoga mat, the Yoga Direct ¼ Inch Yoga Mat comes in 26 color options, so you can be sure to match up your wall color and furnishing with our yoga mats and other yoga accessories.
• Back to the Basics: You can go dark with a black and grey color palate, with an omnipresent and pensive color scheme to create a serious and bold ambiance. Or, with whites and minimalist decor, a soft and rustic ambience can create a sense of freedom of energy.
• Use of Chi - Natural Energy: Create a comforting space when you factor in chi, also known as qi, the use of natural life energy. The concept is similar to prana, in Hinduism. We can manipulate Chi to produce the best possible ambiance in any space. The clutter that can be created by the necessity to store personal belongings as well as a well-stocked assortment of yoga props can create an aesthetic issue. It's best to have a separate dressing area/storage area for customers' shoes, mat bags, and other personal belongings -- separate from the both the reception area and the practice space to ensure a sense of security. Yoga mats and other props are typically stored in the practice room. A nice wall installation which allows for organization behind a shroud such as a curtain or a wooden shutter room divider. This look can also be achieved without a wall installation using organizational tools like mat racks and shelving. It is not recommended to load up your walls with tons of random pictures and images, but it's nice to have a few minimalist distractions that can act as a drishti point. A drishti point is also known as a “gazing spot". When I am focusing intently on holding tree pose, my eyes desperately grasp for a solid, stoic focal point to focus on. It is usually a swirl in the natural wood grain of the floor, or the geometric collision of two walls against the ceiling. Drishti points can be naturally placed around the studio in a chi-friendly fashion to promote the holding of intent and meditation.
• Acoustics: Two weeks ago, I was lying in a meditative savasana in an Ashtanga studio located on the busiest street in my hometown of Richmond, Virginia. The minimalist storefront has a decent ambiance, but the windows were open to the street, filled with ruckus bar-goers and cars slowly passing by, bumpin' rap music that was so loud and intrusive, it was actually comical. But comical is not what I need when I lie and surrender to savasana. Many successful yoga studios are also located in the hearts of big cities. These costly spaces are typically loud and cold, by nature. Studios often fail to factor in soundproofing, which can make all the difference in the world when you are trying to focus on your intent. Take a ticket from music recording studios, which use soundproofing materials to absorb ambient noise. Sound can actually be sucked out of the room. Energy-absorbing foam is kind of silly looking and can create an aesthetic issue, but if soundproofing foam is patterned in a neat and organized way, it can actually look really interesting.
However you choose to furnish your sacred space, Yoga Direct has you covered with our signature studio mats, yoga blocks, and yoga straps in a vast array of color options, ensuring peace of mind for our customers. Your space should reflect your own personal inner glow and warmth and be still and comforting. How have you decided to decorate your space?
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