Community Highlights: Meet Ashley Aakre of Namaste Yoga

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Aakre.

Hi Ashley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve loved yoga since my son was born 18 years ago, and I started by practicing in my living room at night after he went to bed when he was a baby. I would play the same DVD night after night and I began to experience the meditative effects and started to see a big improvement in my sleep quality, muscle tone, and found mental stillness and clarity that I didn’t know was missing and I was hooked.

As my family expanded (I have a total of 5 kids now!) I started joining big gyms and taking yoga classes there.

I’m also a big traveller and love to take yoga classes all over the world when I travel. So when I moved from Queen Creek to North Scottsdale 5 years ago, I thought it was finally time to join a really great yoga studio where I could deepen my practice, meet a community of like-minded people and really elevate my practice and gain some consistency.

What I found is that there was a void in the market and there wasn’t a studio near me. And even if I was willing to drive, most studios are really similar to the gym yoga experience. Which is great, but not as great a vacation yoga.

I’m a serial entrepreneur, so I saw that gap between supply and demand and thought there was an opportunity to bring our community together, lift each other up, and practice yoga together in my neighborhood.

But I wanted it to be something unique, different, exciting and elevated. North Scottsdale is known around the world for being innovative and scenic and cutting-edge and I wanted to really challenge myself to create something that would WOW the discerning residents of North Scottsdale that are accustomed to elevated experiences.

I designed the world’s first Immersive Cinematic Infrared Yoga Studio because I truly believe that North Scottsdale should be home to the best Yoga Studio in the world. Second best just wouldn’t do.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am a firm believer in energy. When you are on the right path, doors open and opportunities present themselves.

When you are on the wrong road everything goes wrong and there are obstacles everywhere.

Building this business has been a huge project, but at every turn things have fallen into place. The perfect location, a first class team, the best teachers in the world, amazing retail connections and so much more has fallen into place in the most miraculous way you can imagine.

I am truly doing something that I am meant to do and it never feels like a struggle. It’s such a labor of love and I can’t get enough of it. I’ve never had a more fulfilling career. People are crying happy tears and hugging and having the best days of their lives inside Namaste Yoga. There is really nothing that feeds your energy and keeps you going that getting that kind of huge emotional reward for your work.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our heart and soul is in our core values. It’s not just hype, it’s really who we are and what we do.

Hospitality, Immersion, Balance and Community are what means the most. to us.

New customers always come to us for our immersive cinematic studio, but they stay for the way we make them feel. Our members regularly tell us they feel connected, supported and pampered when they are at Namaste Yoga, and that’s what we live to do.

We are quite literally, the best yoga studio in the world.

We have 4 levels of classes, so there is something for everyone. We have everything from deep stretching level 1 Earth Yin classes, to warm slow flow Vinyasa style level 2 Water Flow, to our hot yoga with a twist in our level 3 Fire Flow where we work seasonally on challenging peak poses, to our max-out-your-workout, level 4 Inferno Mat Pilates Flow that is the most intense workout you could ever ask for.

We also offer lots of workshops and special events like puppy yoga, yoga retreats, teacher training, on demand and live-streaming classes, guided meditation, sound baths, inversion workshops and so much more!

So now matter how you are feeling today, we can meet you where you are. We quite literally have something for everyone.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’m the biggest risk taker I’ve ever met – lol!

I have a “jump out of the plane first and learn how to build the parachute on the way down” personality. I’ve always taken big risks in my career. I love to work and I love a challenge. If something has never been done before, I want to be the first one to do it.

I’ve put everything I’ve got into every business that I’ve ever started (and Namaste Yoga is my 11th LLC)

Pricing:

• 21-Days of unlimited yoga is our Intro offer for only $79

Contact Info:

• Website: https://namasteyoga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/namasteyogascottsdale
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NamasteYogaScottsdale/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8IlUVNPf9-mkSxQLD1qBJA
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/namaste-yoga-scottsdale