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Meet Jacob Harris and Jennie Leetham of Mind Bodhi Yoga in Tempe

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Harris and Jennie Leetham.

Jacob and Jennie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Having worked in the corporate world for over 20 years, Jacob felt unfulfilled regardless of any raise, award, title or other accolades that are typically revered in the corporate work environment. Additionally, that environment contributed to the stress, anxiety and depression that affected Jacob on many levels.

Jacob started his yoga practice several years ago and quickly started to realize that yoga was alleviating many of his mental and health issues, including sciatica, that had been plaguing him for years. Additionally, he found that his yoga practice was leading him to an overall healthier lifestyle that helped him with weight loss, and improved self-confidence and body image.

Jennie began practicing yoga 24 years ago. First, being a college student at the time and having financial constraints, she started by watching yoga DVDs. Then, she practiced wherever she could afford the classes – typically at group fitness gyms with low monthly membership fees. Eventually, Jennie started practicing at small independently owned yoga studios, with low drop-in rates. She found that yoga helped her to handle the stresses of school, work and life in general.

After several years of practice, we both felt that there was little room to grow our yoga practice at the studios where we practiced. Some had limited class offerings or taught the same class sequence every time.

We had dreamed of working together and doing something we both love. Seeing the need for more affordable and diverse yoga in the Phoenix Metro area, and particularly in Tempe, helped us realize our dream when fate intervened in 2018.

A company wide layoff left Jacob unemployed for the first time in his adult life. We began to wonder if this was the universe pushing us to pursue our dream. We decided it was and began to piece together what would become Mind Bodhi Yoga.

Every day we are reminded that the decision to open Mind Bodhi Yoga was the right one. Seeing the yoga instructors being able to use their own words, style and knowledge to safely guide their students, and seeing the students grow their practices every day has proven to be the most rewarding for us.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of the main challenges we have faced is getting our name out there by marketing ourselves and competing with large corporate chains. Though we’ve both practiced yoga for many years, we are fairly new to teaching and did not have a strong student following before opening the studio. Additionally, competing against large corporate yoga chains and gyms that offer yoga and have oodles of financial resources available to them to promote and market their businesses, has been difficult to compete with as we are independently owned and do not come from a background of wealth.

Further, despite having education and experience that have perfectly set us up to be prepared to operate our own small business, we found it difficult to find outside funding for the studio. We quickly learned that to open the studio, we would have to do it on our own with our funds and available credit. Small business loans and other similar resources are typically either not available to new business owners, or if they are, the terms are simply outrageous and not designed to create any sort of a safety net. Rather, new business owners are taking on a huge risk with what might be available or offered to them.

Despite these challenges, we are very fortunate that we have each other to rely on. We cannot imagine doing this alone or with anyone else.

Please tell us about your business.
We are a yoga studio in the heart of Tempe offering both hot yoga and non-heated yoga classes in two separate rooms. Our mission is to help students grow and develop within their practice, and to offer a wide range of affordable classes to meet the needs of everyone. We want to help people learn how to take care of themselves with themselves.

Mind Bodhi Yoga is a community based studio with a vision of peace, love, and respect, and we welcome everyone who walks through our doors in the space we created full of acceptance and equality.

What sets us apart from other studios is we offer affordable and accessible yoga for all. We have no contracts because we understand that life happens. We are taking the elitism out of yoga by offering low drop-in rates and discounts to groups who can really benefit from it. Discounts are offered to senior citizens, veterans/active military, teachers, college & high school students, Medical Marijuana cardholders, and Medicare/Medicaid cardholders.

We are a locally owned studio and we strive to support small local businesses. Our studio was built entirely with the assistance of local businesses and our yoga teachers. From our general contractor to the screen printer of our shirts, mats and towels, even the artwork that hangs on our walls are all local business owners/artists.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our yoga instructors have been key in helping us grow the studio. The work they put into preparing for each of their classes and showing up for their students in a big way every time they teach is integral to growing our business. We cannot say enough about how much we appreciate our teachers and how they support their students. Our students are the foundation of this studio. Seeing them on their mats, and hearing the great feedback on how they are growing their yoga practice, not just on a physical level, brings us so much joy!

Additionally, we have an abundance of support from friends and family who have provided their services, well wishes, and assistance to promote the business by word of mouth. Kelsie Foster is our niece and has been amazing to us. She took photos for teacher bios, of the studio and products we offer, as well as our yoga events. Joe Nagler and Casey Siminski of The Electric Squeegee have been great! They worked with us with our screen printing needs for our studio shirts and the PLY Wear (Peace, Love Yoga Wear) brand of clothes, mats and towels that we sell in-studio. Mike and Paula Meskimen of Sunbird General Contracting were amazing to work with to build the studio.

Pricing:

 

  • $12 Drop-Ins
  • $20 New Student Special – 1 Week of Unlimited Yoga
  • $100 Unlimited Monthly Yoga on Auto-Pay (No Contracts)
  • $80 (Discounted) Unlimited Monthly Yoga on Auto-Pay for: Senior Citizens, Teachers, College/High School Students, Military/Veterans, Medical Marijuana Cardholders, Medicare/Medicaid Cardholders
  • $90 10-Class Package
  • $215 25-Class Package
  • $1000 Unlimited Yearly Yoga

 

 

 

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Kelsie Foster, Jennie Leetham, Karin Mendez

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