Madia Swicord, left, helps Lisa Altbach with her form during a power flow yoga class at the downtown Sports Barn.
Madia Swicord, right, works with Laura Banks on the proper form during a morning yoga class.
Chattanooga has at least seven full-time yoga studios, including the Chattanooga Yoga School at the downtown Sports Barn where Madia Swicord, third from left, leads a class.
Jackie Thompson, in a headstand, is studying in a yoga teacher training program.Yoga Training OpportunitiesChattanooga Yoga School: 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, starts April 4. Now taking applications.Yoga Landing: 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training School, starts April 4. Registration is full, but classes are offered twice a year.Clearspring Yoga: 500-hour Holistic Yoga Therapy training through Holistic Yoga Therapy Institute; applicants must have completed a 200-hour training, runs April 25-27.Clearspring Yoga: “Yoga as Medicine: Holistic Healing” training through the Holistic Yoga Therapy Institute, 200- or 500-hour, runs April 25-27.Hot Yoga Plus: Hot 26 200-hour training offered, future classes now being planned.Toes Yoga: Upper-level 200-hour training with an emphasis on therapeutic yoga, starts all 2014.
As a lifelong athlete and a fitness instructor for 15 years, Jackie Thompson thought taking her first yoga class would be a breeze.
She was wrong.
“It brought me to my knees,” she says. “It was humbling.”
Still, from that first class the Jasper, Tenn., native was hooked. The practice changed not only her body, but the way she viewed the world. It wasn’t long before she knew she wanted to become a yoga teacher. Thompson, an office supervisor with the Tennessee Department of Health in Jasper, hopes to teach part-time and dreams of opening her own studio once she retires.