We are Eddie and Emily Garner, the owners of Bikram Yoga Baltimore – the very FIRST Bikram Yoga studio in the state of Maryland. For the last 8 years, we’ve been honored with having a key role in changing our students’ lives through the practice of Bikram Yoga. Our own lives have also changed…for the better.
Many studio owners and yoga instructors have stories about the miraculous healing of a physical ailment or their tremendous weight loss or maybe even a newfound ability to walk or run. We’ve seen some of those miracles firsthand in our studio.
Eddie has been an operatic tenor for many years while I am a former ballet dancer; and both of us have been yoga teachers for over a decade. When we bought the studio in 2005, we were both healthy, fit, and active – and only 28 and 23 years old. Yoga was already an important part of our lives, yet it still had an invaluable lesson to teach me.
The miracle that Bikram Yoga gave me was the ability to look in the mirror for 90 minutes and see strength, skill, and beauty. For so many years, I had spent my time calculating how little I could eat and still maintain the strength to dance. I would pinch the backs of my arms and try to hide my flaws. When I looked in a mirror, all I saw were negative things.
Bikram Yoga improves health, muscle tone, and flexibility….but it also changes your perspective on yourself and your life. When you can thrive in heat and sweat and work for a full 90 minutes, you will feel more empowered and beautiful than you will with any other activity.
THAT is the power of Bikram Yoga for me.
But what about YOU?
To us, our students are not just numbers or names on paper. They are people with dreams and goals that we are invested in. For us, it’s love – we love the yoga and we love our students. And that love runs deep…
The studio was floundering when we bought it. We knew if we didn’t go through with the deal that the studio would close. As yoga teachers, we took our responsibility to our students very seriously. We simply couldn’t stand by and watch as the students lost their Bikram Yoga home. They were all working so hard to change their lives. To find what they were looking for. To do what they didn’t think they could.
How could we walk away from that?
Our hope is that all our students find what they are looking for.
We truly believe that no matter what it is – physical strength, flexibility, mental fortitude, lower blood pressure, healing a bad back, creating love for one’s self – Bikram Yoga can help you achieve it.
Namaste,
Emily and Eddie Garner