By Celeste McLaughlin
In the eight months since Lorena Saavedra opened Hanaq Prana Yoga in the Cory Lake Professional Center off Cross Creek Blvd., the New Tampa studio has continued to grow.
“We have new people in our classes every week,” says Lorena, who opened the studio in December of 2014. “People tell me they’ve been searching for this (kind of yoga studio).”
Lorena is a “yogi” who moved to Tampa from Washington, DC, last year with her fiancé Mark, a U.S. Navy officer. They looked for a home throughout the Tampa Bay area, and decided to live in Kingshyre (located off Kinnan St.) in the Cross Creek area of New Tampa. “Like a lot of things in life, I went with my feeling,” Lorena says. “The area and the home felt right to me.”
Lorena has been teaching yoga since 2012 and is registered as an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT) with the Yoga Alliance, which sets standards for training and requires two years and 1,000 hours of teaching experience to reach this designation. When Lorena and her fiancé moved to New Tampa, she says she couldn’t find a yoga studio in the area, so she taught in Brandon, South Tampa and at community centers, such as the Beach Club at Cory Lake Isles.
“In my first class, I had two students,” she admits. “Now, I’ve taught about 500 students.”
Several years before she became an instructor, in 2005, Lorena discovered the practice of yoga. “Once I started practicing yoga, I was amazed at how my life changed,” she says. “I began seeing life from a different perspective.”
She adds that, at the time, she was suffering from depression, but yoga helped her to get off medication completely, and also helped her sleep better.
“I want people to know that for (those) who are suffering — physically or emotionally — there’s something out there that can help, besides medication,” Lorena explains.
She adds that the physical benefits of yoga reported by the National Institutes of Health include its proven help in controlling high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and mental issues. She says NIH reports also say that yoga can enhance your immune system. And just by breathing better, which is an essential part of yoga (in fact, Hanaq Prana means “Superior Breath” in Sanskrit), you improve your circulation and the amount of oxygen delivered to the brain. Yoga also helps you also strengthen your core, and can help you develop a more lean and toned appearance, although Lorena emphasizes that practicing yoga alone will not make you lose weight.
“Another common misconception I hear all the time is that people tell me they are not flexible enough to do yoga,” Lorena says. “You don’t have to be flexible to practice yoga. Flexibility is one of the benefits!”
She explains that while practicing yoga, everyone progresses his or her own pace. Everyone may take the same class, but the teachers at Hanaq Prana will help guide you to work at your own level.
“The more people who do yoga, the happier the world will be,” says Lorena. Because she truly believes that, she often reaches out to provide yoga to the community at no cost. For example, once a month she offers a free “Yoga on the Patio” class which is open to everyone, outside the Ciccio Cali restaurant in The Shoppes at The Pointe shopping plaza in Tampa Palms. She also partners with Wounded Warriors, providing registered alumni and their families any class or workshop at her studio at no cost. And, Lorena also allows her studio to be used for community events, such as a recent free workshop for middle school girls offered by Girl Scouts of West Central Florida held at the studio on August 8.
Opening The Studio
“In D.C., I had a busy, agitated life, working 60 hours a week as a real estate paralegal,” Lorena says. “I knew I wanted to make changes.” In 2012, she had a life-changing experience back home in Peru, where her brother contracted the H1N1 flu and was not expected to survive. But, he miraculously recovered, and Lorena says that experience helped put her own life in perspective.
“I always knew I’d love to open a yoga studio,” Lorena says, adding that she debated whether to take a full-time job in Tampa, or pursue her dream. She decided to take the riskier path. “I don’t know if I’ll be here tomorrow,” Lorena says, “so I might as well do it today.”
Lorena started out as the studio’s only instructor, but she says teaching 17 classes a week wasn’t good for her body, so she began hiring other instructors to teach some of the classes. Now, there are seven instructors at Hanaq Prana Yoga.
“My style of teaching may not be appealing to everyone,” she says, so the studio has other teachers, too, so every person can find an instructor they enjoy. “I take the time to choose the right teachers, and ensure they’re not just teaching a class, but really embracing life with yoga.”
Lorena and her staff offer several popular types of yoga, including hot yoga, power yoga, and Vinyasa – also called “flow yoga.” Hanaq Prana also offers restorative yoga, which can help people who have specific pain, such as in their lower back or neck. Everything is done on the floor and focused on breathing, to help ease muscles, nerves and tissues. Beginning this fall, the studio also will offer prenatal yoga for expecting mothers.
Hanaq Prana Students
Vinita Witanachchi is a Cory Lake Isles resident who had been looking for yoga classes, but found it hard to get to the ones offered at her gym. She was thrilled when she noticed a sign advertising yoga in her own neighborhood.
When she showed up for her first Hanaq Prana Yoga class one Saturday morning, she says, “I felt like I was walking into the home of someone I (already knew) well. Lorena has such a warm smile and positive energy, and she made all of us feel really special.”
Vinita has continued to practice yoga with Lorena, following her to Hanaq Prana when it opened. Vinita says she always leaves the class feeling satisfied, and that it has affected the way she interacts with people around her, including her husband and two children — which is why she tries to take five or six classes each week.
“Lorena is a gift to our community,” Vinita says. “She’s not about the money; she’s passionate about giving back.”
Michelle Acosta is another student of Lorena’s, who also lives in Cory Lake Isles. She found Hanaq Prana just a couple of months ago.
“I believe in doing yoga every day, so I wasn’t looking for a gym, but a second home for my own yoga practice.”
Michelle owns a digital marketing business, so she says she spends a lot of time in front of her computer.
“Yoga helps me unwind, and helps me transition from work to home. I notice that if I skip yoga, I’m not as present with my friends and boyfriend. I tend to be still stuck at work in my head.”
“Lorena embodies what yoga practice should be about,” Michelle says. “She makes you feel warm and welcome, and every time I leave her class, I feel like it was just what I needed.”
Michelle says she first started practicing yoga about five years ago in Las Vegas, but also took classes in North Carolina and South Tampa before moving here.
“Lorena’s studio is so diverse,” Michelle says. “In her class, I see people who are Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, white and black. Her practice crosses boundaries. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Getting A Little Zen Myself
Lorena invited me to take one of her classes, and I agree with her students that she has a warm, inviting presence and makes everyone feel comfortable. Although I had taken a couple of yoga classes at a gym before, I believe this was my first “real” yoga experience, and I was not at all intimidated. At the end of the class, we were lying quietly on our mats and I thought, “I am so incredibly relaxed. I should relax like this at home.”
But then, it hit me – it’s really not possible for me to be that relaxed at home, with its myriad of distractions. Hanaq Prana Yoga is a much better environment for providing that opportunity to truly escape from everyday stress.
Hanaq Prana Yoga Studio is located at 10323 Cross Creek Blvd. For a schedule of classes, call the studio at 333-1026, visit HanaqPranaYoga.com or find and like the studio’s Facebook page by searching “Hanaq Prana Yoga Studio” at Facebook.com. The studio currently is offering a special of unlimited classes for one month for $49, so see the ad on page 54 of this issue for more information.
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