By Maggie Beamguard
Insider Editor
The West End Yoga Company is poised to stretch under new stewardship.
Kathryn Wells assumed ownership of the yoga studio in August. Jeremy Wellman opened the studio in February of 2023. In a message posted to social media on July 31, Wellman expressed his gratitude for the support of the community and endorsed the new owner.
“Today marks the day where the studio takes its next step, where the stewardship that has been our privilege since opening 18 months ago passes to a new and amazingly beautiful person in Dr. Kathryn Wells,” Wellman wrote.
“Kathryn’s amazing calm demeanor and energy teamed with her professionalism as a practitioner of an ancient eastern medicine make her the absolute perfect person to take the helm and guide WEYC into its next chapter!”
Wellner attributed his decision to sell the practice to life changes and job opportunities for both he and his spouse, Jennifer.
“We never know where it’s going to take us or why,” he said. “I wanted to do something for the community and to help people and I did. I’m very proud of that.”
Rather than close the studio, the couple took advantage of a “beautiful way for the studio to stay here for the community,” by selling WEYC to Wells.
Wells, who has been a student of the studio since it opened its doors and has been a yoga practitioner for 20 years, brings unique experience to the studio.
She credits yoga with changing her life following a car accident that left her with debilitating pain.
“The only way that I found any relief from the pain, even just the slightest bit, was through yoga,” she said. “I have been a committed practitioner since then and have regained the function of my body that I had lost in the car accident.”
Under her leadership, the business remains veteran owned. After an honorable discharge following 12 years of service in the United States Air Force, Wells worked in a nonpolitical position in the White House.
“Eventually I left the White House in search of what I would say was something more, realizing that service could look very different,” she said.
In discerning a different kind of service through the art of healing, Wells pursued a doctorate in acupuncture and is a licensed acupuncturist. She was supported in this career change by her husband, Brian, who she met while working at the White House.
Though recently taking a sabbatical from her acupuncture practice, she plans to incorporate community acupuncture into her work at WEYC.
Community acupuncture in a yoga setting would potentially be used in combination with an easy flow class. During the ending relaxation pose, acupuncture needles would be placed in the ears in what is known as a five point protocol.
“It’s very restorative,” Wells said. “It can be used on virtually anybody. There are almost no contraindications for it. It’s used around the world in traumatic settings after disasters and even after 9-11 and with refugees. It started with people in drug and alcohol recovery.”
She first practiced acupuncture in a space she shared with a massage therapist and chiropractor who also ran a small yoga studio. There she experienced how yoga provided tremendous benefits to the mind, body and spirit.
“The thing that all of us found in working with our private clients was the ones who attended yoga and practiced in those types of exercises seemed to do a lot better,” Wells said.
For now, her focus is to keep breathing life into the yoga practice Wellman built with many of the familiar faces and teachers to continue in their roles. She plans to continue strengthening the core of the things serving the community well while being open to other creative opportunities.
“Jeremy did such a phenomenal job with putting everything together and creating a wonderful sense of community and warmth,” Wells said. “The majority of the things he did are staying in place, and he is going to maintain his Wednesday night class.”
Wells emphasizes her stewardship of the WEYC over ownership. “The lifeblood of the studio is the teachers and the students and the people who come and the community that is around it,” she said.
“So I really do feel more like a steward behind the scenes and overseeing things and making sure the lights are on, the door is open and the candles are lit.”
One serene feature of the carefully curated studio is a wall of flickering candles. The small space at 149 Woodlawn Street in West End has an instant calming effect.
Beyond the health benefits of yoga, Wells believes the community that has been created at WEYC is a source of wellness itself as people make connections on their healing journeys.
“One of the beauties of it is the classes are for literally everybody,” she said. “There is a broad spectrum of people who’ve been practicing yoga for a long time and people who have not practiced at all.
“Teachers are able to offer modifications to meet people where they are and to help them experience and honor their embodied experience so that they’re not pushing themselves or doing anything to hurt themselves.”
For Wells, yoga is not about looking a certain way.
“It’s about coming in and finding that place inside of you and having that moment of respite — having that place to quiet the mind, to move the body and to deepen the breath. And that doesn’t happen in a certain size or shaped person. It’s a universal thing,” she said.
About 10 instructors lead a variety of classes most days of the week, both day and evening. Information about class offerings is available at www.westendyogacompany.com.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
