Believe it or not, yoga is not just about stretching. With the addition of stretching, yoga offers health benefits such as improving brain function, improving cardiac health, reducing stress and strengthening the immune system.

Local business Yoga From The Heart has offered classes to citizens in need of taking up all of the benefits yoga has to offer for five years now.

At Yoga From The Heart, its belief is that yoga is for everybody. Students who attend the studio range in age from 11 years old to almost 80 years old.

Classes offer a mix of yoga poses, breathing practices and meditation. Props are also available so yoga poses can be done by anyone.

Owner Jan Guinn started the business for the purpose of being able to share the gift of yoga with others.

It all started when Guinn took her first yoga class in 2003. She left the class feeling at peace and at ease for the first time in a long time. At that time she did not know much about yoga, but she began to come across articles that revealed the health benefits that yoga offered.

After that first class, she attended as many classes that were offered and as many as her job allowed.

“I was a home health care executive in a high stress job and even though I was running three to four miles each morning, it just wasn’t enough to ease the stress,” Guinn said.

In 2004, the company that Guinn worked for was going through an ownership change and Guinn had the option to stay with a greatly reduced salary or leave with a severance package.

“At that point in my life, it was a no-brainer. I needed to get out,” Guinn said. “I’d lost the drive to work 60 hours a week and missed having quality time with family and friends. That’s when I decided that I wanted to teach yoga.”

After that, Guinn had the opportunity to teach classes at a local gym, and from there, her desire to learn more about yoga grew.

The opportunity for her to own studio space arose in the summer of 2012.

When Guinn’s first yoga teacher was selling her Coppell yoga studio, Surya Center for Yoga, she approached Guinn to purchase it. Initially, Guinn said no.

“I didn’t want to own a studio,” Guinn said. “I didn’t think I was in a position financially to own a studio and I was teaching so many classes at other facilities that I wasn’t sure how I could possibly add studio ownership.”

Eventually, things started to fall in place and Yoga From The Heart came to be. The name ‘Yoga From The Heart’ fully reflects how she feels about practicing, teaching and sharing yoga.

“We live in a world that is always asking us to do more and to do it faster,” Guinn said. “Yoga invites us to slow down and focus just on what’s happening within us right now. It’s the opportunity to set aside the stress, frustration, disappointment, anger of the day.”

Five years later, Yoga From The Heart has continually been a place for a diverse and thriving community of local yogis from Coppell and surrounding areas.

“It’s taken some time [for Yoga From The Heart to grow] but we have a truly amazing community that is steadily growing,” Guinn said.

Visit yogafromthehearttx.com for information about pricing, yoga teachers and class schedule or visit the studio location at 848 Denton Tap Rd. #250.