We were lucky to catch up with Bridget Henson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Bridget , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When you’ve been a professional in an industry for long enough, you’ll experience moments when the entire field takes a U-Turn, an instance where the consensus completely flips upside down or where the “best practices” completely change. If you’ve experienced such a U-Turn over the course of your professional career, we’d love to hear about it.

I signed up for my first 200-hr yoga teacher training back in 2013. I had been practicing for about 10 years and just wanted to dive in deeper; however I did NOT want to teach. In fact the prospect of it terrified me. I assumed in some capacity I’d have to while training and I’d manage to get through it.

Needless to say, I did get through it and completed my training April 2014. I started teaching immediately as I was asked too, I would have never asked, and a month after that circumstances arose where I was asked to take over the studio as otherwise it would be closing. I was working full time and decided after talking to my supportive and amazing husband to do it. I hung in at the day job about 2 years before taking the leap and work the studio full time. Upon taking it over, the writing was on the walls that we needed to move locations. They were trying to sell our spot to developers and so I had been working to find a new space and sort out all the work around that. We located and found our current locatin, which we all really love. It took lots of blood, sweat and tears to get us into the space, and we were so thrilled to do so. It was March 2020 and I was 9 months pregnant. Literally with the community loading up their cars and trucks and helping us load in, we got a week or 2 of classes going, and then, well, you know what happened next. I had my son 2 weeks later and I had to take a step back. Our teachers and community were absolutely amazing and supportive, but without one of my dearest friends and amazing teachers Kristin Carnevale I truly believe we wouldn’t have made it. She put us on her back and got us flipped to virtual and handled every aspect, from getting speakers, signing up for endless accounts, watching tutorials. I do what I do because of the people that show up and with all these crazy turns my life, and the studio has taken, I really wouldn’t change any of it.

Bridget , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Bridget Henson and I run and own Practice Yoga Cincinnati. We are located at 7745 5-mile road at the Beechmont and 5-mile intersection next to the dmv in Anderson Township.

I have my 500-ERYT certified with Yoga Alliance. We hold group classes, private sessions, workshops and teacher trainings. We have classes ranging from non-heated and restorative, all the way to heated power flows. Classes are 7 days a week, and we have a truly amazing group of teachers. I love being able to do what I do. I’m not looking to be a social media star or jump at a trend. What we do is simple, but it can be powerful. We’re trying to have students feel more nourished and better in their bodies when they leave the studio than they showed up. My dream was to have the studio, not just be a simple “yoga studio” but rather a place people could come together and be in service to one another. Our new space is just that. We have an Ayurvedic Specialist Sonya Verma, Queen City Pelvic Health runs their “home office” with us and Nicole + Matthew Howe run Touch Education their massage therapy and trainings with us. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a container for this all to happen.

I’ve been teaching going on 10 years now. I completed my 200 and 300hr training with a Baptiste Inspired studio, but really came to love teaching and helping students when I started diving deeper into my trainings with Yoga Medicine. They are an incredible organization that puts out amazing content. I hope to offer a taste of that to our students right here in Cincinnati. I’ll be wrapping up my yoga therapeutics certification with them by the end of the year. Regardless of how long I continue doing any of this, I’ll never stop learning and shifting and adjusting my opinions and understanding of how the body works, how I can effectively teach and possibly helping someone out.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I’m not afraid of working hard. I’m a helper. I’ve had 1-2 jobs since I was little whether its babysitting, or a paper route. I think maybe some might not understand what a grind it is. Most monthly I’m holding my breath when I open the Duke bill. However, it doesn’t deter me and I’m happy to learn how to learn to fix the toilet or the broken doors. I always proclaim “put it on the resume!” if I succeed : )

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Being kind. Knowing that everyone is a person just like you. I’ve unfortunately have heard some horror stories of managers and owners before and it just isn’t something I can understand. Especially for the field we claim to be in. We get sick. We have kids that need help. Classes get randomly cancelled. It just happens. You have to be compassionate and just keep moving forward. And because of my yoga trainings I’ve been able to work on not being reactive. Learning how to exhale and breathe again when the bills start adding up. Be a good listener when a student starts sharing with you. It’s simple. It’s not always easy. But I try to be a yeasayer vs a naysayer. I’d rather laugh on a crazy day than anything else.

Contact Info:

• Website: practiceyogacincinnnati.com
• Instagram: @practiceyogacincinnati
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/practiceyogacincinnati

Image Credits
Katherine Dooros Photography