We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenay Aiksnoras. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenay below.

Hi Jenay, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I never wanted to be a yoga studio owner. My plan was to complete my master’s degree, establish a career as a mental health professional and follow the expected path that higher education is supposed to provide.

While engaged in my undergraduate studies at Northeastern University in Boston I was introduced to the practice of yoga because some of my friends were taking the course as a one credit. I decided to audit the course. I remember that the room was always full and there were huge closets filled with mats, blocks, blankets and straps. The style was svarupa. I would arrive in whatever clothes I had chosen to wear that day and would spend an hour attempting to lengthen muscles that had never been asked to do so, to sit in positions I had never attempted and to quiet the chattering thoughts fluttering through my mind.

I continued to seek out yoga practices beyond the course I’d attended. I found vinyasa, Bikram, Iyengar, Astanga, Viniyoga and more. I took classes all over the city. I loved how I felt in my body and mind after every session. I could feel how the practice was changing me. I continued to practice beyond my undergraduate studies, and when I moved to New York while engaging in my gradute program, I sought out classes nearby. It was my membership at Gold’s Gym that gave me access to, Amy who became my teacher and dear friend.

I remember teachers and other practitioners saying to me, “You have a beautiful practice.” I appreciated the compliment, but it wasn’t until Amy said to me, “You should go through teacher training,” that I understood how all of the classes, sessions, workshops and lessons I had attended had prepared me to learn more about yoga. I completed my first yoga teacher training program in 2005 and was Amy’s first staff teacher. I continued to teach for her after moving to the West and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

I have taught children and teachers, seniors and new moms. I guided children with autism through yoga asana and instructed people with limited mobility through breathwork and mindfulness practices. I would look into the windows of empty commercial spaces and say, “Looks like a good place for a yoga studio.” It was mostly a joke. Until 2008, when we moved to Lake Tahoe and I attempted to teach and practice at the only studio in town. I discovered that “I wasn’t in the East Coast anymore.” The classes I took weren’t taught in alighment with the descriptions, the teachers weren’t attentive and the sequences were disjointed. Classes were canceled without warning and I wouldn’t get call backs to my inquiries. When the community discovered I was a yoga teacher and asked me to teach them, I had to say yes.

Classes began in a space painted maroon, with huge mirrors, shared with a ballroom dance class. I would have to end class early to avoid final relaxation from being disrupted by the sound of tap shoes in the next room. There were stinky dance shoes, noisy children and the room was cold. Over time, my classes grew, I hired other teachers and, eventually becamse the owner of a yoga studio. It was then that I realized I wasn’t going back to a traditional mental health field. I had transitioned to being a business owner and the education I had received in both mental health and yoga could be applied every day. Even when there have been challenges including recession, the pandemic, fire evacuations and snow damage, I know that I’m on the right path as long as I am practicing yoga.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began teaching yoga in 2005 and opened my first studio in 2008. Lake Tahoe Yoga is a yoga studio, not a fitness center. We guide RajaHatha yoga practices which focus upon the eight limbs. We incorporate every aspect of the practice of yoga into every session.

Yoga helped me to reduce and, ultimately, heal the pain and discomforts associated with the effects of scoliosis, bad posture and poor core strength. I’m drawn towad the study of anatomy and physiology as it relates to anatomical alignment. I incorporate the practices of yoga and Western therapy techniques to help guide those who engage in the practice to understand how what you think, feel and engage in effects you, entirely. My specialty is spinal health and I have experience working with a variety of populations and needs.

Through group classes and private sessions I apply yoga practices to help you get to know yourself and to live your best life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I learned is one that so many people today are convinced is true: yoga is fitness. When I began practicing, it was the asana, or physical posturing that drew me in. I sought out vinayasa practices and liked feeling mobile and strong as I practiced handstands and arm balances the asana practice made engaging in hiking, skiing, climbing and other activities feel more accessible.

As I continued to practice and learn more about yoga, I began to explore the other aspects of the practice. I learned that practicing just one limb of the eight wasn’t yoga. I had to engage in the entire experience. I’ve come to understand and live a yogic lifestyle; everything that I do is influenced by the philosophies and practices. While I’m still human and make mistakes, poor choices and fall into habit, I’m always engaging in svadhyaya: self study. Every day I learn something new about myself, I observe how I feel, think and behave, and I effect changes to be the best version of myself.

I’ve learned to be authentically me. The more that I do so, the better I feel, happier I am and more successful I become.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I moved to Lake Tahoe in 2008 there was just one yoga studio. I had experience teaching in a variety of locations and had hoped to offer my services at that studio. Fortunately, they weren’t intersted. Through the connections I made, I began teaching in partnership with a local dance studio. As my classes grew, my landlords recognized that what I was offering brough value to their building and the community. I was given a shared space, and ultimately, my own studio with multiple rooms where the teachers I hired joined in growing the business.

While my business was growing, my professional position as a school counselor was being compromised. The principal and the administration were unsupportive and increasingly restrictive. I was finding it difficult to be an effective counselor and my mental health was being negatively effected. I had to choose to stay and struggle or let it go. I chose to focus on the studio. Shortly after this decision I was approached by three of the teachers whom I had trained and supported. They had decided to open a competing location. They solicited clients, undercut my rates and even approached strategic partners I had cultivated.

I continued teaching, but the losses and conversations with the landlords who were asking for rent rates that were more than I could offer made it clear I had to pivot. I closed my location and established new strategic partnerships with the local brewery and arts organization. I kept teaching and, while I lost clients, I also gained new ones. When I began searching for a new location, my local connections helped me find a space that I thought was perfect for my new endeavor: Wellness Tourism.

I opened Bliss Experiences in 2021. I thought it was perfect; located in the tourism core and a good size. Over the four years of business in that space we experienced the effects of the pandemic; people avoided indoor, group classes. We lost business during fire and smoke effected conditions. We evacuated our homes and lost business for multiple weeks. Snow storms collapsed the roofs of buildings in our plaza resulting in over a year of it appearing as though we were all closed due to fencing and blocked access. Through all of this I pivoted and adjusted. I taught in my home and other people’s homes. I increased outdoor offerings and changed the way in which we guide experiences.

As of February, Lake Tahoe Yoga moved home to Nevada. Our space is smaller, but the community has already rallied in support. Our practitioners gathered to help us paint and move our materials. They’ve shown up in force to support the new location. Former clients whom we had lost to the other studio or who didn’t want to travel to our previous location have been attending classes and spreading the word. There is an energetic shift toward the positive. Regardless of how things go, I’ll continue to practice and to share the practice because I am a yogini and guiding others is my dharma.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laketahoeyoga.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laketahoeyoga/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LakeTahoeYogaStudio/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laketahoeyoga/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmEvyAfsGxvCT6yCmlNnD7Q/featured
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/lake-tahoe-yoga-stateline

Image Credits

Lake Tahoe Yoga Chief Experience Curator, Jenay Aiksnoras