PENDLETON — With most of her weight balanced on the palm of her left hand, Anna Tallant supported her whole body while stretching her right arm high into the air, reaching and then holding a yoga stance.
It’s just one of many moves she’s mastered as a yoga instructor, working with her daughter, Lindsay Newell, also an instructor, at their business, Exhale Yoga, 207 W. State St., Suite B.
For the mother and daughter duo, the shop is much more than a way to make a living — it’s a way of life.
“Yoga is a mind-body-spirit practice,” Tallant said.
The women say yoga has helped change their lives and the lives of others for the better, relieving stress, helping reduce anxiety and depression, as well as improving personal fitness.
Tallant, 52, of Pendleton is a trained mental health counselor at Tallant Counseling Services, a business she started in 2007.
She is a graduate of Indiana University Bloomington with a degree in psychology and criminal justice; she completed her master’s degree at Ball State University in counseling psychology.
In August 2016, she opened Exale Yoga with Newell.
The two completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training program before opening the business.
They had enjoyed yoga on their own and decided to open Exhale Yoga after Tallant expanded her counseling offices.
Newell, 30, also of Pendleton, is also an IU graduate with a degree in gender studies; she works full time at Exhale Yoga.
She’s always had a close relationship with her mother, and the two have bonded even more since they opened the yoga business together.
Knowing how yoga has made their lives better, they said they’re thrilled to be able to offer the service to the community.
“It’s so great when one of our clients pulls you aside and tells you how yoga has benefited them personally,” Newell said.
Newell started practicing yoga for the physical challenge several years ago but quickly found it helped her deal with anxiety.
She calls yoga a “full-body experience.”
The mother-daughter duo sometimes teach class together, but they also work with clients separately; they offer 16 different classes.
Through her work as a mental health counselor and yoga instructor, Tallant said she has found yoga helps get people out of their heads and in tune with their bodies.
She recommends yoga to many of the clients she counsels and has seen the benefits of yoga firsthand.
Tallant spent the first 15 years of her career working with people struggling with drug and alcohol addiction issues and wants people to have balance in their lives, she said.
She said yoga can offer people a much-needed outlet regardless of their fitness level.
Newell hopes people will put aside any preconceived notions they may have about yoga — such as needing a particular body type or certain amount of flexibility — and sign up for a class.
“Yoga truly is for everybody,” Newell said. “Our community is really a bunch of beginners, and it’s been so exciting.”
Newell said she knows the thought of yoga can be intimating, but their instructors are trained to teach yoga at all levels, and they encourage people not to worry but come as they are.
The business is open seven days per week. For more information on class times and costs, visit www.exhaleyogapendleton.com or call 765-444-YOGA.
Business name: Exhale Yoga Studio LLC
Business address: 207 W. State St., Suite B, Pendleton, IN 46064
Business phone number: 765-444-9642
Business owner(s) names: Anna Tallant and Lindsay Newell
Business services: Yoga and meditation
What made you decide to open your own business? What made you choose Pendleton?
We were both raised in Pendleton and Anna has owned a business in Pendleton for 10 years, Tallant Counseling Services. We enjoyed practicing yoga together and eventually decided to become certified yoga instructors. We completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training (program) together and wanted to bring our passion of yoga to the Pendleton community. Being a business owner is exciting because it requires us to use a variety of different skill sets. We get to share our love of teaching yoga and also get to work on creative ideas for the studio, marketing and community interaction, among other things. It has been so rewarding to offer yoga to the Pendleton community and hearing from our students how yoga has benefited them.
What were the first few years of business operation like — do you have any memorable challenges, successes and/or failures?
Yoga is pretty new to our community, and because of this, many of our customers are trying yoga for the very first time. A lot of people have an interest in yoga, but it can be intimidating to take that first step. Many people see what we call “Instagram Yoga,” which usually shows a very slender woman on a beach wearing expensive yoga clothes doing some crazy contortion with her body. They look at that and say, “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga” or “I don’t look like that, so yoga isn’t for me.” We want our community to know that yoga is for everyBODY and it doesn’t require flexibility or expensive leggings!
What is your proudest achievement?
Creating this beautiful space for people to come and care for themselves, both mentally and physically. It’s so exciting to see our yoga family grow, and we love connecting with members of the community.
What do you consider to be the biggest challenge overall to running a business?
For us, it is the preconceived notions that people have about yoga. Like we mentioned above, people are interested but intimidated by what they’ve seen on social media and think they have to be flexible or look a certain way. We are an all levels studio and really feel we offer something for everyone. In fact, we have three generations practicing at our studio because Anna’s mother (Lindsay’s grandmother) who is 88 years old comes to our Chair Yoga class every Tuesday!
What is the most rewarding part of running a business?
The most rewarding part is hearing our customers tell us how yoga has helped them in some way. It’s also been fun to get to know our students and connect with other local business owners.
What are your future plans?
We want to continue to grow our yoga community. Eventually we want to offer retreats and yoga teacher training.
