LIVE/CREATE: Marbles Yoga Finds Success in Historic Lafayette Square

 BY: MARK WEBBER

    So maybe Karen Jones got lucky when she first opened Marbles Yoga in Lafayette Square in 2003. At that time Lafayette Square may have been on the rise, but since 2006, the historic neighborhood has been considered a restored fashionable commodity of St. Louis.

    She couldn’t be happier with her luck.

    "Location is very important for yoga and the location is pretty fantastic," Jones says.

    The fact that the area has boomed has surely helped Karen gain many yoga enthusiasts, both beginners and veterans, but Karen knew she wanted her yoga studio placed in Lafayette Square well before the renovation of the neighborhood brought so many residents, shops, and restaurants to the area.

    "It all started with me reading a book," she says. "The book was called The Artist’s Way. I just got the idea from reading that. All I can say is I was reading the book and then Bing!"

    Karen points her finger up in the air expressing the enthusiasm she had the day the epiphany came.

    "It just suddenly came to me. It seemed so perfect. I’ve had other businesses. I’ve had a coffee shop and others, but, when this one came to my head, I just knew. Yoga is perfect for me."

    It seems that she may be right. Marbles Yoga, voted Best Yoga Studio by The Riverfront Times, has become a significantly well-known establishment for yoga participants.

    Yet, it certainly isn’t location alone that has allowed Karen’s studio to find success.

    Besides yoga, the studio also acts as an art gallery that allows artists to submit their work every month. Karen, then, reviews the art and chooses which ones to display in the studio. Every month, she hosts an art show to present the displayed pieces.

    "I’ve always loved art and am an artist myself. My coffee shop was also an art gallery."

    Yet, she didn’t think displaying her own artwork all the time was such a good idea.

    "The main reason I wanted to display art," she says, "was because I wanted it to always be different in the studio. I couldn’t display my own artwork all the time. Oh, here’s Karen’s artwork again! No. I couldn’t do that. I don’t hate my artwork or anything, but I don’t want it to get boring. And I’m easily bored."

    Karen likes to typically choose art that is reasonably priced to allow artists to be recognized.

    "I’m not one of those big galleries. I like to make it more accessible for artists in town who are either beginners or they aren’t, you know, a $10,000 a painting kind of person yet."

    The fact that the art gallery and yoga studio share the same space allows for a signature studio, but gives a more interesting environment for yoga participants as well.

    "Environment is so important. I think it is especially important for yoga. When you have both a comfortable atmosphere, and I think we really do make it comfortable for people to just drop in, but the comfortable atmosphere along with excellent artwork to look at really encourages the yoga experience."

    Karen really emphasizes the comfort that her studio provides.

    "I think we really make it comfortable for anyone to be involved here," she says. "I believe that because of this, we have more men that come here than other yoga studios, but, really, it is open to everybody including all genders, sexual orientation, and even ultra conservatives who might be otherwise scared to try something they’ve only heard of."

    While Marbles Yoga Studio seems to have all the right qualities for a fantastic establishment for the exercise and spiritual healing yoga can provide, not everyone treats it as such.

    Last year the Missouri Department of Revenue concluded that Marbles Yoga Studio and other yoga studios must charge a 4% sales tax to patrons.

    Most services, such as yoga classes, are not generally charged sales tax around the country. By the Missouri Department of Revenue announcing the provision, it seems that, in their view, yoga is more entertainment or recreation than a key to a healthy lifestyle.

    "It’s very weird to start taxing yoga," Karen says. "My very strong opinion is this. The country, the state, the city know there is an overall problem in this country with obesity and people being unhealthy. For them to start taxing something that helps fight that problem makes absolutely no sense."

    In fact, Karen thinks that the state should do the opposite of taxing.

    "They should give subsidies for people doing yoga as opposed to taxing them. I just think it makes no sense to tax what the country values as a helpful change from the country’s problems. Let’s see, we want people to be happy and healthy, but let’s make it difficult for them. It’s just so ironic."

    While an organization called The Spirit of Yoga actively fights against such taxes, Karen can only continue with her personal goals for her studio. She hopes to continue with the fine tuning of Marbles Yoga to a great running machine.

    First, however, will be the introduction of her DVD which premieres sometime next month.

    "The DVD will be much more different than people might think or be used to when it comes to instructional yoga. This one will be much more artistic and entertaining than what people have seen. I’m really excited about it."

Photography by: Richard Nichols