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16 | Thursday, April 24, 2025 Forest Lake Times
Yoga Branch expands to Forest Lake
HANNAH DAVIS News Editor
Stacy VanOrnum grew up dancing, even pursuing a dance education at the University of Nevada- Las Vegas. While her career has now taken her into the legal field, yoga has taken on her love of the connection to her body and movement that dance had once given her.
“ I was missing movement, and that attracted me to go into yoga,” she said.“ But once you go, that’ s not why you go back. You don’ t go back for weight loss or movement, or physical, you go back because of how it makes you feel.”
When she moved to North Branch, she wanted to build community, and she found that community by starting The Yoga Branch yoga studio there in 2011. She leased a few locations before buying a home in North Branch, creating a space on the first floor for a yoga studio there. It was that space that kept her afloat during COVID. Then in 2024, she married and moved to Forest Lake, where she had noticed there weren’ t any yoga studios. So, keeping that North Branch home – which she now rents out the upper levels, while still maintaining a yoga studio presence in North Branch – she found a new yoga home in the first floor of the Town Square Building in Forest Lake for a Forest Lake location of The Yoga Branch. It’ s there that the teachers share the lease, something that VanOrnum says has helped each teacher feel a sense of ownership and community.
Yoga, she said, is a great way to ease into a workout regimen, especially for older clientele that may have issues with balance or movement.
“ People that have never done yoga before that are still doing it with me to this day range from
Yoga Branch owner Stacy VanOrnum grew up dancing, but she found a new love through practicing and teaching Yoga.
people in their 20s, to I have a student who has been with me the whole time, and he’ s 76,” she said.“ He swears it helps his golf swing, and he’ ll never quit.”
Her only rule mobility-wise is that students need to get down onto the floor and up off the floor on their own, since there’ s no accessibility equipment.
“ People think you need to be flexible, and you don’ t. I actually prefer beginners that aren’ t flexible,” she said, because she worries less about injuries. She later added:“ As we get older, it gets harder to move. This is a little bit of an easier way to go into that. I think it’ s a more gentle way for people that despise the gym and then don’ t do anything. Of course it’ s nice if you had a yoga practice and cardio practice – that’ s great balance – but if you’ re not doing anything, it’ s a great start.”
But what makes yoga different from a basic stretching class, according to VanOrnum, is breathing and meditation. VanOrnum says these yoga classes aren’ t spiritual in nature by teaching, though if a student wants to create their own spiritual experience in the class, that’ s just fine.“ It’ s not a religion. It’ s not woo-woo,” she said.“ But I guess it depends on what you do with it. You can come into class, I’ m just going to guide you through poses and
breathing. What you think about while you do that, I have no control over that. It’ s totally up to you. … it is all what you make it.”
One thing that may be different at The Yoga Branch than other yoga studios is a lack of mirrors. As a dancer, VanOrnum was used to looking at her body in mirrors in the dance studio as she worked to perfect various dance positions. But while teaching a yoga class many years ago, she heard a woman exclaim how much she didn’ t think her body looked good while doing certain poses. It struck a chord, and from that point on, she would cover up mirrors in her class so students would think about the experience instead of how they looked.
“ In dance, every movement you do is to look a certain way aesthetically. And in yoga, everything you do is to make it feel good for your body. It has nothing to do with aesthetics.... I don’ t want people to look in the mirror and get caught up in their image,” she said, adding:“ It’ s like building a relationship with your body, honestly, because most people detach. People are like‘ Oh, I don’ t like my hips, or my thighs,’ and they just ignore that part of their body. It’ s this weird separation, and it’ s just rebuilding that relationship and meeting yourself where you’ re at. And it’ s the exact opposite image for me of dance.”
VanOrnum has kept that focus as she’ s built her studios in both North Branch and Forest Lake.
She hopes to grow not just Yoga Branch, but is also supportive of new yoga studios to come to Forest Lake, too.“ It’ s a big enough city to have more than one yoga studio,” she said.“ We can be complimentary towards each other.”
The Yoga Branch’ s schedule can be found at theyogabranch. com.
PHOTOS BY HANNAH DAVIS
There are no mirrors in Yoga Branch’ s studio, a purposeful choice made by VanOrnum as she doesn’ t want students to be distracted by how they look.
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