Owner of yoga studio in Park City opens second location in Lehi
Melissa Garland worked her whole career to land a job at a top technology company. But after she did get the “dream job,” she was presented with another opportunity she did not want to let pass.
Garland, the owner of Tadasana Yoga, recently expanded the business and opened a studio in Lehi, leaving her career in technology behind. It is the business’s second studio in Utah after its main location in Quarry Village.
Garland took over the yoga studio in 2013, after the former owner approached her and asked if she was interested in running the business. Garland had a background in business, and she knew she wanted to own a business one day. She never imagined it would be a yoga studio.
She had been a patron of Tadasana Yoga since 2008 after moving to Park City with her husband the previous year. She was working in the tech industry when the opportunity to take over the businesses arose, and she figured she could own and operate the studio on the side while continuing her day job.
She took a job with Adobe shortly after acquiring the studio and began commuting to Lehi. While spending time there, she was shocked by how rapidly the area expanded.
“Every week there is a new office building going up and there’s a new home development going up. It’s absolutely insane,” she said. “It doesn’t take a lot of brains to go, ‘Yoga might do well here.’”
But, Garland knew she could not take on a second studio while working full-time at Adobe.
She made the choice to focus on her yoga business after observing an instructor training class hosted by Tadasana. She said the course not only taught the yoga movements and poses, but also self-inquiry. The instructors wanted to ensure that teachers’ minds are clear when they lead a class.
As Garland listened to the instructors talking about eliminating stressors, Garland knew she had to make a choice. She would miss the tech industry, but she would miss hearing from students about the meaningful experiences they had in her class even more.
“Nobody in Adobe ever came up to me and said, ‘Wow, what you did yesterday really changed my life,’ whereas that happens on a weekly basis in my yoga studio,’” she said.
The day she quit Adobe, she drove around the Lehi and Alpine area to find a location to open a studio. She found a 4,200-square-foot space in the summer, and she opened the studio on Dec. 20.
She has enjoyed building up an audience in a different area. She said she loves building a community with the people who come to the studio.
As the population in Utah continues to grow, she said she plans on finding more opportunities to open additional locations.
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