Elevated Yoga announces closure before year's end

Longmont’s Elevated Yoga announced the studio will be closing on November 20 due to an increase in rent for the property.

“This was not our plan, but as we have learned many times before, so much of this life is outside of our control,” the studio’s closing announcement reads.

The building at 320-24 Main Street was sold and the management company, Market Real Estate out of Boulder, began updating leasing rates to meet market standards for the area. The lease for Elevated Yoga’s space was first up and studio owner Monica Fitzpatrick said Elevated Yoga won’t be able to meet the new cost for leasing the space.

“There’s only so much the market can handle for the price of our services,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to increasing cost of classes to try and match the new lease.

Fitzpatrick said the decision to close was an impossible one, but in the end it was the only choice. Even adding new classes, the small studio would not be able to increase the revenue enough to keep the doors open. The studio kept its focus on small classes, accessibility and meditation over more strenuous styles of yoga practice.

Fitzpatrick inherited Elevated Yoga from the original owner, George Zarnowski, in 2018 when Zarnowski went on to teach yoga internationally. Managing the studio and teaching classes was fulfilling, Fitzgerald said, and the smaller class sizes helped the studio survive the pivot to virtual classes and space restrictions during the pandemic. 

Before she learned the building was up for sale, Fitzpatrick and her staff had already begun renovation work in the studio. New floors were put in during the month of May and a mural installed along one wall. By July the sale of the building was finalized and Fitzpatrick was left with a difficult decision to make. 

Fitzpatrick made the official closure announcement on September 20. She wanted to close the studio properly, to give enough time for her students and teachers to process the news and make peace with it.

“It’s not my yoga studio, it’s their studio and I just pay the rent,” Fitzpatrick said. “A yoga practice is giving yourself time before you give yourself to others. The hundreds of people we’ve had walk through that door to take a breath not only changed them, but rippled out through the community.”

Fitzpatrick was mournful about the closure and the connections made but wanted to be sure students and teachers still felt honored by the time before the last day. The studio valued  holding space for each other and sharing breath, Fitzpatrick said, and even when the studio closes she’ll still find ways to bring that philosophy to the community.