SPRING HAS SPRUNG!! HaPpY APRIL!!!!

APRIL is Here! Easter is Here and the rain in the Air has brought us beautiful greenery and snow capped mountains!!! We welcome all of our local and out of town students alike to embrace the beauty and surround yourself with Gratitude!!!!

New to our Bikram Yoga El Paseo STUDIO: We also welcome our Monthly Tibetan Bowl Soundbaths by beautiful Nieves. This month it’s April 15th at 5:30pm. Get into your double bubble and sweat out the toxins at one of our Sunday classes then come back to get your ZEN OMmmm….. bring mats, blankets, pillows and whatever else will help you to relax!!

AND of Course, our LOVELY LINA is guiding Intermediate Class Workshops two times a month. If you are interested please contact Lina so she can put you on the thread to update you with the class schedule for that!
On a personal level, I am GRATEFUL that my beautiful Mother is turning 90 this month!! YES NINETY !! WOW! NOW THAT’S A MILESTONE! I’ll be heading to Chicago for her big 9-0 Birthday Celebration so I’ll be taking a few days off to go celebrate with my family in Chicago!! I’ll miss my peeps but know they are always in good hands with my fabulous teachers!!!

Hope to see you in the hot room sooooon!!

Namaste’
Ann Marie xo

Our NEW YEAR Welcomes a NEW CLASS!! Join Lina on Saturdays at 1pm (2x month – 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month) to take your practice to the next Level with our INTERMEDIATE WORKSHOP CLASS!! STARTS SATURDAY Jan 13th!

Treat yourself after the workshop with a 15 minute – COMPLIMENTARY “Soundbath Savasana” by Nieves on Select Saturdays!! There is NO PLACE LIKE hOMe!!!!!!!

($15 Member Drop In /$25 Non Member Drop In)
See you in the hot room soon!
Namaste`
Ann Marie xo

HAPPY NEW YEAR !! HAPPY NEW YOU! COME GET YOUR SWEAT ON! ALL CLASSES AVAILABLE DURING THE HOLIDAYS!!!

Have a very safe and beautiful holiday season!!
Namaste’

Ann Marie and Bikram Yoga El Paseo Teachers and staff

Blah blah blah Bikram Blog…. Trip Down Memory Lane/Anniversary Edition

Bikram Yoga El Paseo celebrated our 11 year anniversary on August 1, 2023. As we move into our TWELTH YEAR of providing a health and well being service I take pause to reflect on the past 11 years. I feel very blessed and proud of all my accomplishments despite all the trials and tribulations of arriving to this place.

I fell in love with the Bikram Yoga series back in 2004 when I discovered its tremendous healing properties when my spine was failing me and threatening my Dental Hygiene profession. Shortly after my consistent yoga practice began, I staved off back surgery, lost weight and became more fit in my 40’s than I was in my 20’s. Seven years into practicing, and with a desire to spread the love and help others I went to Bikram Yoga Teacher training in 2011.

While in teacher training I deepened my practice, became a certified teacher and forged amazing relationships with dear Forever Friends!!!! Shout out to my OMAZING Roomie Katty Bateman and my OMAZING posture clinic partner, Gordon Pfeiffer!!! Training was a once in a lifetime experience and I can’t think of two people I would have rather went through it with than them!

A year into teaching at my home studio, of which I attributed to saving my spine and giving me my life back, I was informed of the sad news that our studio was facing permanent closure. With larger, fancier facilities / competition moving into the desert, our sweet, intimate studio began to suffer. Ultimately ownership couldn’t hang on and had no choice but to sell.

I was a full time Registered Dental Hygienist at the time and never dreamed of completely switching gears and careers. When I was approached by students and current management to try to resurrect the studio I felt very conflicted. How could I, alone, possibly go up against the changing times and larger facilities??? I agonized , I contemplated scenarios, and I prayed for the answer.

I met with Bikram Choudhury and he convinced me to take on the challenge and gave his authorization for me to own a Bikram Yoga School. In July 2012, I committed to keeping the school open. I met with the previous owners and purchased the school from them before they closed the doors, and I assumed their lease. I felt empowered at ribbon cutting surrounded by family , friends and students!

I got right down to business with announcing new ownership, rebranding, and updating signage and propaganda! Shout out to my dear friend Timm Bennett for tirelessly working on the designs! Ice Sculpture extraordinaire, he even carved a huge Buddha Ice Sculpture to celebrate at one of our Yoga parties!

My first 3 years were an up hill battle. I kept all class packages priced very low and honored all the previously purchased ones that were paid to the previous owners. I didn’t even break even. Worse I was dealing with staffing issues and student complaints about other students and teachers. I kept the faith and forged ahead and continued working in Dental Hygiene to supplement the studio!

As owner I’ve had to make the tough decisions along the way and take the brunt of conditions beyond my control, sometimes with financial ramifications that seemed insurmountable. I had to replace equipment, remodel the facility inside and out, and hire and fire teachers and staff. Not fun but the buck stops here. Through it all there were a couple core students whose support was above and beyond and for that I am truly grateful!

Shout out to all the core students who were with me from the very beginning and are STILL supporting my efforts today!

A great heartfelt of gratitude goes to Amit Katz, Ana Stockwell, Mary Lester, Robin Hendricks, Bill Cardone, Maureen Ross, Mary Lloyd, Katheryn (Mia) Alvarez and Craig Rosenblum! As Barry Manilow would sing, “we made it through the rain” (… and I would add… AND the flood 💦 😬 )
I started a gratitude campaign to thank my loyal supporters and Fashion Week El Paseo became “Gratitude Week El Paseo”. Great memories every year treating my Fashionista Yogini and Yoga dudes to an evening of fashion , food and fun!



One year I surprised my Yogis to fun day golf outing. The real surprise came when they saw mats rolled out on the tee boxes and they had to complete a yoga pose before teeing off!!😂🤣😂 They all got a laugh and quickly obliged!


Along the way we had some amazing accomplishments and have tried to give back to our yoga community and our greater community wherever we could.

We had several 30 Day Charity Challenges that helped various charity organizations. My favorite was the one that helped a local child. One of my Dental coworkers told me about a youth who lost his leg and the parents couldn’t afford a prosthesis. We did a 30 day charity challenge and a golf tournament at my home course at PGA WEST and raised money to help buy his prosthetic leg. I threw a party at my house for the challengers whom raised the money and for the recipient family so we could present them with their check!

In 2015 I shared my timeshare rooms with my yoga community and hosted a Yogi Cabo retreat in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. My dear friend Gordon came and donated his teaching services so together he and I provided all the classes complimentary to the students! When we weren’t yoga~ing on the penthouse terrace , we were swimming with the dolphins, beaching, salsa dancing and salsa tasting, swimming , spa~ing and tequila tasting! That trip was amazing and is in the memory bank forever!


We hosted a cancer charity Sound Bath fundraiser to help ZABE with medical bills and we donated our time and talents to help out another cancer charity for children at the annual St Jude golf tournament!

Along the way we had some set backs.

Despite our efforts to save Zabe she lost her long term battle with Cancer -RIP ZABE ~ forever in our hearts; then another student tragically and senselessly shortly after she became a member ~ RIP JESSICA! Their picture ornaments adorn our Studio Christmas tree every year as a remembrance to their beautiful souls.

AN THEN… There was the “great flood” ….When my landlord decided to finally fix a leaking roof he hired a company that left the roof replacement in mid stream while the workers went on Christmas holiday. It was wet December and the skies opened up and my entire studio flooded. We were homeless and shut down for about 2 weeks while scrambling to put together a temporary space. We then moved in to a tiny one room unit. Special thank you to Jenny Groat and Katheryn Alvarez who helped me make that move!!! The repairs on our main facility that were supposed to take a month lasted 3 1/2 months and I had both students and teachers jump ship. My core students held on and we persevered!

Just when we were back on track and flourishing, Covid struck and another shut down. I started ZOOM classes with a twist and invited one special “Guest Student” at a time to my home where I did all the taping poolside. I made it a surprise guest so the zoom viewers were always excited to see who would appear and jump in the pool!!!

One time I invited 10 people and had a “guest group” ! Don’t worry , they were all evenly spaced 6 feet apart! 😉
We made lemons out of lemonade and always tried to have fun regardless of the situation.

During the Covid shutdown , I provided the zoom classes complimentary but still had to pay various bills at the studio. I had a generous donation from one of my long term members to help me keep the hOMe fires burning! Big shout out to Bill Cardone for his generosity!!

Students like that give me the inspiration to continue to pay it forward. I prize myself on helping lower income students and those turning their lives around who can’t afford the yoga with big discounts, comped classes or work trade options. I have a huge sober living community that I provide special pricing to when they are in rehab and starting their sobriety journey.

Post Covid I felt a lot more gratitude from our yoga family and out of town visitors alike. The yoga was a real lifesaver during the crazy , Covid uncertain times. Moreover, with so many studios altering / diluting the pure original Bikram Series, there is such an appreciation for the 90 min class in which we have maintained consistently on our schedule. Even our 60 minute 6 pm classes offer the same intense integrity as the 90 minute classes without altering the infamous spine series.

A week hasn’t gone by that I don’t get a phone call from out of town students passing through commenting to me about how great it is to find “a real Bikram Studio whose focus’ is on the full 90 minute prescription.” Our returning guests also have that expressed gratitude that I have kept the doors open.

One of the most difficult things about ownership is quality staffing. I definitely would be remiss if I didn’t extend a very special shout out to my TWO STAR TEACHERS!!!! Finding teachers who are qualified to teach are a dime a dozen ~ but finding compassionate, selfless employees who truly care about the students and the studio and go above and beyond is another. Shout out to Carolina Castro and Alix Spears who truly understand the plight of an owner and contribute accordingly without making it about themselves personally. In 11 years I never took an entire summer off. This summer was an exception and I while I have still had my fingers on the pulse and handled all the administrative duties remotely, I certainly could not have managed without them!!

One final shout out goes to Dennis Guest, our jack of all trades who helps out whenever and wherever as needed. He has helped teachers set up and check students in if they were running late, and he has guided classes in an emergency to avoid last minute class cancellations. He makes sure our mirrors and windows are clean and he makes all the new students feel welcome. He pretty much heads up our sober living program community needs and cultivates the morale of members. He even drives me and picks me up at airport on occasion texting me that “Yogi Wheels Uber” is on the way. Did I forget to say he always makes us laugh? When I removed Buddha from our Zen Garden to have it painted, it wasn’t long when Dennis “filled in” there too.. 😂🤣😂

Ok~ one more final shout out goes to Watermelon 🍉 Joe (who’s also Ahi and Yellowfin Joe) Unless your lips have touched his sweet, juicy watermelon after a hot , sweaty, sweltering class you have no idea how thoughtful and invaluable his gifts are! Fisherman extraordinaire, he also generously hands out his fresh catch and he has often surprised me with a homemade juice after class! Namaste Joe Abercrombie!

We are family. We care about each other, we watch over each other and we appreciate each other!

Our facility may not be big or fancy but the health and wellness we provide is priceless. I always refer to our studio as the ‘students studio’ ; the small yoga studio with BIG Yogi Heart! We were founded by passion and sustained by gratitude!

Congratulations to students and staff that through all the ups and downs over a span of ELEVEN YEARS have persevered!

It’s tough to sum up 11 years in one sitting so I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Is there something you can recall of honorable mention and wish to share? I’d love to hear!

Can’t wait to start a new and exciting 2023-2024 season! See you in the hot room soon!

Namaste’
Ann Marie xo

Blah, Blah, Blah Bikram Blog! LIFE in HARMONY

BIKRAM YOGA EL PASEO is all about BALANCE AND HARMONY!! As the seasons change so do we!
Temperatures are rising outside of the hot room which means it’s almost time for SUMMER SPECIALS and SUMMER HOURS!!! It’s the time of year that we tell Yogis to come inside the ‘HOT’ room and “cool off” from the Deserts high heat! 105 Degrees doesn’t seem so bad when the temperature outside fluctuates between 110 and 120+ degrees!!

This Summer our owner Ann Marie celebrates YEAR 11 of ownership!!! WOW!! Time sure flies when you are sweating out toxins!! This is the first time Ann Marie will be taking the summer off and allowing her well oiled machine that she has nurtured for the past 11 years to keep the OM fires burning.

Full Time Teacher, LINA CASTRO emerges to the forefront in Ann Marie’s absence and will take on the role of Studio Manager to keep the Summer Hours Schedule running smoothly so that the studio can stay open for all you Die Hard Yogis – Please reach out and thank her when you have a chance. We have also added a Studio Coordinator to keep the hOMe fires burning behind the scenes and she will make sure the studio stays stocked and inventory levels of beverages and paper products are well at hand. She will be responsible for studio cleanliness and laundry and oversee studio payroll and daily bookkeeping. PLEASE WELCOME: APRIL FISCHER to our TEAM!!!

SUMMER SPECIALS WILL START JUNE 1ST:
~ NEW STUDENT SUPER SPECIAL: $70 for FIRST month for BRAND NEW LOCAL RESIDENT STUDENTS to our studio – DRIVERS LICENSE required to purchase this special! One month unlimited after that will be regular price or one can sign a 12 month auto debit contract at the reduced rate of $115/ mo OR purchase a summer special- below. (REGULAR ONE MONTH PRICE: $165)
~ 3 MO SPECIAL FOR $330/1 MO for $120 – CAN PURCHASE THROUGH AUGUST 15TH

SUMMER HOURS will start JULY 1st and Run though Mid October and will be as follows(Take a picture so this is readily available):
SUNDAY: 10am & 3pm
MONDAY: 6:30am & 6pm($17commuity class)
TUESDAY: 9am & 4pm
WEDNESDAY: 9am & 6pm($17community class)
THURSDAY: 9am & 4pm
FRIDAY 6:30am & 4pm
SATURDAY 8am & 10am

Ann Marie will be in and out all summer so one will never know when she will appear to take class, teach class or just pop in to see her OMazing yoga community!!
Life in Balance
Life in Harmony

Have a GREAT SUMMER YOGA PEEPS!!

NAMASTE`