Awaken: Yoga & Creative Arts Studio in downtown St. Albans in May; Nature-themed business to offer forage products, artwork and yoga classes | News

ST. ALBANS – Downtown St. Albans is getting a new nature-focused yoga and arts studio.

Awaken: Yoga & Creative Arts Studio, which will be located at 13 Center St. in downtown St. Albans, is currently slated to open in May.

In a way, the move is something of a comeback for business owner Katherine Hartson, who started learning yoga in the same space in 2014. Eight years later, she’s logged more than 1,000 hours in as a yoga teacher and she hopes to transform the space into a creative focal point that encourages connectedness, community and mindfulness.

“I’m excited to see this whole trip and I’m coming back to what I always wanted,” she said. “It hasn’t hit me yet that I’m in this space.”

In practice, Hartson’s new venture is something of an amalgamation of the various business pursuits she started pursuing full-time in the summer of 2020. The root that ties them all together is her love of nature.

“It’s my muse, you could say, being in nature,” she said.

She plans to prepare the space to reflect that love. She has a few local artists signed up to help her create a large forest mural to welcome those who enter through the gates of Awaken, and many of the services and products she plans to provide are also directly related to her connection to places. wild.

As a yoga instructor, she explained how she uses connection with nature as a way to explore mindfulness – to encourage her students to explore the sights, sounds and feelings associated with being in the wood.

She also plans to physically bring the blessings of nature to her new space. For the past several years, Hartson has traveled to farmers’ markets throughout the region to sell the wild edibles she’s been able to pick all over Vermont, such as raspberries, elderberries and pumpkin heads. fern. Awaken’s customers will be able to directly buy what she has found in the area.

The third major service she seeks to offer revolves around her artwork, which often reflects natural forms. At the studio, she plans to sell her creative work and encourage others to pursue their own creative endeavors.

Hartson, for example, has helped organize and host paint parties, including Paint and Sips, at private venues. She hopes to do the same in her studio to be opened, as well as making painting sessions available to anyone interested. Basically, she would have hours of operation where people could spend a small fee to use her supplies and pursue creative ideas.

Between classes and events, people will also be able to relax at the studio in a small lounge area that Hartson plans to set up in the back where people can connect and drink soothing tea.

As for Hartson’s love of nature, she said it stems from her experiences exploring her parents’ 200 acres of woodland as a child. Over time, she discovered that she felt more at peace when walking in the woods. She could find a quiet place there to relax and ignore the noise associated with everyday life.

She said her connection also allows her to notice the wild beauty that can often be discovered in the woods or find the wild edibles that grow her business.

“Anyone who walks with me in the woods is going to love me or hate me,” she said. “I constantly stop and point things out.”

Hartson said she started looking for food after she started taking a closer look at what grew in the woods, and she learned what could be eaten and what shouldn’t by looking more closely. close books and online forums on the subject.

Now she’s using social media to find out what might be available in the area, and she’ll set off at the right time to pick up raspberries, wild grapes and cherries “before the birds catch them.”

Awaken will be one of at least six new retail sites popping up in downtown St. Albans this spring, near the intersection of Main and Center streets. Other businesses include Bootlegger Bikes, Hangry the Donut Bar, Kaijuu Kitchen, Nourish, and Epiphany: Hypnotherapy & Massage.