CityView Magazine

18 Januar y 2022 BY COURTNEY PHILLIPS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM THE SHAPE WE'RE IN Family Fitness in the New Year FEATURE A restful void appears where the festive tree loomed. No longer underfoot, shiny new toys have settled into a new home. Nary a stale gingerbread man, forgotten cherry cordial or lowly fruit snack remain in a cupboard stripped bare of excitement. Even the stubborn oak in the backyard is dropping leaves, finally ready for something new. Dutifully, we sorted out luck over a big plate of black- eyed peas, collards and cornbread. e clean slate we crave is now. A New Normal In this brave, new world, online subscription services offer a mind-boggling array of fitness opportunities for novice and expert alike. Video games create engaging platforms for kids and families to exercise together. Fitness centers utilize peer-to-peer teleconferencing to connect with loyal clientele. Yet, the supply of pricey equipment has eclipsed demand aer a year-long dearth. No longer must we leave the comfort of home to exercise. But we want to. Mind and Body Atop the list of new exercise gizmos and gadgets of 2022 isn't a gadget at all, it's a focus on mindfulness. Since 2001, Angie Tolman, owner of Living Balance Studios, has strengthened countless minds and bodies with the practice of yoga. Until March of 2021, Tolman conducted private lessons in a cozy, quiet upstairs suite of McPherson Square. "If you told me two years ago that I would own a group studio, I would have said you were crazy," Tolman said. "A lot of soul searching" resulted in a yoga haven that employs 29 instructors, including Tolman, and conducts 50-60 private lessons and 25 group classes each week. Located in the same center, but downstairs in the former home of Morgan's Chophouse, Tolman's renovated studio opened to the public the very week Gov. Roy Cooper loosened restrictions enough to do so. "Our community needed it," Tolman said. Boasting the area's only hot yoga classes Boasting the area's only hot yoga classes and semi- private Pilates classes with machines, Living Balance also offers a wide assortment of group classes, a kids' class, a teen class, private lessons and even a free class every Thursday night, aptly named Karma Yoga. Angie Tolman Kalei Phree and Courtney Faiello play the flute during a private Sound Bath at Living Balance Studios.

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