Photo by Erin Nelson.
Ashley Clarke leads a yoga class at Earthkeeper Yoga, a new studio in Cahaba Heights.
In 2018, Ashley Clarke was on the mat at Villager Yoga, about to start teaching a yoga class when she saw her phone ringing.
It was her sister, telling her that their mother was dying, and she needed to come say goodbye.
“I just remember sitting there,” Clarke said. “It was a safe place to be.”
As she got up to leave, Jerri Jordan, one of the regulars at the studio, “gave (her) the sweetest hug,” Clarke recalled.
Her friends at Villager Yoga helped Clarke get through a difficult time in her life, just one of the ways this “sweet community” showed its love, she said.
So, when Clarke learned that Villager Yoga’s longtime instructor, Annie Damsky, was retiring, she knew she had to keep that community going. In early August, the business transitioned over to Clarke’s Earthkeeper Yoga, which she started as an individual teacher in 2017.
Yoga and being in nature healed Clarke in the wake of her mother’s death, and can help others, she said.
“Nature is medicine,” Clarke said. “People need to know what’s in their toolbox.”
All but two teachers from Villager Yoga decided to stay, and the group includes a nature poet, as well as Clarke, who is a certified mindful outdoor guide. The ages of participants range from young people to an 84-year-old, Clarke said.
Some are cancer survivors, and some have suffered from traumatic brain injuries, and people from all walks of life and occupations participate.
“We’re just such a beautiful group,” Clarke said. “You name it; we’ve got it.”
Earthkeeper Yoga
WHERE: 3150 Overton Road
PHONE: 205-475-5443
WEB: earthkeeperyoga.com
Clarke said that openness was something she felt when she first started going to Villager.
There will be 21 regular classes on the schedule, seven days a week, and classes will also be offered outside, including a forest nature therapy guide. Outdoor classes will be seasonal depending on weather, Clarke said. The studio also offers education opportunities to “deepen our relationship with the natural world,” Clarke said.
The group also partners with the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for weekly mindful walking and yoga classes. Clarke said there is also a new outdoor class beginning Sept. 19 called HOGA, held at Red Mountain Park from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Clarke has personally worked with the University of Alabama at Birmingham to create nature experiences for the UAB community, she said.
There will be a wide variety of classes, including prenatal classes, chair yoga, healing yoga and more.
The different classes open the door for many people to benefit from what Earthkeeper offers, Clarke said. Yoga can be stressful for many people, and Earthkeeper seeks to resolve those issues, Clarke said.
“They worry that they don’t look like the person next to them,” she said. “Focus on yourself. Tap into what our physical bodies are telling us.”
Clarke said during the yoga classes, participants will learn tools that will help them, such as focusing on stress and how to relieve it.
The studio opened Aug. 6 and is at 3150 Overton Road. For more information and to register for classes, visit earthkeeperyoga.com.
