Yoga nuts has will have a new place to gather next week in the Ballard Blocks building on 15th St NW and Leary Ave NW. It’s called CorePower Yoga.

CorePower Yoga is part of a larger chain of yoga studios (the company prefers the term “network”) with over 60 studios all over the States. The company itself is based out of Colorado.

The Ballard location isn’t your typical tiny, hole-in-the-wall, simple square room. It takes up a solid 6,250 sq ft of space and has three separate studios, two locker rooms (one boys, one girls) and a spacious front desk/lobby area. When the Ballard News-Tribune went to check the space out last week, while the group was still putting their finishing touches on, it promised to have an appealing, trendy look with fresh carpeting, wave-like designs on the windows and some of the fanciest, coziest locker rooms one could ask for, replete with separate, personal shower stalls for all.

The studios are about what you would expect from a yoga place: large rooms with hardwood floors that you can roll out your mats on and mirrors on all the walls used to help align posture (or for gazing at yourself).

One unique offering that may prove popular with Northwest cycle-warriors are the CorePower “Ryder” classes, which can be used in conjunction with yoga for cross-training purposes. In one of the studios, stationary cycles which move from side to side -- mimicking what an actual bicycle does -- will be setup for this class.

There will be five different yoga teachers teaching 16 classes a day. Goble said that they wanted to be flexible with people’s schedules so that anyone could drop in at any time.

The studio is run by manager Sarah Goble, who has been teaching since 2003 and with CorePower Yoga since 2005. She said she came to yoga after experiencing a lot of stress and anxiety about what she wanted to do in life -- in other words, she was a typical, young postgraduate with no clue what to do. She said she couldn’t find anything she was truly passionate about. But eventually, she found yoga.

“For me it was sort of a way to be more focused and balanced and accept where I am … and be more grateful for who I am,” she said.

Practicing yoga also happened to be her entrance into a career teaching and managing at yoga studios.

“I started taking yoga classes and finally things started working out,” she said. “Doors started opening everywhere.”

Goble said that yoga has many benefits, like reducing stress, relieving anxiety, getting a good workout, and -- as was the case for her -- increasing one’s focus and allowing one to get a bearing on life.

But perhaps most importantly, Goble wanted people to know that yoga isn’t just about sitting around, breathing and meditating. “It’s also really fun!” she exclaimed.

She said each person comes to yoga with their own expectations and goals, and that she and the people at CorePower Yoga were dedicated to helping people meet those goals, whether it be a form of meditation and relaxation, or a way to lose a few pounds.

“Come and try it and see what it is for you,” Goble said.