In the world of yoga, everything begins with finding balance. For Greenfield native Rachel Velez, that balance arrived this February in the form of a studio in Shelburne Falls — a “serendipitous” find that turned a long-term Craigslist search into a permanent community home.
After moving to the village this past August, Velez opened Harmony, a new collective yoga studio at 55 Bridge St., on Feb. 2. The studio launched with a diverse roster of Vinyasa flow, restorative yoga, meditation and contemporary dance classes, with plans to expand its offerings in the coming months.
“I envision Harmony to be a collective where community can be nurtured,” Velez said. “Community can come to move, whether that’s through Pilates, dance or yoga.”
Velez said the name Harmony came from her love of music, as well as the association the word has with balance, a word commonly used in the world of yoga.
“The name Harmony comes from two things: I have a very musical background, and I’ve been practicing yoga for a long time,” Velez said. “In yoga, you’re finding balance with your body and your breath, so it felt like a really good choice.”
Velez has been practicing yoga since high school and became a certified yoga instructor in 2021. Since then, she said she has been teaching classes at locations around the county, including monthly “Yoga on Tap” classes at the Brewery at the Four Star Farms. She’s enjoyed bringing yoga to these locations, but also dreamed of having her own studio one day.
“Every six months or so, I’ve gone to Craigslist to look at open studios, knowing that I could probably never make it happen, and one day I looked at this space that just became available, and then everything just fell into place after that,” Velez said. “It was very serendipitous timing, everything just worked out and it’s kind of the perfect spot.”
Prior to its transformation into a wellness space, Harmony was home to the Jeremy Sinkus Glass Gallery. When Sinkus moved his work to the Mill at Shelburne Falls, Velez was able to take over his lease and move into the unit on the far right side of the building.
The space was virtually move-in ready with recently refinished floors, she said. While Velez noted that “you don’t need much for a yoga studio,” she personalized the unit by adding wall mirrors and a vibrant green accent wall.
Velez said that her goal is to teach some classes at the studio while collaborating with independent instructors as a way to diversify Harmony’s offerings. This collective approach is also intended to help her balance the studio with her full-time career as an advocate for domestic violence survivors.
Currently on the studio’s schedule are Vinyasa flow classes on Mondays at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7 a.m.; restorative yoga on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m.; and meditation and mindful movement on Tuesdays at 7 a.m.
Velez said the schedule has not been set yet, but Kaci Bashaw will be leading a contemporary dance class at the studio, and she is in talks with other instructors to potentially bring Pilates and caregiver-and-me movement classes to the studio as well.
“I’m so grateful for other instructors to come in and offer more for the community, so I don’t have to burn myself out,” Velez said.
Classes are $20 for a single class, $90 for five classes, and $120 for a one-month unlimited pass. Velez also offers a sliding scale for those who may find the cost a barrier to practice.
“I did a lot of comparison with other studios in the area and reviewed what I’ve been charging for my own classes at other locations, so that’s how I came up with the base option,” Velez said. “I really don’t the price to be prohibitive to people to come move and practice.”
She added that the studio has everything one needs to practice yoga, but participants are welcome to bring their own mats to class if they prefer the one they use at home.
Velez said that yoga is a great practice for improving mental and physical wellness, and she is excited to share her practice with the Shelburne Falls community.
“I’m a very anxious person, and I’ve tried a lot of things but yoga was just always the thing that made me feel the best,” Velez said. “It really helped ground me and makes me feel at peace. It means the world to be able to share that practice with other people who may need it.”
She added that she wants people to understand that her studio is welcoming of all shapes, sizes and experience levels.
“I think people get nervous or intimidated by yoga, but I want to change the stigma around that. You don’t have to be a certain body type, look a certain way or be super bendy and flexible,” Velez said. “Yoga is for everyone.”
For more information or to register for a class, visit harmonyshelburnefalls.com.