A new pose

A lot has changed since Rachel Braafhart debuted Re-Wire Yoga Studio in summer 2018.

Located in Maytag Building 2 of Legacy Plaza, just below The Cellar Peanut Pub, the scenery and structure of the studio itself has shifted slightly to allow more room for instructors to teach a full class of fellow yoga enthusiasts. Despite some recently frigid temperates, interests in the studio’s regularly scheduled classes continue to grow.

Of course the most obvious and notable difference is the studio’s new identity and branding, a change which originally occurred in November.

Re-Wire is now recognized as a branch of Sequoia Fitness Yoga, a Pella-based practice owned by Katie Douglas. The Newton studio remains committed to creating a community and is still chiefly operated by Braafhart. With the merger comes even more changes to the studio, but differences Braafhart says is for the better of her members.

Those registered at Sequoia Fitness now have dual membership status at both locations — with no change in price — and have access to an abundance of events, training sessions for yogi hopefuls and new classes not limited to just yoga, including tai chi. Collaborations with other local businesses have also helped Sequoia Fitness host yoga-inspired events for the public.

“When you have two studios, obviously, it’s a little bit easier to host bigger events,” Braafhart said. “One of the biggest events that we’ve recently been doing regularly is we teamed up with the Peanut Pub here in Newton to offer beer and yoga classes. That has gone over so well.”

Stationed in the open room in the far end of the Newton-based pub, yoga instructors follow through with the flow and queue sips of whatever beverage participants wish to use for the monthly class.

Inhale mountain. Exhale forward fold. Grab your beer. Inhale mountain. Exhale tilt chair pose. Take a sip.

“Then we’ll do balance poses with it and have little challenges,” Braafhart said. “It is a freaking blast! People love it. It’s upbeat. It’s just fun. We’ve had about 35 to 40 people the last time (in December), and they were so pumped. We had people from Des Moines come in for it ... It’s kind of the highlight of my month.”

Although Braafhart is still the lead instructor, the transition into Sequoia Fitness has allowed the Newton yoga studio to expand its class offerings and bring in guest trainers for specialty classes. Many of which travel from Pella to Newton to introduce Jasper County yoga fanatics to new practices.

“It provides a different face, a different teaching style,” Braafhart said. “If they want to try something different or they want a new instructor, then they have that capability.”

Likewise, Braafhart occasionally travels to Pella to teach classes at the Sequoia Fitness home base. She added the partnership between her studio and Sequoia Fitness spawned a few months prior to the opening of Re-Wire. Douglas and Braafhart formed a business relationship. The two regularly swapped studio advice and insights.

Recognizing they had complementary skill sets, the two began looking at ways they could partner. After several ideas didn’t meet expectations, both owners decided to merge their businesses under Sequoia Fitness. Braafhart said this was the best move for both studios.

“This is going to offer so much more to people, it’s going to be better for the businesses, we both get to jump ahead a little bit further than what we do single-handedly,” she added. “My studio will get to jump ahead like a year or so, in certain aspects, by joining up with Sequoia, which had already been functioning for almost two years.”

Braafhart said she was excited to give members more advantages through the merge. Positive feedback about the studio from the community told her people were excited to have a yoga practice in the area.

“I wanted to be able to give them more of that,” she said. “That was one of the best parts about joining. But having someone else to help do the backend work and bounce ideas off of is nice. Katie and I have loved to be able to have that partnership and not try to wear all the hats all the time by yourself.

“We’re able to do more now. We can take on these other tasks and take on these other ideas like the beer yoga because we have some more support now and we have some more resources together.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com