Namaste

Longtime Austin yoga studio closing last locations after 20 years

Yoga Yoga has operated in Austin for 22 years.

Yoga Yoga, a fixture in Austin’s yoga community for over 20 years, is shutting down, according to an August 13 email from the financially troubled business.

Yoga Yoga’s two remaining locations are at 2167 Anderson Ln. and 4477 S. Lamar Blvd. The August 13 email, sent to current and former members, says Flow Yoga will take over those two spaces. Flow Yoga is looking at hiring former Yoga Yoga instructors and staff, according to the email, and is offering a special promotion for former members of Yoga Yoga.

The email doesn’t specify why the company is shutting down, only that it “can no longer continue operations and will be closing.” At its peak, Yoga Yoga operated studios at 12002 Burnet Rd., 1700 S. Lamar Blvd., and 2501 S. Capital of Texas Hwy.

Representatives of Yoga Yoga couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

A July 2 email to current and former members was the first public acknowledgment that Yoga Yoga was facing financial problems. That email alluded to “Yoga Yoga’s financial crisis,” but didn’t go into detail.

The email also sketched out a plan for recruiting equity partners to restructure Yoga Yoga as a “member-owned community-based entity,” though, that plan didn’t seem to materialize.

After the July email circulated, CultureMap sought comment from one of the organizers of that effort and was told the people behind a potential rebirth of Yoga Yoga weren’t ready to make an “official statement.”

The July email referred to Yoga Yoga as a “rare and precious” mainstay in Austin.

“Its diversity of practices, people, and teachings is unparalleled,” the email says. “Our sense of diversity in community is the reason why we believe that it is worth saving, and it is clear that this needs to be done from the grassroots up: by us, for us. To do so, we need to explore equity investment to fuel what’s next.”

Founded in 1997, Yoga Yoga was one of the first yoga studios in Texas, according to the August mail. Over its 22 years of existence, Yoga Yoga taught more than 100,000 classes to hundreds of thousands of students, trained several thousand yoga instructors, and hosted presentations by nationally and internationally known yoga teachers.

“We believe that our teachers have contributed to the lives of countless individuals and, in a small way, to the entire Austin community, its energy, its heart, its kindness,” the email says.

closings

Keeping The Lights On?

ERCOT meteorologist predicts higher chance of extreme cold this winter

Photo courtesy of KVUE

ERCOT says it has improved its reliability, but other Texans aren't sure it's enough.

The lead meteorologist for the state’s power grid operator, ERCOT, is predicting both a warmer winter and a higher chance of extreme cold.

During a Tuesday board meeting, Chris Coleman said current climate patterns are very similar to those in 2021 when a winter storm knocked out power for millions of Texans for several days.

“Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have [Winter Storm] Uri, but it does again say that we’re in a pattern that supports something like a Uri this winter,” said Coleman, ERCOT's supervisor of operational forecasting.

Coleman compared his winter forecast to a tornado watch: The conditions are there, but the storm may or may not happen.

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told KVUE on November 25 that he doesn’t expect calls for conservation or rolling blackouts.

“We're ready for those kinds of conditions at ERCOT,” said Vegas.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Vegas touted nearly 3,000 weatherization inspections since 2021 and more than 10,000 megawatts of new generation added to the grid since March, mostly solar and battery storage. ERCOT estimates 1 megawatt can power 250 homes on average during peak winter demand.

However, Texas energy consultant Doug Lewin questions that math.

“[We are] better off than we were in February 2021 but not out of the woods,” said Lewin, who authors the Texas Energy and Power Hour newsletter and hosts the Energy Capital podcast. “We don’t have a system that’s resilient enough to deal with a Winter Storm Uri.”

Lewin points to two main reasons: a natural gas supply system he says is not adequately winterized, along with inefficient homes and buildings that push demand beyond supply.

“We have to bring that demand down and do that by increasing the programs we have for energy efficiency to replace inefficient heat with much more efficient forms of heat, like heat pumps.”

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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