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Yoga devotees in Alamance County now have a studio designed just for them.

Susan Hearn and Mary Faucette opened Om Shanti Yoga on May 18. The studio is for people of all experience levels, including beginners, and offers classes for adults and children.

Six certified teachers, including the owners, will lead classes.

“They’re all experienced and have been teaching yoga for a while,” Hearn said.

She and Faucette said they’re eager to help others experience the feelings of peace and escape that yoga can bring.

“I can have the worst day and step into a yoga class ... and just leave feeling renewed and refreshed,” Faucette said.

Yoga helps with mental and physical wellbeing, she said.

“You’ll slowly start to see changes in your sleeping, your eating,” after practicing yoga, Faucette said.

At the time Om Shanti Yoga opened, local residents were limited to practicing yoga in churches and hospitals, Hearn said. The friends designed Om Shanti Yoga so the floor, lighting and sound are ideal for practicing yoga.

Hearn has taught yoga for 12 years. She owned a yoga studio near Cleveland before her family moved to North Carolina.

“One of my most loyal members in Ohio was 80,” Hearn said. “She was amazing.”

Hearn also has worked as a nurse, which helps put her students at ease, she said.

Faucette has a master’s degree in sports psychology and is the parks supervisor for the city of Burlington.

She began practicing yoga five years ago and felt a calling to become an instructor.

Faucette coaches the children’s swim team that Hearn’s son is on.
“We came in contact with each other for a purpose,” said Faucette, who grew up in Chatham County.

The friends decided to name their studio Om Shanti because om is the basic sound of the universe and all things, and shanti means peace.

“Yoga for me is totally about peace,” Hearn said. “Peace in my body, peace in my mind.”

The studio has mats and any other equipment students may need to use for a class.

Single classes cost $12, but package rates also are available. School students get 25 percent off all class fees. The first class is free for everyone.

Also, the studio will sell some yoga supplies, organic soaps and lotions, soy candles, tea and jewelry.

Contact Jamie Kennedy Jones at jamie.kennedy@gmail.com or 449-4610.