Business Spotlight
Root Down Yoga
Root Down Yoga
A Place that is All Heart
Experiences Heartbreak
Root Down Yoga created a community teaching people how to care for their own physical and mental well-being. The employees and students are like family for owners Nick and Mandy Roush. On Sunday, October 4, 2020, they had to announce the indefinite closure of a business that was thriving seven months ago. Here is their story.
Closed Indefinitely
Our stress-relief outlets closed in 2020 with limited options to reopen.
Movie theaters, performing arts centers, fitness studios, and more are sporadically open or closed.
Our usual outlets for mental relief are dark.
More than a Yoga Studio
A Community.
People bond over exercise. (Yes, there are studies showing this).
Even before 2020, people craved connection. Fitness studios like Root Down are a natural attractor. They have that vibe. It happens naturally and organically as part of being a yogi.
People walk into Root Down’s steaming room for hot yoga and walk out cleansed. It’s some people’s third place.
Owners Nick and Mandy Roush created a community.
The Tears
Nick has told me several times to not suppress emotions when it’s appropriate to express them. Feel them. They are real.
Today, I told him the same as he cried.
Through circumstances completely out of his control, his wife’s dream business that was thriving seven months ago closed Sunday. They spent personal savings to keep it going.
The tears shed by Nick and Mandy aren’t about the money. Far from it. You will hear why the more than $10,000 they earned holding “Karma for COVID” classes went to charities.
The Roush’s tears are shed because the couple must release the employees and students after working so hard to support them financially, physically, and mentally for seven months.
Their sorrow is due to realizing they may be walking away from the thriving community, perhaps, forever.
Five Weeks Ago
This interview was shot when Nick and Mandy were realizing the decision they had to make, but still had hope.
You will still hear joy. That was gone today.
You will see the life that surrounded Root Down Yoga prior to 2020. Today the physical studio stands empty.
The hope is that it remains in people’s hearts if (when) it is able to reopen.
This is their story.
Today, I told him the same as he cried.
Through circumstances completely out of his control, his wife’s dream business that was thriving seven months ago closed Sunday. They spent personal savings to keep it going.
The tears shed by Nick and Mandy aren’t about the money. Far from it. You will hear why the more than $10,000 they earned holding “Karma for COVID” classes went to charities.
The Roush’s tears are shed because the couple must release the employees and students after working so hard to support them financially, physically, and mentally for seven months.
Their sorrow is due to realizing they may be walking away from the thriving community, perhaps, forever.
Donate to Charity
There are two things Nick and Mandy Roush ask of you, in true Root Down Yoga style.
1) You change your habits so that other businesses owners don’t feel this pain. Slow online sales. Be intentional about doing business locally. You have the power to save jobs, families and dreams. They need hope.
2) Click here to give by October 18 to charity through their Karma for COVID Class. You don’t have to attend, but you are welcome to. This will be the Root Down’s last gift.
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