Business & Tech

'It's addicting. It's cleansing' It's Hot Yoga Largo

Hot Yoga Largo is the first and only dedicated hot yoga studio in Largo. Instructors bring over 45 years of experience and incorporate core strengthening, balancing and power yoga in each 90 minute class.

There’s a new studio turning up the heat in Largo and it’s calling all yogis. It’s Hot Yoga Largo and since their opening last month, yoga enthusiasts have flocked to the studio for their expertise and their calorie burning classes. 

Instructors with a combined experience of overs 45 years lead students through a hot power yoga class that incorporates core strengthening, balance and vinyasa flow (vinyasa is a type of yoga that involves moving from one pose to another in a systematic flow). 

It’s the one place in Largo where you can increase your flexibility, build strength, work on your soul and burn 500 calories in 90 minutes. 

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“It’s addicting. It’s cleansing,” said Mike Meehan, an instructor at the studio.

Owner Shawn Geurin got the idea of opening up a hot yoga studio after having some beers with friends. Geurin is no yogi. He’s just a business man who saw a niche that needed to be filled. 

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A few months ago he met friends for drinks at a microbrewery in Safety Harbor. When Geurin walked into the brewery, it was empty. 

But the parking lot was full, he said.

He took another look and noticed the hot yoga studio next door was popping. Geurin, owner of Shawn Geurin & Associates, Inc. a property appraising company in Safety Harbor, had an unoccupied large office space in Largo off of Walsingham and Vonn Road. After seeing how interested people were in hot yoga, he had a plan for that empty space. 

“Everyone was going to yoga. So I went online, did some research and found that there wasn’t a dedicated hot yoga studio in Largo,” Geurin said. 

Although several possible tenants came forward for similar things like a karate studio, they all fell through in the end. 

Geurin decided to take the plunge. He brought two yoga instructors, who specialize in hot yoga, to his studio. 

Within a month, the studio went from a couple of students to a full class. 

Dawn Storm, one of the instructors, has taught for six years. She found yoga after she injured her knee in martial arts training. Storm was a practicing martial artist for three years when she tore a ligament in her knee. After about two years of re-injury she left martial arts and walked into a vinyasa yoga class. 

“Pretty much right away I knew I wanted to be an instructor,” Storm said, “How to explain the poses came naturally in my head.”

Although Storm’s classes are power yoga focused she modifies poses to accommodate students of all levels. For Storm, yoga is more than exercise. It’s healing both for the mind and the body.

“My knee kept on sliding out of the socket. I strengthened it through yoga..and I was always looking for that mediative element,” she said. 

Meehan was introduced to yoga 40 years ago. He’s tried it all but says that hot yoga is more beneficial to the body. 

“Because of the heat you can get deeper into the stretches...Plus hot yoga seriously flushes toxins out of your body,” Meehan said.

“You spend and hour and a half in a 100 degree room you’re leaving a lot of impurities on the floor,” he added.

Hot yoga is recommended for everyone. However for those who have had a serious injury in the past or suffer from physically limiting ailments a doctors clearance is required. All poses in yoga can be modified to fit the level of the practitioner. 

“I give options where anybody from a beginner to an expert can find some version of the poses that suits their level. Nothing in their hurts,” Meehan said. 

 Hot Yoga Largo offers classes everyday. Their grand opening specials are:

  • First class is free
  • Monthly unlimited (30 days): $50
  • Package of five classes: $45
  • Package of 10 classes: $75

 What to bring:

  • Yoga mat (they are available for rent, $2)
  • Water (water at the studio is $1)
  • Towel ( you will sweat a lot, so bring a towel to place on your yoga mat and one to wipe down with)
  • Wear comfortable light clothes (you're going to sweat, a lot!)


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