Reflections on 10 Years of Running a Yoga Studio

Yoga Rise Blackpool has been part of this town for ten years now. It didn’t start out with that name, or with much more than an idea and a feeling I couldn’t shake.

Looking back, I can see that the studio began taking shape long before I found the building.

Finding the practice

Yoga came into my life in my early twenties, something I enjoyed alongside rock climbing, nothing more serious than that. It wasn’t until I moved to Liverpool and found the Liverpool Iyengar Yoga Studio that it became a regular practice. I was there three or four times a week, soaking up every class and workshop going, and practising at home between them. The method’s close attention to alignment and posture engaged me completely; I found it mesmerising, and my asana practice grew very strong in that period. The teaching I received and the knowledge I gained gave me the foundation for everything I teach today, and I’m so grateful for that time.

Before then, I’d only ever practised in church halls and community centres, and I want to be clear: you can practise anywhere; it’s the internal experience that matters, but there was something about that studio. It sat on the first floor of a Georgian terrace, with high ceilings and big windows, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that I was later drawn to a building with the same character. I think that the energy that builds up in a room used for nothing else is unmistakable. The peacefulness. The consistency of coming back to the same place, week after week. I loved all of it.

India calling

I made two trips to India during those years. In 2007, I spent three months travelling from north to south, studying Buddhism at the Root Institute in Bodhgaya and practising yoga in ashrams across Rishikesh, Goa and Kerala.

The whole experience was extraordinary, especially travelling alone. I feel fortunate to have experienced it before smartphones. I relied on my beat up lonely planet guidebook, questionable internet cafes and conversations with strangers. There were no messages constantly pulling me back home and no pressure to stay in touch. That distance gave me freedom and made it easier to be fully present. Each day came down to simple questions: what did I want to do, where did I want to go, and did I fancy company or quiet?

I learned a lot, met wonderful people and grew as a person. Those memories still live in me with complete joy.

Learning to teach

After India, I spent some time living in New Zealand and didn’t return to the UK until 2009. It was then that I began thinking seriously about teaching yoga myself, and I took a foundation course with the Inner Yoga Trust in Manchester. I fell pregnant with my first child soon after, so the full teacher training had to wait; then I fell pregnant with my second, and it wasn’t until 2013 that I was ready to begin.

I trained with Yogacampus. At the time, they ran a wonderful eighteen-month course. It was non-dogmatic and taught by a large faculty of hugely experienced teachers, giving us real exposure to different approaches and opinions rather than one teacher’s view. It’s also where I met Charlotte Spink; neither of us could quite believe there were two people on the course from Blackpool. By 2014, I’d qualified and was teaching straight away.

Through Jane Craggs, the course also introduced me to a breath-led practice. That path eventually led me to my teacher today, Mark Whitwell, and to the study of yoga as taught by Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and his son, T.K.V. Desikachar, the two teachers whose pictures now hang on the studio wall. Their approach, coordinating movement with breath and adapting the practice to the individual, continues to shape my understanding of yoga today.

Church halls and dance floors

My first classes were held in the old Methodist church hall in Bispham. Plenty of people came, and I learned an enormous amount. It had its funny moments too: there was the class when the male voice choir started rehearsing next door, which was not quite the vibe I was going for, and the time the caretaker burst in mid-savasana, convinced we were having some sort of sleepover.

From there I taught at a few local gyms and at the Back Room Studio, where I think most Blackpool yoga teachers have done a stint. Then came the old Hilton hotel, where I taught on the dance floor of Springs nightclub, disco lights and sprung floor included. I loved those classes. Many of the original Yoga Blackpool students first practised with me there, some remembering the venue fondly from nights out in their youth and never imagining they’d be doing yoga there.

Finding the space

All through this, I was looking for a venue of our own. I knew the difference a dedicated studio could make because I’d felt it myself in Liverpool, and I wanted to give other people that same experience.

I looked for years before I found it: a first-floor space on the corner of Red Bank Road and the promenade, above what used to be an RBS bank, overlooking the sea. It had the same character I’d fallen for in the Liverpool studio and a kind of raw, unfinished promise. I could see exactly what it might become one day. I wanted it badly.

The answer at first was no, so I waited. For the best part of a year, I kept dreaming about the windows, the light, the parquet floor and the high ceilings. I kept pestering, and eventually the no became a yes. I signed my first five-year lease, which felt enormous at the time, and my landlord was supportive from the start.

What followed was around three months of renovating, decorating and cleaning. My partner Adam and my amazing friend Natalie were the absolute best through all of it; they worked incredibly hard alongside me, and I’m so grateful for that support. It was a lot to manage around the children and Adam’s work, but we got there.

On the 10th October 2016, I opened the doors as Yoga Blackpool and taught our first class.

The early days

Back then, the landscape was completely different. When we first opened, we didn’t have a booking system. Early students will remember the loyalty cards with their little Om stamps and the tin where all the pound coins went, a class cost £6. One night, people just kept coming until we had to carry the desk out into the hall to make more room. Classes sometimes reached more than thirty people, which still amazes me. We barely posted on social media; word of mouth and good old-fashioned leaflets carried us.

By our first anniversary, we had introduced our first booking system and grown to four regular teachers, including the incredible Natalie Ward, Claire Nutton and Charlotte Spink, true Yoga Blackpool OGs. We were also beginning to expand beyond the regular timetable, inviting teachers from further afield to run workshops at the studio.

For me, the studio always had to work around family life. Teaching term-time only was one way I managed it. I was a mum of school-aged children, so I taught through the terms and took proper breaks in the holidays. It became a lovely model in its own right rather than a compromise. Seeing the same faces term after term meant we really got to know each other, and having the holidays free with my children helped enormously.

Unexpected visitors

The studio has welcomed a few unexpected visitors over the years. One morning in the early days, Damon Albarn from Blur came to a class. There was only one other person practising that morning, and afterwards the student and I looked at each other and said, “Do you know who that was?”

More recently, the comedian Henning Wehn paid us a visit. Beyond yoga, many different people have used the studio to film and create content over the years. It has served as a setting for a short film and TV interviews, and as a rehearsal space for world-champion ballroom dancers, which feels about right for a studio in Blackpool.

COVID, and coming back

Then COVID happened and, like everyone, we had to close. It was a real shock. I found it incredibly hard to shut the doors, and I didn’t know how we would keep the studio going. Thankfully, there was enough support available to help us continue paying the bills.

With my children home from school, I decided to take that year away from teaching rather than move my classes online. But I missed it, and I think the studio missed us too, sitting empty for all that time. I know many of you missed it as well.

When restrictions lifted, we renovated again and reopened, initially with classes capped at eight and online sessions running alongside them for the first time. It was wonderful to see how keen people were to return. Classes filled quickly, and I felt so happy and grateful that you wanted to come back to the studio. Things were beginning to make sense again.

Not long afterwards, I opened the doors to other yoga teachers and wellbeing professionals in the area. There were many more local teachers by then, and I could see that renting the studio to others would give me room to teach a little less and allow others to enjoy the beautiful setting we had created. Many of those teachers, including some former students of mine, already knew and loved the studio and began running their own classes there. For the next few years, that model supported local teachers and brought new people through the door.

Stepping back to go deeper

Around this time, I noticed something in myself. I loved teaching and talking with people, but I wanted to work more deeply with them, one-to-one. My interest in psychology, neurodiversity and inclusive practice had been growing.

I’d already trained with the Mindfulness Network, in mindfulness-based approaches for stress and for recurring low mood, and that work opened my eyes properly to how much practical, individual support people carrying anxiety and depression often need, more than a class alone can give them.

So I took time away from teaching to study full-time: a foundation course in counselling and psychology first, then a BSc (Hons) in Reflective Therapeutic Practice at Metanoia Institute. These days I’m a registered member of the BACP, working as an integrative counsellor and neurodiversity coach alongside the studio, with a particular soft spot for supporting women exploring later-life ADHD and autism diagnoses.

The relaunch

The studio was ticking over perfectly well under the rental model, but something was missing. It no longer felt centred on the students. Classes ran, people came and went, but the sense of connection that mattered to me had thinned out. I wanted to bring it all back together.

There were also changes I had wanted to make for years but had never had the time or money to pursue. My ideas had lived in my head for a long time without anywhere to go.

In 2025 I secured investment through the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, via River Capital and GC Business Finance. The funding finally gave me room to act on those ideas and grow the business beyond what I could have managed alone. Just as importantly, having River Capital believe in the plan gave me the confidence to see it through.

That’s why Yoga Blackpool became Yoga Rise: the studio was rising to its next chapter and its next decade, and we were doing it together through yoga and community.

We relaunched in January 2026. It has been hard work and emotional at times, but I haven’t done it alone. With Lucy Colgrave and Katie Nicholas providing invaluable operational support, and our incredible Yoga Rise teachers bringing the studio to life, we have become a real dream team. We’ve learnt so much and continue to work hard to improve every part of the student experience, shaping what we offer around what our community actually wants. I’m still amazed by what we have built together in such a short space of time, and by the wonderful feedback we have received from students and teachers alike.

Going into business, growing it and managing it can be really scary. Having the right support and the right people around you is what makes it possible, but you also have to trust your own instincts.

To anyone thinking of launching something of their own, I would say: go for it. I knew when I found the studio that it was right, and the relaunch asked for another step of that same courage. Seeing so many of our original students and teachers stay with us and rise through the changes means the world to me. I am utterly thrilled by what we have done together.

Why this blog exists

This blog is part of that same idea. It’s a way for anyone connected to Yoga Rise, teachers, students and guests, to tell their story and share something that might help or inspire someone else. It doesn’t have to be about yoga. It can be about wherever someone is in life, the things that have helped them and the experiences they’ve had. Our students’ voices matter as much as our teachers’ voices, and this is one way of making that true in practice, rather than only in principle.

Ten years on

I’m not teaching weekly classes at the studio anymore, but my heart is still entirely there. I continue to manage every aspect of the business alongside my other roles, and my focus has shifted towards building a future in which Yoga Rise can continue to grow and flourish.

2026 has been a huge year for me. I turned 50, completed my first degree and relaunched the business as Yoga Rise. There has been a great deal of hard work, but things are coming together. If, like me, parts of your own life have been on hold while raising your children, it is never too late to begin a new career, build a business or return to education. At 50, I’m still discovering more about who I am and learning to offer myself greater compassion, trust and respect.

There’s a word in yoga philosophy: dharma. It is often translated as duty or purpose; to me, it points to the work that is genuinely mine to do. For the last decade, my children and the studio were both part of that dharma. My children came first, and every decision I made about the studio was shaped around them.

They are teenagers now, and life has changed somewhat. My dharma now is to ensure that the studio is still here in another ten years, continuing to flourish as the landscape of yoga changes around it.

Reflecting on it, this studio found me, in a way. Seeing it through, carrying it forward and one day handing it to the next person, or people, who will take it further feels like exactly what I’m meant to be doing.

To everyone who has ever walked through our doors, and to every teacher who has shared their wisdom along the way: thank you. And here’s to everyone still to come.

Story by Yoga Rise Blackpool founder Angela Ross