Jenna Blair Yoga in Shrewsbury grows from side hustle to second studio

A yoga business that started as a side hustle during the pandemic is now growing into a second studio in Shrewsbury. Jenna Blair Yoga Wellbeing Centre, based on Belle Vue Road, is renovating a disused building next door to its first studio, which will more than double its space.

Founder Jenna Blair discovered yoga in 2017 after a series of bereavements. "Yoga was transformative," she said. "Yoga was everything I needed at that time." By 2019 she was running test sessions, which grew to five classes a week alongside her day job as an estate agent.

She had only just become self-employed when Covid arrived and was not entitled to financial support, so she taught in the local park, in outdoor spaces and online. On a lockdown walk at the end of 2020 she found a dilapidated building, and with the help of her brother-in-law it was renovated during 2021 into the studio the business has used ever since. Start Up Loans helped with fitting out that first studio, and a second loan is now supporting the expansion, which will add another yoga studio and four rooms for holistic services.

The centre offers yoga classes, workshops, teacher training and retreats for all ages and abilities, from babies to people in their nineties.

In 2022 Jenna set up a not-for-profit arm, which pays teachers to provide free and subsidised sessions for people who could not otherwise afford them, including refugees, NHS workers, mums and babies and SEND groups. It has secured £70,000 of grants, and Jenna is working towards charity status.

One highlight is Yoga for Cancer. Lingen Davies has awarded the centre more than £14,000 for a third year running, so the gentle classes remain free for people living with and recovering from cancer. They run four times a week in three locations: at the Belle Vue studio, in Church Stretton and now in Newtown, Powys.

James Turner of Lingen Davies said more than 200 people have attended the sessions and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. A donation from Supreme Homecare has also funded free gentle yoga for cancer classes for 16 to 24-year-olds.

Jenna Blair Yoga is at 143A Belle Vue Road, Shrewsbury, SY3 7NN. To see the timetable and book a class, visit jennablairyoga.co.uk.