10/07/2026
One month from today, Blue Banyan turns 20! 🎉
For the next month, we want to share some stories about where we came from, starting with how we ended up here on Sprague Street in Mt Airy.
Our founder and owner Sophie shares where it all began...
"In 2006, around the corner from my Mt Airy house, a former brick foundry was being renovated. At the time, I was teaching in the area and had a vision for a neighborhood Yoga studio.
"When the building began advertising 'Studio Space Available,' I couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that this could be the answer to my dream. There were several exceptional yoga teachers raising children in the area who were excited about working closer to their homes, and as a mother of a nursing newborn and a 3-year-old myself, the location could not have been better.
"In April of that year, I met with the landlord (who turns out to be one of the most wonderful humans I've ever known). The single finished space was on the third floor. It was simple: a long, narrow rectangular room with windows on either end, across the hall from a residence and above a garage space.
"The building itself was on a one-way street, under a bridge that early GPS programs did not recognize. I immediately saw that many of the conceived negatives were positives and fed my vision. This ‘off-the-beaten-track’ location offered plenty of parking, privacy, and a sanctuary-like environment; a room with little to no distractions.
"When my husband, Chris, walked into the room and said with utter confidence and conviction 'You can do this, and it's going to be great,' he supported my vision: a space that would offer a sense of community, where inclusion would be fostered, a studio where practitioners could experience a well taught, safe class, that also incorporated Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga, and a space that offered Spiritual refuge to all who were seeking it. Chris walked by my side as I realized this vision.
"And so we did, and here we are, almost two decades later.
"Of course, all the confidence and conviction in the world won’t keep a business running.. We are here, so many years later, because of our dedicated community of Yogis and Yoginis, who show up day after day on and off their mats to keep us going…"
