"My dream has been to own a studio where people are safe... and have teachers feel like it is their studio," led Darcy Elman during our wide ranging and lively conversation over (not too sweet, just right) chai in the conversation nook at her newly opened Palo Alto yoga studio, The Blue Iris. A tad off the beaten path, you’ll find this serene and funky location just a half block off El Camino at Margarita Ave.
Ms. Elman is a certified Pilates Mat and Anusara (inspired) yoga teacher with a lifetime background in body and movement centered healing arts. Her areas of study and certification include Alexander Method, Visionary Cranial-Sacral therapy and she has taught at many of the area studios at some point as well as in Alaska and at the Quan Yin Acupuncture clinic. Expert at postural analysis and healing, Ms. Elman brings to her new endeavor as yoga studio owner an acute eye for how the practicalities of running a studio shape the culture for teachers and through them for the students studying there. Her deep appreciation for the skill, knowledge and experience of the teachers she’s assembled is apparent whenever she talks about their classes, which she takes regularly.
Though she’d been dreaming about this studio for at least two years, she knew that in order to pay teachers what they are worth she’d have to be wise in her lease budget. She’s quite clear about the teachers as the backbone of the studio. “I wanted to have a business where I’m integrous,” she noted and as a teacher herself she understands intimately what they put in to facilitate the life changing and healing classes they offer. “They bring so much.” Part of her mission is to heal the “dichotomy or void between beautiful spiritual presence and business.”
After dreaming and searching with such specificity, she was prepared when she heard from a friend about the space that is now the Blue Iris. It was “the exact amount I said I’d pay,” accounting for costs of remodeling. The studio was previously an industrial feeling room used for kettle bell workouts, a business which recently moved just across the street. Her landlord has been welcoming and she was able to rent, remodel and open the studio in the two and a half months after Labor Day.
To create the light, refreshing atmosphere that is the Blue Iris, a good deal of remodeling was required. The mostly white interior is softened by the natural light entering the second floor windows lining two entire walls of the space. The blonde hard wood floors are clear for practice, with props well organized along the far wall. As you enter, you are greeted by a business manager, leaving the teachers free to greet and consult with their students, while setting a meditative, collegial atmosphere. An adjacent settee and capacious chair are illuminated by an enchanting chandelier in a space lightly demarcated by the soft grey tones of the gardenia painting above the armchair. It’s a room that makes you want to exhale.
Ms. Elman remarks that above and beyond certifications and experience, she chooses teachers for “the presence they hold as a person... how they hold their Shakti and beautiful containment.” All styles are welcome in this boutique yoga studio.
Ms. Elman’s own teaching focuses on rehabilitation and a “softer approach... rooted in meditation practice to begin and end.” She’s created the very place for this sort of practice, “a place to come that’s not high maintenance, and I [the student] can be exactly where I am and the teachers are going to support me where I am.”
The Blue Iris embodies lightness of being, gravity of mission and alignment of posture and intent and is a welcome and unique contribution to the yoga community of Silicon Valley.
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