New yoga studio opens in Vermilion

VERMILION — For 15 years, Megan Lake-Smith nursed patients and taught others to be nurses, treating patients with a range of illnesses. "I just kept seeing people in the hospital, and by the time we got our hands on them, they were so sick," she said. "It was a like a lifetime of doom of going to the doctor every six months and staying on pills." Smith, who has a master's degree in nursing, started looking at health and wellness differently. She quit her job teaching at Lorain County Community College, launched into yoga classes and fast-tracked her certification to teach that discipline. And just after the new year, she opened her own studio, Tranquil Lake Yoga and Wellness, 678 Grand St., in Vermilion. The career shift even surprised her a bit. While studying yoga, she wanted to change her focus from treating illness to naturally preventing or reversing it. How so? By enhancing movement and exercise and promoting emotional well-being through the practice of yoga. "Those endorphins and serotonin levels go up when you start moving your body, your muscles start to loosen up, and you're doing this beautiful deep breathing, and you realize you feel fantastic like you can take on the world," she said. When first approached to open the studio, initially she refused. It was the middle of a pandemic. Where would the money come from? Would customers come? But the offer became too good to be true while helping her husband, Kevin Smith, renovate his new business in Vermilion. They already operate the Railway Barber Shop in Avon and, last year, opened a second location in Vermilion now beside the new yoga studio. More instructors are coming on board, and the studio offers group fitness, including cardio and Pilates, belly dancing classes to work on core strength and yoga classes such as weight-lifting sculpting and toning classes. There will be six instructors, and she hopes to offer five classes a day. She has seen an enthusiastic influx of people coming in, just happy to be out of the house and moving. The equipment is sanitized, mats are distanced, and safety guidelines are followed. "I'm hoping to get people to change their mind about exercise. It's not about how they have to look. I'd say 75% of my classes are beginners, and probably 40% haven't left their house in six months," she said.