BATON ROUGE, LA (BRPROUD) – A moment of Zen was the goal of Brittany Roberts and Allie Zuber when they created Leela Yoga in January 2020.

They both found a passion for yoga years ago and decided to open their own studio.

“We were yoga teachers together for a few years and when that business closed down is when we decided to partnered up,” Roberts said.

Little did they know the whirlwind of year that was about to hit.

“Literally we went live on Instagram, moment’s notice. Stephanie, one of our teachers, was like put me on. I just took her phone put it up against the wall and we were live. I think we were one of the first studios to go live during the pandemic,” Zuber said.

Opening a new business in the midst of a global pandemic is far from ideal but Roberts and Zuber remained positive.

“It’s a time that none of us have ever experienced right? Individually, collectively, we were thrown for a loop. So, when things like that happen, even the CDC, the first recommendation was practice some yoga and do some meditation through this,” said Roberts.

The pandemic inspired them to find new ways to connect with members.

“We’ve branded ‘Geax with the flow’ right in March because you got to go with it right? So, we started zoom yoga classes. First in the city and we are the only one’s continuing to do it best that I know of,” said Roberts.

They teach meditation and breathing techniques, a needed skill in times of uncertainty and stress.

“Sometimes you just need some space to sit and learn to breathe and be still and we teach pranayama yoga, which is yoga breathing. It just teaches you how to take some deep breaths throughout the day. We are caught up chest breathing, and stressful breathing and a lot of times people don’t even realize that’s how we breathe so we have classes for that,” said Roberts.

As the world re-learns how to live, Roberts and Zuber continue to put out peace and comfort into the world.

“We’ve made it through one of the hardest years ever and we got creative and did thinking outside the box in order to stay alive and keep the members happy ad staying with us and I think we’ve all gotten closer through all of this,” said Zuber.