Sue Brooks first got involved with The Woodlands Yoga Studio as a student when it opened in September 2004.

Now, 12 years later, Brooks owns the studio and has seen the business grow to be more successful as the years pass.

“I’ve been here the whole time—from a student to a teacher and then to an owner,” Brooks said. “We’ve been successful since opening. When I took over, I did research on the growth of The Woodlands. I decided to take on the studio, and [students] have doubled.”

The studio offers 39 classes a week and nine different varieties of yoga, some of which include Vinyasa flow, basics, Yin, gentle, senior and prenatal.

Brooks said there are 18 instructors on staff, and the studio holds the largest amount of Yoga Alliance-certified instructors in the area.

“The Yoga Alliance certification is the gold standard,” she said.

Brooks herself is the highest rated instructor and holds an E-RYT 500 certification. The ‘E’ signifies she has put in 1,000 hours of teaching as a Registered Yoga Teacher with 500 hours of training.

“I’ve had years of dance and aerobics,” she said. “I always knew I’d end up doing yoga.”

Brooks said the studio has classes for age groups ranging from seniors to children and offers four different levels of classes for beginners.

“We have a very wide variety for lots of people to choose from,” Brooks said. “Our customer base right now is around 2,000.”

Aside from offering a variety of classes for students, workshops are held occasionally during which top yoga instructors from New York City and California come to the studio to help instruct students.

The studio also partners with Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital to hold a free breast cancer survivor class for women to take part in as a support group. Also, for those who would like to teach yoga, the studio offers teaching training that is sanctioned by the Yoga Alliance.

“People are really loyal here,” Brooks said. “We support each other. We’re unique because we have support of the community.”

Brooks said this support was especially evident when the studio was damaged due to flooding from a historic flooding event in mid-April. All the floors in the studio had to be replaced, and the studio was shut down until May 11.

“We just opened back up, and everything has been replaced,” she said. “So we’re here, we’ve survived the storm, and the students have been coming back. We’re strong.”

Brooks said in the future she would love to expand the studio, but it is hard to tell at the present time if it will happen. As for now, she would like to continue helping students be healthy.

“Our instructors really want to help people get well,” she said. “I feel that when a student comes through the door that they are putting their body in my hands. I want them to move, walk and breathe, even at 80 years old.”

• Vinyasa flow: A yoga class during which movement is synchronized by breath and covers a broad range of yoga classes. This class is for the intermediate advanced and for students with a strong yoga practice of a year or more.
• Yin yoga: A slow-paced yoga class that focuses on the connective tissues, such as the ligaments and bones of the body and targets tissues in the hips and pelvis. It is a good class for beginners.
• Gentle yoga: A good class for beginners during which poses are done slowly and methodically with an emphasis on building strength and flexibility.
• Basics: A slightly elevated class for beginners in good physical condition and who can move slightly quicker. The class teaches Sun Salutations, standing poses and forward bends and twists.
• Restorative yoga: A deeply relaxing class during which poses are held while being completely supported with blankets or blocks to help achieve the desired benefit. Poses are designed to help open the lungs and release tension in the lower back.