By Erik Fay and Susan MacCulloch
“Pivot” is often used to describe adaptation during our “new normal.” Two local fitness studios that opened for business earlier this year initially held classes indoors, then revolved more than once to outdoor, indoor, then again to outdoor sessions.
Summer Moon Yoga Studio opened in January at 2910 Franklin Blvd., on the same block as Hop Gardens. The business name joins the names of its owners, Summer Ward and Cassidy Coelho, whose nickname is “Moon.” The pandemic facilitated the owners’ creativity by expanding their vision of a more open, inclusive and outdoor practice of yoga. They have conducted yoga classes at Camp Pollock, Soil Born Farms, and at multi-day yoga retreats at several locations in the El Dorado National Forest. Summer even practices yoga on a paddle board in a lake.
Outdoor classes were held prior to the pandemic, but it facilitated the addition of more open-air sessions. Virtual classes are also offered.
Neighbors can observe Summer Moon yoga classes taking place at the north end of Curtis Park at 26th Street and Donner Way. The studio also offers a beginning hooping series of classes (remember Hula Hoops?) in the park.
Visit their website at thesummermoon.com or go to Facebook (The Summer Moon Sacramento) for their calendar of classes and retreats and sign-ups, or call 916 443-6535.
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Married couple and co-owners Brandon and Sofia Ferrante opened Power Pack Fitness in January at the former power equipment storefront at 2932 Freeport Blvd. They offer group classes and personal training featuring boxing, boot camp and barre classes. The studio was open just seven weeks before the March shelter-in-place orders.
During the shutdown of gyms, the couple used this time to install various features and protocols to ensure a safe workout when in-class sessions could resume.
While they reopened to indoor classes during the brief window in June/July, now all classes are held outside or virtually. Their “fancy gym is now a storage unit,” says Brandon.
Their parking lot now hosts boxing/ kickboxing sessions and boot camp. Barre classes are held in a park, and yoga is offered in virtual sessions.
They continue to offer personal training but now outside in the back area of the studio. Adapting to the summer heat, there’s a shade tent, a wind tunnel and misters. “We adapt as we go,” Brandon says of personal training. There is a pre-screening for COVID symptoms before each session.
For more information, visit powerpackfit.com, Instagram, Facebook or call 209 627-6953.