Soul Fire Studios: Yoga, healing & vibrant health

Tucked away on a tree-lined street in Nether Edge, Soul Fire Studios is a serene space that invites you to deepen your understanding of yoga, access holistic healing (including massage from me!) and take a little time out from the hustle and bustle of daily life. I chatted to studio manager Jo Edwards to find out more about the story of Soul Fire.

Hi Jo. First things first, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the story of how Soul Fire Studios came to life?

Hi Flick! So I’m the manager here at Soul Fire Studios and have been for two years now. While I’ve done a lot of yoga in my life, I’m the only staff member here who is not a yoga teacher. My path has focussed more on meditation and mindfulness, leading me to Thailand where I managed a Buddhist retreat centre for two years from 2018 to 2020.

I was still living in Thailand when the job here came up. It was so perfect for my experience and for the line of work I wanted to be in that I applied and interviewed while I was still in Thailand, and started straight after I finished my Covid quarantine in the UK.

Soul Fire Studios was started just over five years ago by Anne Marie - the owner - who has been teaching yoga in Sheffield for more than 10 years. We had a tough couple of years through Covid when we had to be closed for so long, but we are back on the rise and excited for the future.

It feels like there’s something for everyone in your yoga offering. Which styles can people expect to find in the schedule and how do you cater for different abilities?

Soul Fire Studios is so much more than just a yoga studio. Both myself and Anne Marie have a similar vision for the space and the huge potential that it has. There is a widely held misconception that yoga is simply a movement practice - there is so much more to it than this. We want to bring all aspects of yoga into the mainstream and the sessions that we offer reflect the wider aspects of the yogic tradition.

We have the yoga staples of Hatha, Vinyasa and Yin, mixed with some hot classes, some aerial classes, and even some Dharma wheel classes. We pride ourselves on offering sessions that cater for all needs so some classes are designed to push you a little, some are designed to be more gentle, and some are more spiritual in nature. We also have several free sessions per month aimed at introducing newcomers to the studio with things like Spirit Talks (our informal discussion group) and Movie Night where we watch educational documentaries.

Your therapy rooms are home to a selection of wonderful holistic healers. Who can people find in the Sun and Moon Rooms?

Our therapy rooms are such a beautiful addition to the vibe at the studio. The whole studio is a place for healing, and the people who work from these rooms are the best healers in Sheffield. We have two therapy rooms on our second floor and these amazing people share their skills in our space:

• Alena Prentice - Counselling
  
• Elise Gilwhite - Tree of Life Counselling
  
• Be Kind, Unwind - Massage Therapy
  
• Jenny Vale - Massage Therapy
  
• Lynn Butler - Holistic Therapist & Mentor
  
• Sara McKinley - Massage Therapy

For yogis who want to progress further, you also host a variety of training courses. What’s in the programme for this year?

We are well on the way to establishing ourselves as a training centre. We have a 200-hour foundation course each Easter, we have trauma-informed yoga training, and new for this year, we have hot yoga teacher training. The next opportunity for hot yoga training is in September. There will be some more training scattered in amongst those once we have finalised dates - watch this space for Dharma wheel, embodied Yin, and aerial.

From my own experience of Soul Fire, I find the time I spend there to be genuinely nourishing. What do you think contributes to making the space so enriching?

We have a genuine intention to provide a healing and supportive space for anyone and everyone in the local community, and all those who work in the space share this intention with us. This creates a tangible feeling so when you walk up those stairs you know that you are safe and you are welcome. The community that has emerged from this is an incredible group of people, and we feel lucky to host them.