Yoga Studio Spotlight: Half Moon Yoga

Linda created Half Moon to provide Grand Junction with a strong community of yoga instructors that are passionate about living what they teach and bringing their whole selves to their classes.

Throughout the years, Heating Green has had the privilege of working with hundreds of yoga studios across the U.S. and around the world. In this final 2016 edition of the Yoga Studio Spotlight, learn more about the infrared heated Half Moon Yoga studio, located in Grand Junction, Colorado and its owner Linda Toth.

Tell us a little about the owner’s background in yoga and how Half Moon Yoga came to be?

Linda Toth began dancing at the age of three. Every year her Mother would take her to see The Philadelphia Ballet Company and her only desire was to fly like the dancers on stage. This led to sixteen years of classical training at Philadelphia Civic Ballet Company and later at The College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. At 18 she began teaching Group Exercise and at 22 opened up her own dance studio. With choreographed routines, she hired and trained Instructors for a year to open up Linda Jordan’s Exercise Studio. For 10 years this was her passion until she decided to travel on the road after losing her Mother to Lou Gehrig’s disease. Landing in Grand Junction Linda worked as a massage therapist and as a Fitness Instructor for 8 years. When Gold’s Gym came to Grand Junction Linda was hired on as a Group Fitness Manager. It was there that she went back to her roots of hiring and training Instructors through the programs of Les Mills. It was during this time that Linda fell in love with Yoga.

half-moon-yoga-student — “Half Moon is reaching out into our local community with free Yoga to populations that can’t afford to practice. Each Instructor is going out into the community to serve a population that is in need,” Linda said.

After seven years as a Manager she decided to leave the Gym Industry and fully submerse herself in the yogic lifestyle. After plenty of research, she realized that not all 200 hour trainings are the same and became passionate about this idea of “transformational trainings.” This led her to become a certified Baptiste instructor. Linda has also completed a 200hr training with Zeek Vincent in Z-Flow Power Yoga and is officially endorsed as a Z-Flow Instructor. From the start, she was hooked into not only changing her own life ‘off the mat’ but was inspired to be a living example for others to do the same. In 2016 she completed the Level III training at the Baptiste institute and in doing so became a 500 ryt. Also, through Baptiste she has completed an “Art of Assisting” and “Advanced Art of Assisting” training which have helped her to be a hands-on teacher. Linda created Half Moon to provide Grand Junction with a strong community of yoga instructors that are passionate about living what they teach and bringing their whole selves to their classes. Linda’s hope is that Half Moon will provide a space for inquiry and self discovery- a place where people will feel inspired to grow into who they always dreamed they could be. Let’s do this!

Linda :

What do you enjoy most about yoga? The fact that it addresses the mind, the body and the spirit. Beyond being a global “work out” it rewires the mind.

What do you think makes for a good yoga session? An Instructor that knows how to SEE the student in front of them. Service pure and simple.
Your studio obviously offers hot yoga. What are some of the benefits to practicing yoga in a hot environment? All of the things listed on the Heating Green website about infrared and how healing it is for the body.

What advice would you give to prospective students who are on the fence about trying yoga or making the switch to hot yoga? Trying an infrared studio versus residential heat is completely different. This heat does not tax the body and oxygen flows freely so your are working but not suffering.

What are some characteristics you look for in a studio? Calming space and welcoming staff.

How did you go about designing your space? I had the best contractors in Grand Junction help me design the space. Every detail was looked after. The insulation to the fan in the bathroom was designed for beauty, comfort and functionality.

“Heating Green and Jeff have been incredibly helpful in this whole heating journey. It has surpassed all of my expectations,” Linda said.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced with your studio? How did you overcome them? Probably the biggest challenge was making sure we had enough wattage for the panels. We didn’t think to see if we had enough power until after the space was rented.

If you had to start over would you make any changes? You know I wouldn’t. The guidance I had with the workers in this community helped me every step of the way. The electricians, the drywall, the painters…all of them were in communication with one another making sure Half Moon would serve our community.

What has been the most rewarding part about the experience? Meeting and working with all the contractors. They were more connected than our local Yoga Community. I loved meeting every single soul that put their efforts into creating this space. The plumbers to the men wearing masks to put in the insulation were all written thank you notes because of their tremendous efforts.

What are your goals for the future of the studio? Half Moon is reaching out into our local community with free Yoga to populations that can’t afford to practice. Each Instructor is going out in to the community to serve a population that is in need. We are also headed to Belize City and Punta Gorda with Zeek Vincent who will be hosting workshops and Teacher Trainings to the locals. The ultimate goal is teach the women/men in the village to teach Yoga so they can help support their families.

Is there anything else you would like to share? Heating Green and Jeff have been incredibly helpful in this whole heating journey. It has surpassed all of my expectations.