By Norm Wheeler
Sun editor
Lover of variety Amy Hubbell has about as many employment experiences as there are positions in hatha yoga. We met huddled under Bob Babich’s food tent in a downpour at the Hiawatha Music Festival in Marquette in 2010. During our stand-up lunch that July day, I learned that she had just moved to Traverse City. Amy grew up in Haslett, Mich., near Lansing, and she graduated from the University of Michigan in 1999.
“I had a degree in psychology, and I spent my first year doing a research project on Women & Gender.” she said. “Then I got a job in a substance abuse research center.” Her pursuit of a Masters in Public Health led Amy to the University of Illinois-Chicago. “I did more research in that program, and I interned for some nonprofit groups, ultimately spending five years doing development work and fundraising for the Alzheimer’s Association after I completed my M.P.H.” It was during that time that Amy started taking yoga classes at a community center in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.
When she got ready for a “big change” from urban Chicago life, yoga led Amy to Traverse City. “I took Yoga Teacher Training with Sandra Carden at Union Yoga for the month of February, 2010. It was great! I went from the loud, noisy city to this peaceful, quiet snow, and I met beautiful people here. I felt I had done the right thing. I had come to my family’s cottage on Central Lake as a kid, I only really knew about the dunes here from visiting often as a kid, but since living in Chicago (and thanks to childhood sailing adventures!) I haven’t wanted to not be near a great big lake!”
Amy started teaching yoga classes on her own, but she supplemented that with a work stint at Nine Bean Rows. “Visiting the farmer’s markets in Chicago made me want to know where my food came from. I was literally working for food at Nine Bean Rows.” She also worked at Leelanau Cheese and Fischer’s Happy Hour Tavern. One year she took on a freelance project for Land Information Access Association heading up their Teleganza fundraiser. “I was just trying to find something to go with yoga to create a nice balance,” she puns with a smile. “As I was just learning how to teach, I wasn’t ready yet to do it full-time.I sort of went from working with small local businesses (another one was Green Thumb, a woman-owned gardening service where I worked one summer – learning about plants, being out in the sun, digging in the dirt, I was really in my element!), to doing freelance non-profit work.”
Yoga on the Beach started in the summer of 2010 with newly certified friends Angela Poneta and Julie Schwalm. “I love the beaches around here, they were a lot bigger then, and I realized this would be a great place for yoga. At first it was hard to get it going, but the past few summers have been great. It took some word-of–mouth, plus yoga has been getting more popular. A lot of people come who haven’t tried it before. I try to make it fun. The ones who aren’t very flexible yet I tell to just do what they can. They learn to take a little time to relax, to take some deep breaths. I really didn’t start off my career thinking I would end up as an entrepreneur, but I got so into my own yoga practice and the powerful healing effect it had on my physical and mental health, on my whole outlook on life really, that I felt called to study it so I could eventually teach what I’d learned to other people. Yoga has such healing potential and I want everyone to know that they can do yoga — that you don’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel, you just have to be able to breathe!”
Amy met her husband Rich Burton here. He is the cider maker at Tandem Ciders, and they got married two years ago. “I teach all over the place,” Amy continues, “and I have a steady part time office gig at Gray, Seaman, Shumar, & Vanderveen on Union St. So I work in Old Town a couple of days a week. I teach yoga in Traverse City one day a week at New Moon Yoga. There is a community class on Tuesday nights, donation-based, as well as a men’s class at Solon Township Hall. I’m trying to keep it affordable. There is beach yoga, also donation-based, at Fountain Point Resort on Lake Leelanau on Tuesdays & Thursdays at 8:30 a.m., and at Glen Haven on Lake Michigan Fridays at 10:00 a.m. I also teach at Camille’s Body Shop on Valley Road near Maple City on Mondays at 7:15 p.m.
Amy Hubbell has also done freelance work for the local Addiction Treatment Services residential program. “At this point I just teach the weekly yoga classes at their Detox facility.They are the unsung heroes of Traverse City because of how much they help people,” she says. “I feel really blessed being able to teach and to do non-profit gigs.About the whole gig economy thing, it’s been a fun challenge trying to figure it out, especially adjusting to the seasonal economy up here. I’ve gotten used to teaching more classes in the summer when more people are around, and it’s nice to have a consistent year round office gig as well. I just feel so fortunate to have made it work (so far anyway!) and to be able to live in this beautiful place doing something I love that also gives back to the community. Partnerships have been really important to me, t[KY1] oo. I’m honored to have been able to support nonprofits like ATS and FLOW with my teaching and currently my beach classes at Glen Haven help benefit Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes. The variety is nice, for sure. Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I’m on the beach. I like the city, but ultimately I needed to end up in the country. It has helped me a lot to share yoga with people. It’s a pleasant way to teach your body how to move better, and it helps to calm your mind.”
Amy also offers yoga for family reunions and for bachelorette parties. Private events are welcome. On Facebook you can find Yoga on the Beach NMI, or you can just call Amy Hubbell at 231-866-1451. You will find Amy to be really chill and laid back despite how busy she is. She is a pro at stretching the gig economy.