Air hostess at the controls as new Saltney yoga studio raises temperature

A brand new yoga studio with a difference is heading for take-off with an air stewardess at the controls.

The Bodhi Tree in Saltney has been purpose-designed and it will feature classes in ‘hot yoga’ performed at high temperature.

It’s a venture by long-haul air stewardess Kelly Phillips and her business partner, Louise Waring, who are both from Chester.

They have taken over the top floor of the Saltney High Street offices of Lock Stock Self-Storage, one of the UK’s major container storage companies, and transformed it into one of the North West’s biggest yoga studios.

The name comes from the sacred tree under which the Buddha first received spiritual enlightenment and Kelly and Louise believe yoga can help with many of today’s stress-related problems.

Kelly, 36, who has been an air hostess for 12 years, racks up over 30,000 miles a month on flights from Manchester to the USA and the Caribbean and had the idea for the business because she found yoga the ideal antidote to her stressful job.

She said: “I love it and although it often seems as if it’s a glamorous job it’s also very hard work and very intense. You’re on a 747 jet for up to nine hours looking after 475 passengers.

“I took up yoga to relax and I found it worked so well and Louise and I had been friends since we worked together in a building society office in Chester and she is keen to combine yoga and the therapies we offer with nutritional advice and awareness.”

The premises have had a major makeover and now feature a reception area, changing rooms and showers, a therapy room and the spacious loft-style studio itself with a programme of yoga and Pilates classes for all ages – including planned children’s classes – as well as a mix of therapies. They will stage an open day this Saturday, March 3, with free classes including a children’s class.

A post shared by The Bodhi Tree Studio (@bodhitreeyogi) on Feb 28, 2018 at 1:47pm PST

Louise, 39, a mum of two, turned to yoga herself to help her cope with the stress of a busy home and work life and she said: “I wanted to manage my stress and tried yoga and immediately noticed the benefit.

“It gives me a sense of peace and I have also become interested in yoga’s links with nutrition and am studying for a qualification at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Manchester.”

The choice of premises has been important for the venture and Lock Stock’s first floor space is ideal, according to Kelly who said: “It’s perfect because it has so much space and it means we’re the largest dedicated yoga studio in the area and with room to provide a variety of therapies here too.

“We are really excited about bringing this to Saltney. We’re a friendly and inviting studio for anyone at any level, aimed at promoting better health and well-being for mind and body, and we have an outdoor terrace where people can chill out with a drink and relax.

“We have a team of nine specialist yoga teachers and therapists so we can provide expert guidance and even temperature-controlled hot yoga which can aid weight loss as well as the better known benefits and there’s plenty of room for parking.”

Lock Stock manager Jeff Woods said: “We are always looking to ways to maximise our business and our sites have become real business hubs with many small firms using the containers for storing their products and materials.

“But we do also have office space available at several of our sites and we are always keen to help local businesses and to maximise our resources at our sites.

“That was why the company launched Take Stock van hire and that is expanding and we also sell fireworks at several sites and the company is always open to new ideas and activities.”

Lock Stock specialises in self-storage and is Wales’s largest containerised self-storage business and one of the biggest in the UK with 18 sites across North and Mid Wales and the border counties.

Lock Stock was founded by brothers Nick and Shon Powell in 1998 when the family’s well-known Craig Bragdy ceramic design and installation company needed extra storage space.

They now have nearly 3,000 containers at their sites with a total storage capacity of four million cubic feet and they have also expanded their Take Stock van hire business to over 30 vehicles.

It operates from its centres at Saltney, near Chester, Llandudno Junction and Rhyl and they also sell fireworks from those sites and on-line and they also now sell and deliver containers using their own articulated lorry.

Their existing sites stretch from Bangor along the North Wales coast at Llandudno and Rhyl, on the Dee at Flint and Chester and inland at Denbigh, Mold, Wrexham and Newtown in Powys, and at Oswestry and Shrewsbury in Shropshire.