yoga

Featured on the cover of The Paradise Valley View!

The Foundry: First Hot Yoga Studio in Phoenix Still Heats Valley

At last, the morning temperatures are in the mid-40s, and afternoons are in the 70s. But inside any of the four Valley locations of The Foundry Hot Yoga & Fitness Studios, the room is 105 degrees and 45% humidity for students coming to the 26&2 Hot Yoga class, also known as Bikram yoga, a set series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises.

“Giving yourself a burst of pressure, called hormetic stress, can help boost your body’s functioning and help you build a tolerance to bigger tensions,” says Niki Fillmore, teacher and chief operations officer of The Foundry. “Heat also allows the muscles to be warmer, which makes it easier to stretch while also increasing blood flow to areas of the body that are deficient in oxygen and nutrients.”

Every boutique fitness studio these days has an origin story, and The Foundry is no exception. Owners and siblings Nicole and Todd Deacon, born and raised in Scottsdale, started practicing yoga in 1995 at the Old Town Scottsdale location, the first hot yoga studio in Arizona. Their teacher, Cintra Brown, studied with Bikram for about a decade before moving from Los Angeles to Scottsdale. Deacon completed her Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in 2005 and continued volunteering and serving as faculty for over 15 trainings. In 2006, Nicole purchased the Paradise Valley location at Tatum and Thunderbird, known as Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley, until they rebranded as The Foundry in February 2017.

The Deacons have remained fi rmly rooted in the 26&2 hot yoga methodology over the 16 years of owning studios, touting how they’ve seen thousands of people transform their lives for the better. “Parents are learning to be more patient with their kids, athletes are healing injuries without surgery, individuals are freeing themselves from medications, and countless others are feeling more empowered in their jobs and relationships.”

THE RIGHT HOT YOGA CLASS FOR YOU

The Foundry strives to make hot yoga and fitness accessible to as many people as possible. “While I haven’t been a new student in a while, I still remember the first time I went and took my fi rst class,” Fillmore says. “Being nervous to try something new is common, but the reward and the possibilities on the other side of trying a class are better health, increased energy, reduced pain and inflammation, and the list goes on and on. So, it’s worth it!”

For students who want to ease into the 90-minute hot yoga class or are recovering from an injury, The Foundry offers a Basic Yoga class sequence. It’s warm instead of hot, 60 minutes instead of 90, and features gentler poses that focus on opening the hips and strengthening the core.

They also offer Hot Flow Yoga, which is a Vinyasa-based practice. In this class, students learn arm balances and headstands while fl owing to vibey music. This class is excellent for learning new poses while getting stronger and more flexible.

“Hot yoga at any level is physical, but it’s also energizing,” says Fillmore. “Students start standing taller out of confidence after just one class.”

But it’s not just hot yoga. The Foundry offers a variety of Hot Fitness classes that have become very popular among its members. Hot HIIT, Hot Pilates, and Hot Barre are available throughout the day at their studios. The fitness classes have louder music, high energy, with hand weights and resistance bands to create more strength and toning.

“We offer many ways to breathe, connect, and transform,” Fillmore says. Beyond their hot yoga and fitness classes, The Foundry offers workshops, meditations, teacher training, retreats, and group challenges throughout the year. “And you’re surrounded by a positive, like-minded community the whole time.”

SO, WHAT DOES THE FOUNDRY MEAN?

The Foundry is named after a metal foundry, which melts metal, and casts and creates pieces of artwork. “The idea behind our name is that The Foundry is a place where people come to transform,” explains Fillmore. “Like the metal that is melted down and cast to create art in a metal foundry, people are coming into our studios, into The Foundry Hot Yoga & Fitness Studios, to melt down, recreate, reshape, and come out a new person. You are both the artist and the art. You decide who you are and what you want to be. The Foundry is where you create that change, that transformation.”

With their original Paradise Valley studio at Tatum and Thunderbird open since 2006, The Foundry has established quite a following. And now they have five studios in Arizona, including a brand-new studio in the heart of Arcadia at Indian School and 48th Street. They also have studios in Tempe-Mesa, Avondale, and downtown Flagstaff .

This year, they started franchising, and the fi rst franchise opened in February in Thousand Oaks, California. Fillmore says The Foundry hopes to open more franchises with “intentional growth.”

Find locations, class schedules, and more online.

New students get four classes for $40.

And be ready to sweat like it’s summer in Arizona.

Visit thefoundryyoga.com

From Yoga Student to Teacher to Franchise Studio Owner!

As we are celebrating our 1 year anniversary here at The Foundry Thousand Oaks, it is my honor to acknowledge how truly wonderful the Foundry Teacher Training and Franchise program is. I can honestly say that my wife, Courteney, and I are doing what we love everyday. 

I started practicing hot yoga because at the time my previous career and lifestyle had me searching for a way to unwind. I was also looking to improve myself physically. Little did I know how much this practice would improve myself mentally. Overcoming challenges and distractions in the hot room carried with me outside of the room. I started to change the way I think. When new challenges and goals arise in my life my brain would previously default to thinking about all the reasons why I cannot do something. Now I start to default to thinking about all the reasons I CAN do anything. 

Teacher training was something that interested me so that I could learn more about Hot Yoga practice and challenge myself physically with the amount of practice required. I have struggled with social anxiety my entire life so I was on the fence about doing it. I honestly didn’t apply until the final reminder email! lol. To say the least, I am so glad that I did! The Foundry Teacher Training is such a well rounded program.  The Yoga knowledge I received from the variety of experienced teachers is so valuable. The ongoing support from the start to today is amazing. The personal development I have made has been life changing. I have completed 500 hours worth of training with The Foundry.I am certified in 26&2 Hot Yoga, Hot Flow, Hot Basic Yoga, and Hot Mat Pilates. After training I immediately started to teach as much as I can.

Entrepreneurship has been a goal of mine for a long time. My previous career gave me great knowledge into business ownership but the field was not a passion of mine. Hot Yoga quickly became my passion because of all the benefits I received from practicing inside and out. I knew that I could help others do the same! Helping others receive the benefits is the best feeling in the world! In teacher training we wrote down and manifested what our ideal life would look like. Studio ownership was something that I wrote down and spoke about for a long time. Writing it, visualizing it, talking about it, believing it, and receiving that same energy from others, made it happen! We are grateful that we got the opportunity to purchase the Yoga studio that I taught at. In just one short year since taking over we have had huge success! We couldn’t have done it without the guidance and support of The Foundry franchise program. Their program offers the perfect balance of studio operating systems and personal business creativity. Having their 17 years of studio ownership experience on our side is so valuable. The Foundry makes owning and operating a studio a very rewarding experience. 

From practicing, to teacher training, to franchise ownership, the lifelong relationships that we have built at The Foundry is my favorite part. 

Brandon Breit
Studio Owner/Teacher 
The Foundry Thousand Oaks

Myths of Teacher Training

Myths of Teacher Training

There are many misconceptions surrounding Yoga & Pilates Teacher Training. We’ve set out to debunk the top 6 myths about enrolling in our teacher training program and shed some more light on the topic. Let the myth-busting begin.

MYTH #1: I’M NOT READY

“I’m worried that my practice isn’t good enough.”

Ah yes, that all too familiar voice. You know the one. That pesky inner critic that whispers repeatedly that you are not enough. Yoga and Pilates work beyond the physical practice, extending far off the mat. You may only make it to a class here and there, but what matters most is your desire to learn.

Bikram Yoga Az's Rev-Up Workshop: Let Nothing Steal Your Peace Away

By Nicole Deacon

My favorite season is the fall. I love when the leaves turn colors (sometimes have to travel to see it) and the weather starts to get the way I like it! It becomes perfect for nights on the patio, afternoon bike rides, and hiking. Summer ends…fall begins… and then we do it again the next year. We accept that there are seasons in the weather…but there are also seasons in our life. Everything has an ebb and a flow. In some ways both are similar to transitioning from one yoga pose to another. We all have moments of joy and clarity and moments of sorrow and fear.   We have new love come into our lives and loved ones we cherish leave our lives. This is life…seasons.

Bikram Yoga helps us to stay calm, peaceful, and joyful no matter what season of life we are in. It is easy to be peaceful in a happy situation… yoga practice teaches us to remain calm among the storms of our life as one stays composed during a yoga pose. We start to accept things as they are, instead of as we wish them to be.   We learn to control and direct our minds to create the experiences we want. Consistent yoga practice disciplines us to balance how things are and how we want them to be. We do not always have control over the events that happen to us (the weather, parents passing, wars, traffic, etc) but we do have control over how we experience them. We can train our mind to find the value, and to appreciate each moment that comes to us for what it is.  If we can remember Rollo May:

“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness. “

Yoga class is ultimately about self-awareness and self-realization. Bikram yoga helps us to be conscious of our breathing and more aware of ourselves. Yoga poses challenge us… in a hot, stinky, difficult position… can you breathe? can you find peace… and can you find joy?

It is through continued yoga practice; putting ourselves in a challenging environment that we get better and better at finding peace no matter what is happening around us. Through yoga, we eventually reach that point of bliss where nothing…no one… can steal our peace away.

BYPV Enters the Blogosphere...

Welcome to the new Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley blog! We are excited to offer a place with consistently updated content including excerpts by Bikram Yoga PV teachers, staff, and students, interviews, educational information, editorial pieces, and more!

Please bookmark this page and check back frequently for updates. You can also receive automatic updates via e-mail by subscribing to our blog.

Stay Sweaty,

The Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley Team