8 Limbs Yoga studio opens in St. Augustine

By Maggie Strassel | gargoyle@flagler.edu
Photo by Maggie Strassel

For Brittney Crosby and Amy Peterson 8 Limbs Yoga is a dream come true. The light-blue walls of the new studio are inviting and calming, the floor-to-ceiling mirrors give the illusion of never ending space and the wood floors give the interior of this yoga studio the impression of timelessness.

8 Limbs Yoga is the newest yoga studio to embrace the oldest city. The studio is located just over the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island right next door to Gypsy Cab restaurant.

Crosby, a St. Augustine native, had her first glimpse of yoga at age 17 at a local studio.

“I had been doing yoga all my life and just didn’t know it,” said Crosby.

Yoga became a life changing art for Crosby who says she enjoys stretching. Crosby spent three months in India last year to receive her yoga teaching certification.

“Living in India showed me how people use yoga in their every day lives, from morning when they wake up to night when they go to sleep yoga is incorporated into everything they do,” Crosby said.

Peterson, who called Jacksonville home for years, relocated to St. Augustine 10 years ago. For Peterson, yoga was second to running.

“I started doing yoga when my knee began hurting. I did yoga to help strengthen my knee in preparation for a marathon,” Peterson said.

But Peterson’s knee never saw 100 percent again and yoga took center stage.

“I began realizing that I was getting the same benefit from yoga that I was from running. My knee wasn’t hurting anymore because I wasn’t re-injuring it, I was feeling the same ‘runners-high’ doing yoga everyday,” Peterson said.

Peterson said that that benefits of yoga helped to improve her circulation, regulate her hormones and breathing, and kept her mentally strong throughout both her pregnancies.

8 Limbs yoga studio practices the art of Ashtanga yoga. The word Ashtanga translates to “8 limbs”, the 8 limbs of yoga given to yogis everywhere by Patanjali who is responsible for expanding the sutras (meaning a thread or line that holds things together). Ashtanga is a flowing series, opening up the door to using props to help yogis get the full benefit of each stretch.

For Crosby and Peterson the Ashtanga studio filled a need in the community.

“We recognized that St. Augustine needed a studio where we could bring both the mind and the body together, offering raw forms of Ashtanga, lighter series yoga for those recovering from injuries or those during pregnancy, and a space that was beneficial for all levels to come and learn the art of yoga,” Crosby said.

“Yoga is an existential experience, you have to experience it to understand it,” Peterson said.