I first met Angela Yong Sellers, owner and creator of Fit Columbia, about a year ago at an aerial silk yoga session with some of my leadership friends. Wait… a what? Yes, an aerial yoga session! Have you ever been to a session where you are encouraged to keep your phone out so you can take lots of pictures? It was so much fun and I ended up making a lifelong friend in the process. It’s unique sessions like these that are just one of the many reason Fit Columbia is different from any other fitness studio. Here are a few reasons why.
A Different Vision
Sellers started Fit Columbia in 2011 with a vision of empowering people while redefining fitness. She didn’t like the mentality of a “one size fits all” mold some fitness centers and gyms project. Rather, she wants to instill confidence in people through fitness, no matter what age, level or size.
Another differentiating factor is that there are no monthly fees or yearly contracts that you sign up for. You sign up and pay online for the individual sessions that you want to take. Find the personal trainer that is right for you. Sellers believes that you will make time for what you pay for and you pay for what you believe in. In this way, the studio only makes money if people come to their sessions.
Giving Back
Another thing that makes Fit Columbia so remarkable is their community involvement. They give back through fundraiser sessions, partnerships and raising money for charities. You can often find Sellers speaking at various events and being very active in the community. Fit Columbia offers free or sliding scale private yoga sessions for clients who are experiencing cancer treatment as well as their caregivers. During these sessions, the studio monitor the cleanliness of the room, temperature and maintain strict privacy as clients often bare surgery sites, ports and intimate experiences in our place of healing.
Unique Sessions
Always innovating, Sellers just recently launched a series of prenatal yoga. Per Sellers, “This series of sessions is designed to support expectant mothers at any stage of pregnancy with no previous yoga experience necessary. Prenatal yoga is an opportunity to strengthen the body, alleviate discomforts common to pregnancy and learn postures and breath-work that can be helpful during labor. Prenatal yoga is more than an adaptation of your usual yoga practice. It is a place to connect your baby, your breath and other pregnant women to create a supportive community.”
Fit Columbia has a wide variety of unique sessions for men, women and kids that you can’t find other places. You may find yourself out of your comfort zone only to be reintroduced into a new comfort zone. Just recently, the studio held a Kids Baby Goat Yoga session, where children 8-12 could come with an adult and take a yoga class while two extremely cute baby goats interacted with the class. Other sessions include wall yoga, boot camp sessions, reggae yoga, adult glow in the dark yoga, beer yoga, and pole fitness sessions. Another new session they’ve recently introduced is a bungee workout where you work out with a hip harness. Personal training, stretch therapy and massage therapy are also available.
Empowering Kids
There are children’s sessions available too. The studio has a Kids Mindful Yoga for children ages 5-10. There is also an empowered girls yoga for ages 11-17 that uses yoga to strengthen self-esteem, self-awareness, mindfulness and physical activity in girls. Sellers understands that kids and teenagers can sometimes be at an awkward stage in their lives. She believes in kids seeing the mothers work out and also working out themselves. This, in turn, boosts the confidence in both mothers and children in return making for a stronger village.
Take Some Sessions at Your Own Schedule
Check out Fit Columbia’s schedule online or email [email protected] for more information. As Sellers states on her website, “Fit Columbia is part of the fabric of Columbia, and we believe in helping our community grow stronger. In our work, we’re accepting of all ages, genders, sexual orientation, races, denominations and fitness levels.” Try a session out today at their 2002 Blossom Street location!
