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Relax, Unwind and Let Your Troubles Drift Away BY BREANNA SPETH Yoga can have a positive and powerful impact on any life or body. Luanne Sojka and Stacy Wolf, co-owners of Off The Mat Yoga in Marshfield, want to help everyone find and embrace the transformative power of yoga. What started with alternating shifts teaching classes at The Y has grown into a lifetime passion and business for Luanne and Stacy. Founded in May 2015, Off The Mat Yoga aims to provide a space where people can be themselves without expectations, judgments or competition. Luanne began practicing yoga to complement her marathon training and Stacy became interested during pregnancy. 30 | YOU | FALL 2016
PHOTOS BY LAURA SCHMITT HILLER
What began as exercise soon became a passion on its own, and both women soon after attended a Yoga Alliance training together to become certified to teach. Starting with classes at Auburndale Sport & Spine, Luanne founded what would become Off The Mat Yoga. Joining forces with Stacy, the two women opened their own studio on the third floor of The Thomas House in downtown Marshfield. “We were both traveling yoga teachers but we just wanted a home,” said Stacy. “It’s different, even as teachers and definitely as students, to practice in a designated studio spot,” added Luanne. “I called it ‘Off the Mat” because my
philosophy is that each of us, especially myself, has fallen off the beaten path, the mat, the boat...it’s more about picking yourself back up and getting back on, whatever IT is.” With Stacy being a mother of five boys, ranging in age from 20-months-old to 11-years-old, and a husband (Tony) who owns his own business, as well as Luanne married (to Jesse) with four children between, both women appreciate the support of the other in making their entrepreneurial adventure a success. “To do it alone would have been a huge undertaking,” said Stacy. “And you wouldn’t have the support,”