Body Electric co-founders and co-owners, Jenny Miller and Katelyn Grady with their daughter Harlan Grady Miller. Photos by Kristina Holman
Body Electric Athletics: Not Your Average Gym by Erin Cody As a St. Pete resident, you’ve likely heard of, or even visited, The Body Electric Yoga Company. Due to the madness of the past year, however, you may have missed the birth of their brand new branch: The Body Electric Athletic Company (BE Athletic). “Yoga is so much more than the physical practice,” says Katelyn Grady, Body Electric cofounder and co-owner. “When guided by yoga philosophy, any physical practice can be done in such a way as to make it yoga.” Athletic activity with a yoga vibe? Sounds pretty awesome.
Athletics + Mindfulness “We want to bring the mindfulness, present-moment-awareness, and non judgemental observation of the yoga practice into fitness,” Grady says. “There’s been a lot of new research on the nervous system and resiliency, and we try to incorporate that into the fitness model. Many of us yogis are athletes, and we wanted to share how a yogic mindset can take your training to the next level.” “Our interest is in teaching people to intelligently train themselves, and create a sustainable, lifelong fitness habit,” co-owner and co-founder Jenny Miller says. “We emphasize education, personal agency, and
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learning to listen to your body. We also have this huge, beautiful space that’s intended to help you downshift and separate your experience here from the rest of your busy life. After all the sloth and anxiety of the last year, you deserve a nice environment, and you deserve to take this time for yourself.”
A Gym Without Attitude Still growing and changing after just over a year in business, BE Athletic is seeing many of its yoga clients, as well as many new gym members seeking strength, cardio, and overall physical fitness in a soothing and encouraging environment. Both owners particularly love the strength training classes at their gym, and Grady is particularly drawn to the simplicity, fun, and effectiveness of kettlebell sessions. “It’s not easy to make a group class accessible to everyone who shows up, bring in the elements of mindfulness and somatic awareness, and deliver an a**-kicking,” says Miller. “What we’re trying to create is a habit of present moment awareness into fitness,” says Jenny, “and that’s been a game-changer to the people who’ve been working out with us. And as we refine our programming, it’s only going to get better.”
