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photo by Shane Wynn
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“You keep waiting for someone to do something, and then you realize, oh yeah, I am someone,” says Gretchen Horinger, certified yoga teacher and owner of Do Good Yoga in downtown Akron’s Northside district.
That sense of action and accountability is the cornerstone of Horinger’s studio—and of her life. Raised by a single mother, Horinger spent many afternoons in the community rooms of nursing homes listening to residents share their life stories while her mother tended patients. “Knowing how much it meant to have another person listen to them and acknowledge their presence,” she remembers, “this idea of giving back has always been important to me. I thought I could do that through yoga.”
Horinger started practicing yoga in college as a supplement to running and was taken by the mind-body-spirit connection she felt in it. To share that connection with others, opening a studio was the natural progression. And Northside seemed the perfect place. “I wanted to be a part of the revitalization of downtown,” she says. “I love that [Northside] has an eclectic art and music feel that vibes really well with my studio.”
Do Good Yoga echoes the motto of Horinger’s alma mater, Virginia Tech: Ut prosim, that I may serve. “If we want to see a change in our lives, we can’t just wait for the solutions to present themselves,” she says. Whether that means trying to touch your toes or investing in a vibrant downtown community, “you’ve got to take a first step.”
