Nama-Stay at Home No More: Yoga and Other Free Events at Colony Square
Full-capacity events are finally returning to Colony Square Mall, also known as “Midtown’s living room,” and yoga is first on the list. Launching April 4 and lasting until October 28, signature and special events are scheduled nearly daily. Classes are available every Wednesday at 6 p.m. for everyone from yoga enthusiasts to novices.
Various yoga studios around Atlanta offer a rotating class schedule taught on the lawn, also known as “the grove.” Dancing Dogs Yoga (DDY), located on the Beltline, taught a class at Colony Square on April 13.
DDY Owner Shelley Carroll said that the studio has partnered with Colony Square for about five years. The studio has also partnered with Piedmont Park, the Georgia Aquarium, New Realm Brewing Company and King of Pops.
“We believe that yoga should be accessible for everyone, and partnering with local businesses and communities like Colony Square gives us the chance to offer yoga that is easy to access hyper-locally, financially and in a community-oriented space,” Carroll said.
Mersiha Ramic was the instructor. Starting out as a yoga student and then graduating to teacher, she’s been with DDY since 2018. She said that yoga gave her the opportunity to connect with complete strangers, which was something she really needed.
“Yoga comes from the Sanskrit name ‘Yuj’ which translated means ‘to yoke,’ ‘to join,’ or ‘to unite,’” Ramic said. “I like to think of this in many different ways: yoking mind and body, spirit and soul and human to human… I think, the older we get, the harder it is to gather, to find and make human connections.”
On April 13, the free outdoor yoga class was popular. Despite the looming gray clouds, people gathered to place their mats on the lawn as early as 5:20 p.m. Some had to politely ask a stranger if they could make some room beside them so another mat could squeeze in.
Atlanta resident Marie Quinones attended Ramic’s class. She started partaking in outdoor yoga when she still lived in Chicago. Her Chicago studio started offering classes outside as a precaution during the pandemic, and she’s enjoyed outdoor yoga ever since. She treats it as a way to connect with others.
“Most of the time, I do [yoga] alone,” Quinones said. “It’s nice to gather with people. That’s why I started going to Colony Square.”
Lauren Ness, the marketing manager for Colony Square, said that plans for more events and opportunities to gather are in the works. She said that the notion of gathering and fostering community is a principle at the core of the establishment.
“It’s not the buildings, it’s the space within the buildings that matters — how you’re getting there and just bonding,” Ness said. “I think everyone went through some tough times when we were fully shut down. Us especially. We’ve coined the phrase that we’re ‘experience makers.’ We want to bring experiences to the communities that we are a part of.”
This year also introduces Colony Square’s digital punch cards. Attendees can sign in every time they come to the free yoga classes. Once they get five punches, they will receive some Colony Square swag, and they will be entered to win a spot in Yoga in the Sky, a yoga class taught on top of Colony Square’s helipad.
That’s not the only helipad event in the books. Ness said that they are also planning Jazz in the Sky and Brews in the Sky. Jazz in the Sky is a ticketed event that supports the Atlanta Jazz Festival in May, and Brews in the Sky is a beer-tasting event scheduled for October. A Kentucky Derby celebration in the grove is scheduled May 7.
Ness said that the primary goal of planning these events at Colony Square is to encourage community involvement. Almost all of the events at Colony Square are free and open to the public, and if it is ticketed, the proceeds will go to a charity.
