A fourth-generation University of Toledo graduate is creating a space in downtown Sylvania that will carry her parents' legacy forward.
Isabella Weik is opening the Toledo Mindfulness Institute , a yoga studio and place of meditation at 5648 Main St. in Sylvania, where each visitor will be reminded of living in the present.
It is exactly where Weik, 24, lives each day, though her enthusiasm for the future of her new endeavor cannot be tamed. It overflows as she gently touches her sound bowls: a call to be aware of now.
“I can't separate the mindfulness practice from who I am,” she said.
Yet her new space on the second floor of a historical building above Chandler Cafe is a mix of past, present, and future.
IF YOU GO What: Outdoor yoga led by the Toledo Mindfulness Institute
Where: Glass City Metropark, 1505 Front St., Toledo
When: Friday, 6 p.m.
Cost: Free
Information:
toledomindfulnessinstitute.com A portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner, who founded a Boston art museum in 1903 and was known for her stylish tastes and unconventional behavior hangs in a corner of the space. Weik's own upbringing under the tutelage of her parents, who founded the Buddhist Temple of Toledo, Karen and Jay Weik, keeps her centered while, at the same time, she is striving to be seen and heard in her own community.
“Isabella ... has only been in her new space for a few weeks and hasn't held her grand opening yet. We've already seen her meeting with people at different dining establishments in the downtown Sylvania area, supporting businesses, bringing people to Sylvania that might not have patronized our businesses before,” said Ken Wines, director of membership at the Sylvania Chamber of Commerce.
“While her clientele can be anyone and everyone, she is bringing an influx of young professionals to our area,” he said. “Her clientele often stays after their sessions to enjoy coffee at Chandler Cafe as well.”
Weik's business is secular, an outgrowth of training sessions she has led throughout high school and college.
“It is about total presence — inside and outside. It is a body practice to get into that mindset,” she said of the yoga.
She is close to signing her first 50 founding members, who have purchased memberships to her studio practices, which include yoga classes, sound bath sessions, and special discounts on trainings. Founding members are receiving services at a discounted $50 per month. For those desiring a walk-in session, the cost is $10. Her business is operating with a soft opening prior to her open house in November.
It is hosting programming at least five days per week. Tuesdays see morning yoga sessions at 8:30 a.m. and evening yoga sessions at 7 p.m. Wednesdays see a morning session at 10 a.m. Thursdays have an 8:30 a.m. session and a community sound bath at 7 p.m. Fridays have 6 p.m. sessions and Saturdays have 10 a.m. sessions.
This Friday Weik will be leading a free class at 6 p.m. at Glass City Metropark before the Retroween Skate Party the Metroparks is hosting on its Ribbon.
Yearlong memberships are also avalible for $575 and the organization has additional offerings of “mindfulness training,” personal training, and mindfulness coaching.
Under Jay Weik's leadership, the Toledo Mindfulness Institute was an offshoot of his many endeavors, including the founding of the Buddhist Temple of Toledo. Isabella Weik's program also creates safe spaces that explore the secular side of some of the mindfulness techniques characteristic of Buddhism.
“I created the Toledo Mindfulness Institute as a consulting firm as a way to reach out in business-to-business settings and to provide secular mindfulness training to individuals, which is informed by the traditional Zen perspective from which it is derived,” Jay Weik said. “During the pandemic, it went dormant and is now expanded and thriving under Isabella's direction.”
While the practice of “mindfulness,” defined by the American Psychological Association as “awareness of one's internal states and surroundings,” is not new, the topic has seen a resurgence in interest among researchers.
According to findings published in 2022, a study at Georgetown University Medical Center concluded that a guided mindfulness-based stress reduction program was as effective as taking the common antidepressant escitalopram.
“Our study provides evidence for clinicians, insurers, and health care systems to recommend, include, and provide reimbursement for mindfulness-based stress reduction as an effective treatment for anxiety disorders because mindfulness meditation currently is reimbursed by very few providers,” said Elizabeth Hoge, director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program and associate professor of psychiatry at Georgetown.
“A big advantage of mindfulness meditation is that it doesn't require a clinical degree to train someone to become a mindfulness facilitator. Additionally, sessions can be done outside of a medical setting, such as at a school or community center,” she said.
For Weik, who has lived with the benefits of mindfulness while growing up, the aim is for her clients to feel more grounded and expansive at the same time.
“I want them to feel more connected to themselves,” she said.
Local News
Comments / 0