In the summer of 2019, Liz Glover Wilson had just opened the second location of her burgeoning Gardiner yoga studio and wellness campus, Stone Wave Yoga, in Poughkeepsie. Like so many other small business owners in the Hudson Valley, she had no way of knowing that only months later her entire business would fundamentally change.
With the pandemic’s economic and personal challenges constantly at her door, however, yoga remained the one thing that Glover Wilson knew she could count on. Brought to yoga as a path to personal and spiritual wellness by the loss of her sister, her mission in founding Stone Wave was to provide a space for a diverse community to find balance and harmony in an increasingly divided world.
“At one particularly low point, I was reminded that I do this because it’s a service to other humans to give this gift of accessible wellness,” she says. “Yoga and my belief in Christ consciousness was what kept me going this whole time.”
Since March of last year, Glover Wilson and Stone Wave’s community of instructors were able to continue offering virtual classes every week and even welcomed a new cohort of energized students into their teacher training program. “One thing I saw happen during the pandemic was a real birth of mindful seekers,” she says. “The people who were attracted to our community were really awake now and seeking peace in the midst of seeing the world in chaos.”
As of this spring, both the main wellness campus and studio in Gardiner and the studio in Poughkeepsie are open for in-person classes both indoor and outdoor in Covid-safe pods in yoga styles including Vinyasa, Yin, and Bikram (aka hot yoga), as well as Pilates, dance, climate change-focused Earth Healing meditation, and more, with deep cleaning after every session.
As Stone Wave celebrates its fourth birthday this June, Glover Wilson is also realizing another dream by launching a virtual community. The Collective will provide members with an on-demand library of original, community-driven classes and content along with newsletters, podcasts, articles, and a dedicated Spanish language channel. "Everything we do is about opening the heart and embodying love, and now we're able to send that message out into the world to reach more of the community," she says.
“A lot of the students who stayed with us this last year are hungry to learn more about the yoga tool kit because they’re seeing that it really does work,” Glover Wilson says. From lifelong athletes to those just starting their personal wellness journey, Stone Wave offers a path for everyone. “Our motto has always been ‘Come as you are’ from day one,” she says. “We’re here to offer a space where people can be who they are, to find balance and community, and learn to truly accept others in the world.”
