Deep Ellum’s very own donation-based urban ashram, Super Yoga Palace, offers a unique yoga experience for locals. Providing an excellent work out that goes beyond transforming the body by bettering the mind and spirit of its students all thanks to the work of owner and yoga teacher Jessica Jordan.
The phrase “an urban ashram empowered by love” couldn’t be any more perfect for describing this intimate yoga studio, because it is just that. Focused on bringing together the spiritual and physical benefits and practicing yoga, Jordan pioneered the way for this studio to be set a part from the rest with a practice that puts the heart back into yoga.
“An ashram is a placed that is set a part. It is holy, [so] to speak. Ashram in a yoga mindset is what we have,” Jordan said. “We have this little space that is a place where the science that yoga delivers is that you are going to have a great work out, but if you allow yourself to let it be so much more, which it is, then it can be transformational and that happens in your heart.”
In the heart of the always changing, vibrant community of Deep Ellum, Super Yoga Palace offers a power yoga experience to Dallas locals, whom instead of having to pay for a membership can just give a donation as payment for taking a class. Jordan has provided a place that students can call home or students can just drop by for a class here or there.
“We are also a little bit different,” Jordan explained. “We attract a certain clientele and so my thought was that I didn’t want to push memberships because it started to make me feel like I was lacking the heart of what we wanted to do. However is a rhythm to the rhyme and we still have to function.”
Not the average yoga studio, Super Yoga Palace has a suggested donation which comes way under what one would be paying for class average costs at other studios in the area. Although the studio has a membership-type offering for students who come frequently, Jordan aims to make it fair on both sides of the spectrum, whether it be for the everyday yogi or an occasional practicing student.
“For those that supplement their running or their cross fitting or they just need yoga for peace of mind and they don’t want to be locked in and can’t afford $20 a class, they can throw in $10 or $15 and still get a five-star experience,” Jordan said.
Being a smaller, boutique studio, Super Yoga Palace focuses on their demographic’s need, which is more of an athletic type of experience by offering power yoga, deep stretch and Ashtanga yoga classes throughout the week.
“The area that we are in is very transient so we have a lot of young professionals, single people, and artists,” Jordan said.
Jordan said the spirit of the studio is that all are welcome. Everyone is accepted, no matter individual experience or skill set, but this studio won’t be offering an easy work out to its students.
“It is a power yoga experience,” Jordan said. “We offer Ashtanga and we do offer deep stretch which I wouldn’t say is for beginners per say. It’s for those that have really tight hamstrings.
“They already are athletes and they really need something to get into those muscles. It is slower pace so that is a good place for a lot of people to start. Deep stretch is already for those that already have something going on but it helps to keep the muscles supple.”
In a saturated yoga market, Jordan opened the studio to the people of Dallas back in 2009 after being a member of an internationally touring band. Seeking out a profession that made her just as passionate as music, Jordan decided on yoga due to her background in competitive gymnastics and cheerleading.
Located next to local coffee bar Mokah, Jordan started teaching classes in the coffee bar at 6 a.m. The studio has grown since it’s humble beginning back in 2009, gaining traction through word of mouth. Moving from a class in a coffee bar, to an art gallery, and finally to the space that Super Yoga Palace currently occupies.
“It has grown from being two classes a week that I taught at 6 a.m. to being evening classes through out the week,” said Jordan. “We have a staff of myself and six other teachers that are some of the best teachers in Dallas. “
The space they use was intended to be an industrial kitchen, but with a lot of hard work and some help from Jordan’s friends the kitchen morphed into the urban ashram that Super Yoga Palace is today. An artist illustrator who is a friend of Jordan’s, Will Bryant, painted the studio’s first mural making this space Super Yoga Palace’s home.
Without all the frills and gimmicks, Jordan looks to teach much more than just yoga by transforming students hearts and minds as well as resourcing opportunities in the local community as the studio continues to grow.
“We know that we are growing and we are kind of at that growing pain point where we have to decide the direction we are going to go,” Jordan said.
The studio is funded by capital and, being a donation-based studio, Jordan said they have to get creative with their budget, but they are currently in the process of determining what the future will look life. Jordan hopes to keep the heart beat of what the studio is already doing, just expand the studio’s reach.
“We want to funnel all our energy into these things and it’s going to come with something different than what we are currently doing,” said Jordan. “There is a lot of awareness of what we provide and we want to bring that awareness to the next level. We know in order for us to serve more, we need to grow more. We have to find the funding for that to happen.”
Super Yoga Palace is located at 2803 Taylor St. Dallas, TX 75226. For more information about the yoga studio, it’s instructors, or classes offered visit superyogapalace.com.
