The pandemic has been a time for businesses to pivot, and North Fork Yoga Shala is no different. After having a studio in Greenport since 2014 (and one in Southold before that), Claire Copersino has taken her yoga business nomadic.
With no permanent brick and mortar, she is offering classes at various locations around the North Fork. There’s the fishing station at Port of Egypt Marina, an open-air greenhouse at Sep’s Farm and the backyard at First and South. Dates, times and instructors will change weekly, with those three spots being the main locations.
Like many fitness studios, she shut hers down in March and took it virtual. She built up a library of video classes and resources for her clients and also had a small group of open air classes in her yogis’ backyards.
“It pushed me to do something that people have been asking me to do for a very long time,” she said. “Now I have a library of hundreds and hundreds of recorded classes.”
After the cold months, Copersino was looking to get some tourist traffic for her business. Simultaneously, representatives from First and South, Sep’s Farm and Port of Egypt reached out to her with open spaces they thought she could teach yoga out of. She loved the idea. After officially closing her Greenport studio in February, this gave her the opportunity to reach more clients.
“These opportunities that came to me are the perfect solution right now, because there’s such a vast array of comfort levels among people,” she said.
Copersino also loves the idea of practicing yoga in different spaces around the North Fork, changing up her surroundings. The rich history of the Port of Egypt fishing station, for example, really resonated with her.
“I love the connection to the North Fork,” she said. “They call it the soul of the property.”
Although she isn’t ruling out putting down roots someday in the future, being a nomadic business in a pandemic has helped her to be present.
“This concept of impermanence, being able to let go of things and being in the present moment, I feel like I get it now,” she said. “Because what else are you gonna do? People ask me, ‘Well, what’s your plan?’ And I’m like, ‘Today, we’ve got class. I’ve got a plan for the summer and that feels really amazing.”
Check out the schedule on the North Fork Yoga Shala website.
For outdoor yoga classes from others on the North Fork, check out the list below:
Baby goat yoga, Saturdays at 1 p.m.
$25 per person, email [email protected] to reserve a spot.
33705 County Rd 48, Peconic
Farm Yoga
Zilnicki Farms, various times
$20 per person, click here for schedule and to reserve a spot.
800 Reeves Avenue, Riverhead
Outdoor yoga on the beach, at wineries, in gardens, various times and locations
Register on their website.
56215 Main Rd, Southold
Solntse Yoga
Sunset beach yoga, Mondays and Thursday at 6:30pm in Baiting Hollow
Register on their website.
5768 Route 25A, Unit U, Wading River
