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Business & Tech

Katzman Adds Yoga to Go to Busy Schedule

Kynan Katzman purchased the studio from Linda Jones when she moved to Texas.

Five years ago, Kynan Katzman began taking yoga instruction from Linda Jones of at 4282 Telegraph Road. An endurance cyclist, Katzman started taking yoga classes after someone suggested that it was a good form of low impact exercise. He couldn't have guessed how attached to the studio he'd become.

For the past three years, Jones has owned Yoga to Go. On April 1, she moved to Texas.

“She asked me to step in and keep things running,” Katzman said.

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Katzman took a leap. He bought the studio and has been running it for the last three months.

With a diverse professional background and a political science degree from Washington University, owning the yoga studio adds to Katzman’s skill set.

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Katzman has a day job as the marketing coordinator for Central Methodist University. He has also worked in corporate offices for Hardee’s Restaurants, been a band manager and worked as a freelancer.

“I’ve taken skills from each job that I’ve had and been able to use something as a studio owner,” he said. Katzman can even equate being a band manager to his responsibilities at Yoga to Go.

“A lot of it is giving the public what they want. It’s finding out who your audience is, finding out who the people are,” he said.

It’s been only a couple of months since he took ownership. So far, things seem to be running smoothly, despite a few changes, he said.

“The previous owner did all the teaching herself. I’ve brought in all new teachers,” Katzman said. “I was a little worried about that, but apparently everyone is really liking it. They like all the different styles. They like the variety.”

Still, there have been some challenges.

“Trying to balance the joy that I get from doing yoga with all the work that goes behind the scenes to run a business... if I get overwhelmed by all that, sometimes I lose sight of the point of all this,” he said. “It’s not to make money. It’s to educate people and give them a place to practice.”

Katzman grew up in Overland Park, KS, but having lived in the area for 22 years, he considers himself a St. Louisan.

“Kynan is clearly a studio owner for the sake of his students and their gain," Jones said. "He is dedicated to a strengthening curriculum and is constantly looking for workshops and ideas to extend their practice.”

Someday, Kynan hopes to receive his own teaching credentials and make this his full-time occupation.

For now, he is focusing on expanding the class offerings. The trick for him is to do that while keeping the studio’s neighborhood feel.

“It’s like a close-knit community,” he said. “People will show up a half an hour early just to stand around and talk.”

That, he said, is what makes his studio special and unique.

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