By Cecilia Nasmith
One of the things Kerry Daponte missed most when she moved here from Oshawa was the time she spent at the Oxygen Yoga and Fitness spa.
So she has opened her own Oxygen Yoga and Fitness studio at 73 Strathy Rd., Cobourg, with doors opening just last week.
It's an approach to fitness that Daponte – as she put it – became addicted to as a member in Oshawa.
“I craved it!” she said in an interview this week.
“I wanted to offer it to our community here.”
One of the key reasons it's so different from anything else available is that it's done in an environment of infrared heating.
“Infrared heating has amazing benefits for your body, including weight loss, pain reduction, less inflammation on the body, detoxification, skin purification,” she listed.
“I have never done hot yoga other than Oxygen, but people who walk in here say the feeling is completely different, easier to handle.
“It heats the body differently – it heats the core first, then to the outside rather than outside-in. That's the difference in being able to handle it.”
Oxygen Yoga and Fitness began in British Columbia more than a decade ago. There are now more than 100 locations with, just recently, one opening in the US in California.
As the name says, both yoga and fitness programs are available. Sessions mix intense cardio and core workouts, strength training, sculpting and stretching, complemented by deep breathing and relaxation – all in the infrared heat.
The brochure lists available sessions – in levels one, two and three – under the headings Yoga Classes, Fitness-Fusion Classes and Specialty Classes.
Located in the strip mall near Wal-Mart, between the Daybreak and Popeye's, the location offers easy access and plenty of parking. And inside, a spacious mirror-lined studio awaits, with thick, cushiony yoga flooring – though Daponte asks patrons to bring their own yoga mats (to sweat on) and their own water bottles to fill at the water station. And, of course, a towel for when things heat up.
There are the traditionally shaped weights stacked neatly, as well as weighted balls for a different kind of experience, not to mention yoga blocks and body bars.
This new venture is a big step for Daponte in more ways than one.
“Probably for the last 25 or 30 years of my life, I have always said I wanted to be a business owner, but I have been in dental all my life,” she said, referring to her former career – starting out as a preventative dental assistant and rising to the post of managing a practice.
“I have always been active in fitness, and then I joined Oxygen Yoga and Fitness in Oshawa. I was sad to give up my membership when I moved out this way, and that's why I am here today – I got addicted to it.”
