Meet Lola Scarborough of Yoga Lola Studios in League City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lola Scarborough.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Yoga Lola was literally born in the eye of the hurricane called Ike! Before we even officially opened up in 2008, Ike came through and right on his heels, the economy suffered a terrible crash. We knew then Yoga Lola was meant to be a ballast in the storm. And so it is and shall continue to be a refuge from the tempestuousness of nature and everyday life.

Yoga Lola is the result of the union of Kevin Post and Lola Scarborough, who married in 2007 and created Yoga Lola in 2008. I (Lola) had a background in yoga, healing, and nutrition, and my husband and I talked about opening up a yoga, learning, and healing studio. We looks around for a bit. Then, one day, I found it. THE place. It was a seriously rundown old farmhouse. It was in dreadful shape and we were in the middle of nowhere on the edges of League City and Dickinson. However the minute I walked through the door I turned to my husband and said “this is it!” To say we had our work cut out for us was an understatement. The place was wild, overgrown, and full of snakes and banana groves and Yucka plants. There was tangled undergrowth everywhere, along with roughly 80+ years old tires and other garbage. We had to add everything, including the parking lot the lighting, and everything else. And, we had one single yoga student to our name. It took us years to build our client base. Yoga had not yet come of age in League City.

Fast-forwarding to 2017 finds Yoga Lola thriving, glowing and growing. We have remodeled, and added an additional square footage to our building, going from an original 1700 to now 2700 square feet. When our students walk through the door, they always feel like they’ve dropped their burdens and experience immediate relief. We hear from them all how good the energy of the Studio feels to them.

When Kevin and I started out, we had a dream. Then, our dream began to dream itself into reality, and it’s so much better than we ever imagined it could become. Our diverse offerings of yoga classes are filled to the brim, and we enjoy a large variety of students from every country and every walk of life. My Reiki, Life Coaching and Nutrition classes keep growing too! I coach/do energy work with roughly 20 people a week. We’ve lead large local and international retreats with great success. And, our training programs, which include learning how to do energy bodywork and yoga teacher training are both in the 4th year and we are creating talented healers and teachers by the score.

In what is now its 9th year of business, Yoga Lola has become a second home and a primary community to many people seeking a larger sense of connection to self, to others, to community and to the Universe. To many of them, when they walk through the door, they have that sense of “coming home”. Sat Nam!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have been many struggles. When Kevin and I purchased the Studio, it was to be a retirement dream. Two months after Ike, I was laid off. I was unable to find employment again because of the economic climate of the time. Our income was cut virtually in half. We had one client – my becoming a full-time studio manager was not through choice, but rather through circumstances not under my control. However had anything been different, Yoga Lola would never have existed as it exists now. We would not have started it with real intention for another 10 years.

Budget has always been an issue. It has made it difficult for us to get our name out there. It’s been really hard to make ourselves “seen”. Advertising is so very expensive.

The area was also hostile/indifferent to yoga. At the time we opened, doctors told their patients NOT to do yoga. No one in the area even knew what yoga was. It took us a while to socialize it, and as our presence grew, so did the presence of yoga in the general population. Doctors now send their patients to us!

New skills were also needed. I had an extensive business background and Kevin is an engineer, so we had plenty of experience in everything BUT running a yoga studio. It has taken a great deal of re-education to learn how to run, manage, and create a thriving yoga and healing center.

Yoga Lola Studios – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are not only a yoga center, but a healing and learning center as well. In our Studio you don’t DO yoga, you are taught yoga. I practice energy bodywork, and I teach others how to become healers. We teach about nutrition, we teach life coping skills, we help others find and express their hidden potential – physical, mental and spiritual. We also foster a deep sense of community and spirituality in the members of Yoga Lola, because we know what a lonely world this is for so many.

We don’t compare ourselves to others … so we don’t focus on what sets us apart. We dedicate our energy to becoming authentically authentic all the time. No superficiality, No masking. Just real.

We are seriously proud of the fact that two people with limited means (us) were moved to open a business that serves the people who walk through the doors with all their hearts. Yep. That’s what we’re most proud of.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success at Yoga Lola is very simple and easily measurable! Success is seeing students with despair, depression, fear, injuries, or any other kind of limitation grow and heal. To see the sad smile again, the anxious move forward without fear, the asthma or COPD student breath again, and the grieving Widow find her way again. What we see students overcome through the use of yoga, energy bodywork, coaching, and nutrition is nothing short of miracles.

Pricing:

• We have a new student special of 30 days of unlimited yoga for $39

Contact Info:

• Address: 1701 Hwy 3 South, League City, Texas 77573
• Website: www.yogalola.com
• Phone: 281-684-3168
• Email: lola@yogalola.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yogalolastudios/
• Other: https://reikitexas.yolasite.com/