135 SOUTH OREGON STREET

JoyFull Yoga Wellness Center may seem a non-traditional destination for seasonal shopping, yet it offers surprising and unique gifts for your loved ones.

“We’re all about providing opportunities to help people feel better,” says owner Louise Lavergne. “We offer the gift of wellness. And you can treat yourself at the same time that you treat your friends.”

Yoga, Louise points out, “is about feeling good from the inside out.” Her studio offers a variety of yoga classes—including “chair classes” for folks with physical difficulties, and “self-healing” therapeutic sessions —as well as yoga Pilates and even belly dancing. And Louise conducts monthly “sound healing” sessions, which reverberate with the harmonious vibrations of the studio’s exquisite gongs.

“We also have online classes so you can ‘take it with you,’” she adds, citing programs in meditation, relaxation, and stress management. “We have one to help you get a better night’s sleep. And I’m launching a special ‘holiday stress relief package.’”

Louise has maintained JoyFull Yoga in Jacksonville since 2006, initially as a standalone studio, which she later expanded, adding a front showroom stocked with fair trade merchandise. Through her partnership with Pico’s Michael Richardson, she selects much of the natural fiber clothing that Pico’s carries, but attempts to keep the clothing at the studio distinct.

“It’s still fair trade clothes,” she explains, “but I do carry items that use synthetic fibers. Some people can’t wear wool. And some people can’t afford the specialty prices. So the integrity of the manufacturer becomes my marker. It’s important to me that someone who really wants or needs a product is able to purchase it, rather than feel bad because they can’t afford it. Feeling bad has nothing to do with wellness. I have great yoga clothing at affordable prices, and also clothing that crosses over into daily lifestyle-wear, like a little dress of organic cotton that’s super comfortable.”

A trip through the front showroom reveals additional tangible items dedicated to wellness, including beautiful jewelry made with semi-precious stones that contribute to psychological well-being. You’ll find massage creams and oils to relieve aching body parts; incense; salt inhalers that heal the lungs and improve breathing; self-massage rings that stimulate acupressure points in your hand and relax your heart—“Everything from your toes to your nose to make you feel good.” And, of course, delicious kombucha for “gut health” that Louise makes with fermented tea, cold-pressed fruits and herbs “and lots of love,” she says with a smile. “We have quite a following for our kombucha!”

It’s all part of the whole, she explains. “My work at JoyFull Yoga Wellness Center is about guiding and supporting people to be the healers of their own lives.”