SIOUX CITY | As a full-time counselor and new yoga entrepreneur, Jackie Paulson’s schedule is very full. She doesn’t like to use the word “busy” because she wakes up every morning, glowing like the first rays of the rising sun.
“I’ve never felt so fulfilled,” she said. “I finally feel like I’ve gotten to a place in my life that I’ve been wanting for so long but never really knew what it looked like.”
That place is {be} Yoga Studio in downtown Sioux City, which opened at the beginning of March. It’s a beautiful wide-open, space with hardwood floors and brick walls lined with tall windows that overlook a corner of Historic Fourth Street.
While more than 20 yoga classes are held here each week, the new studio at 1101 Fourth St., also offers private services, energy work and holistic counseling to help students find healing, meaning and purpose in their lives.
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“This is not just a yoga studio,” she said. “That is a practice that is offered here, and it’s really great. But ultimately, this is a place for you to get reconnected with yourself and the world around you in a way that feels meaningful.”
As a show of gratitude, Paulson leads a {be}Free: Free Level 1 Flow yoga class at 5:30 p.m. every Friday. During the hour-long session, students move through a basic series of postures, breath work and meditation. Yoga mats, blocks and straps are available to use.
At other times, {be} Yoga goes beyond a basic yoga practice into other life-affirming workshops and programs like Mindfulness for Mental Wellness, the Be You Series: Creating a Purposeful Life and Devi Dinners: A Gathering of Women on the first Friday of each month for an empowering evening of good food, good company and good conversation.
Before she opened the yoga studio, Paulson, 32, had to leave her familiar tribe at Evolve Yoga & Wellness, where she was brought on as founder Erin Kuehl’s first yoga teacher nearly four years ago. She also had to let go of big-city dreams and accept a life without children.
More than once, her confidence has been shaken by doubts and fears. She keeps a picture of her late mother – a fierce yet selfless social worker – on her desk as a constant reminder of why it’s worthwhile.
Her mother lost the fight against cancer in 2007. Tragedy struck exactly one month later when her sister got in an accident and died. Their deaths drove her to explore life on different terms. She gravitated toward something that made her feel better: yoga.
Honoring her mother’s legacy, Paulson is building a community around her that’s strong, supportive and rooted in service.
It’s a sanctuary of joy where she envisions hosting special events with art, live music, book clubs and cooking demonstrations.
It’s an answer to the suffering she sees 40 hours a week at Siouxland Mental Health, a suffering that often comes from feeling disconnected, unworthy or aimless.
And it’s given her a new sense of meaning and purpose after years of struggling with infertility that drove a wedge between Paulson and her husband, a paramedic-turned-firefighter who helps with the business side of {be} Yoga.
They’re making something together. It’s not a baby but a business designed to be a soft place to land for the lost and lonely.
