In the Western World, it is rare that a person is born into a yogic lifestyle. Rather, yoga has a way of finding you. Yoga found Brent and Sheri Rieli, the dynamic married couple who owns and operates Plymouth Yoga Room. Brent came from a new-construction real-estate world and Sheri the former Office Manager of an Engineering firm.

Brent started yoga over 25 years ago with Jonny Kest. Why yoga, we asked Brent? “It felt good, clean and healthy and I just never stopped practicing. Same thing after meeting Sheri. It felt right. We’ve seen each other every day since”.

Flashback to 1997, Sheri was into aerobics and kickboxing. The adorable story goes that when Brent met Sheri, they playfully joked with the other that their method of workout was harder. Brent got Sheri to try yoga and she found herself attending more yoga classes. Eventually, her entire workout regime turned over to yoga.

In 2008, Sheri and Brent were teaching at gyms and dance studios. They craved more. They wanted a boutique studio with just yoga, so they could watch the students grow as their yoga practices deepened. Filled with the need to share this gift with the community,
they opened Plymouth Yoga Room in 2009. Sheri and Brent can still remember the day they walked past our building at 474 Forest Avenue in downtown Plymouth – “We could just feel the energy, it called to us.”

It was a long road of struggle, hard work, tears, joy, and certainly a family affair! The Rielis’ youngest child, Dante, was age 5 when Plymouth Yoga Room opened, and he grew up at the Studio. Sheri can still recall years before they opened, that she put Dante into a stroller, walked into town, got supplies for a vision board and cut out all of the words to try to come up with the name of the studio and pictures to fill the space.

A challenge arose - to meet the demands of modern workout trends and yet keep true to self exploration, discovery, and also a tradition of discipline. Plymouth Yoga Room’s style of teaching developed: a fulfilling freeform version based on the sequencing of Ashtanga Vinyasa.

Their perseverance and belief in yoga kept them going through the very difficult first few years of business, even during the period in which they almost lost their house while not even making minimum wage.
The floors were hand laid by them, the walls painted, the tile placed. Today, Plymouth Yoga Room – Plymouth is over 10 years old and a deeply rooted part of the Plymouth and surrounding Communities.

What keeps us not only going, but enthusiastic? “Every day, we hear a story of how yoga has helped heal, strengthen, and bring greater well-being into a student’s life,” Sheri and Brent reflect.

It is Brent and Sheri’s dearest dream that Plymouth Yoga Room will outlive them and continue to give peace and well-being back to its clients and community for many more years to come.