After November shooting, Hot Yoga Tallahassee studio to reopen Saturday

Hot Yoga Tallahassee is turning a new page.

After the November tragedy, the Betton Place studio is set to offer classes for the first time.

Teachers will open the renovated space on Saturday morning with the 108 sun salutation practice. Owner Brittani Whittington will lead a music session in the evening.

"As we move + breathe to the sounds of my favorite sacred songs we will clear space in our bodies and our hearts for the new year to come while honoring and remembering our losses," Whittington wrote in an emailed newsletter announcing the reopening date.

The Nov. 2 shooting left three people dead, including the shooter of self-inflicted injuries, and several others wounded. The gunman had a history of anger toward women.

Whittington and her husband debated closing the studio altogether, she wrote. But new safety updates adopted at the studio have brought her "needed peace."

Security cameras have been installed, along with a window behind the front desk, so teachers can see into the lobby while inside the yoga room.

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"My stomach is nauseous as I have to sit here and explain these things. The feeling of helplessness is still very heavy," Whittington wrote. "There is just nothing we could have done to prevent what happened."

Over the past two months, community members and students have been showing their love for the Hot Yoga team, adorning the studio with flowers and supportive messages written on star-shaped cutouts along the entrance.

Efforts to reach Whittington were unsuccessful.

She closed the newsletter emphasizing that the studio is a home, a sacred space.

"I do know this without a doubt," she wrote. "This is our yoga home. Our sanctuary. And no force of evil or illness can take that away from us. We dissolve darkness by showing up again."

If you go:

"Awaken the Space with 108 Sun Salutations"

When: Saturday, Jan. 5 from 10 a.m. to noon

Where: 1950 Thomasville Road

Cost: $15

"Bless the Space with Sacred Music"

When: Saturday, Jan. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Where: 1950 Thomasville Road

Cost: $15

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.