Though she’s been a Montana girl her whole life, Holly Purdy will be the first to admit that she hates the cold.
Purdy is the owner of Love Yoga, a hot yoga and barre studio with locations in Whitefish and Kalispell. As the days get shorter and snowpack begins to accumulate, the teacher and small business owner offered insight into finding warmth through yoga and the community she’s built around it.
Born in Shelby, Purdy has spent nearly her entire life in the Treasure State, save a brief stint teaching English in Thailand. Throughout her career as a teacher, Purdy always found ways to incorporate yoga into her life and her classrooms. It wasn’t until the birth of her first child in 2016, though, that she officially got certified and began dreaming up what would become Love Yoga. Now, Purdy stands at the helm of two studios, which offer classes from over two-dozen instructors, from the challenging Power Barre to the slow and soulful Healing Flow yoga class.
For a long-time yogi like Purdy, integrating yoga into her life has been a transformative process — one that becomes especially important during the winter.
“Montana is a harsh environment and it can be socially isolating with the extra gloom of winter,” Purdy said.
The literal warmth of hot yoga — and the added warmth of the community that has cropped up around it — offers Purdy a defense against winter gloom.
Purdy practices Bhakti yoga, a form that she describes as “the yoga of love and devotion,” which includes practices like music, singing and communal chanting. Research shows that singing and chanting in groups correlate to increased oxytocin and endorphins, as well as a decrease in signs of depression and anxiety.
“We’re becoming part of something bigger, and it changes the structure of the brain in some way,” she said about the communal rituals involved with the Bhakti form.
For those looking to dip their toe into the world of hot yoga, Purdy has two words: “Just come.”
“We don’t come to yoga because we’re good at it. We don’t start playing a musical instrument because we’re already good at it,” she said, encouraging those who may be nervous to take the first step. “Come from where you are right now. Be a beginner. Know that no one in the room is looking around or judging.”
“All the practices taken together, it’s magical,” she added. “It’s potent medicine.”