One woman’s house is her yoga castle
East-end Toronto residence transforms into studio, B&B
Guests say they never want to leave Celeste Shirley’s oasis.
Perched over a ravine, the lightfilled third floor of her east-end Toronto home is better known as the “tree house” — it’s surrounded by old oak trees and the back deck is a perfect spot for morning coffee and breakfast.
“You catch the sunrise, hear the birds singing, and with the ravine and the three old oaks shading the yard, the property is always cool and the air quality great,” says Shirley.
Then it’s just a two-second trip downstairs for a session of yoga or a Thai massage.
Opening her home as a yoga studio — the Yoga House — then as a B&B, was a natural progression, says the yoga and Reiki instructor. It all started years ago when Shirley cleared out her living room to faux-finish the walls, and people started asking if she planned on doing yoga. The notion for a B&B crystalized when she lay immobile in the “tree house” recovering from back surgery. A tribe of friends was taking turns making meals — they’d drop in “on the fly” and end up staying for hours, she says.
Her background is in fitness and kinesiology, and she’s done yoga for scoliosis as well as occasionally teaching. But until everyone around her mentioned it, she had never thought about opening her own home studio. A bonus was the home’s south east orientation: perfect for practising the internal arts.
At the rear of the house, where the yoga studio and the third floor retreat are situated, the ravine is visually in your face through huge windows.
“This connection to nature is so important, especially with anxiety being today’s top mood disorder,” Shirley says. “Nature and yoga are two ways to relieve it.” The ravine is also physically accessible from the back gate — a whole city block at your feet with a path leading down to stream and boardwalk.
While Shirley’s entire home embodies what she believes, she says a sanctuary can be created in far less space. One of her friends has carved out room for yoga in her small downtown condo; another has converted her garage into a yoga studio.
In fact, Shirley does yoga anywhere — the airport, on the dock, in a park — wherever there’s enough space to get your arms overhead and enough quiet to focus the mind and be present.