STRETCHING HIS PORTFOLIO

Former Buckeye Redd brings yoga to masses

The cadence of Rebekah, the blonde yoga instructor, rang through Studio One at Yogasix.

Slowly, the four participants rose to tabletop position, shoulders stacked over wrists and hips above knees.

A few poses later, it was time for the first downward dog of this slow-flow class.

With arms outstretched, hips shifted backward and heels reaching for the ground, all five people in the room more or less looked the same.

The only way to tell the Olympic gold medalist from the rest of the crowd would have been with a ruler. Michael Redd, whose 22 Ventures purchased the studio in July, needed a yoga mat measuring 76 inches, a full eight inches longer than the standard size.

Otherwise, the Ohio State standout, NBA all-star and physically imposing Redd was just another member of the class — and that was exactly the point. In purchasing the studio, Redd was hoping to make the practice more accessible to all walks of life.

Part of that is erasing the stigma that yoga is only for certain people, and to combat that, Redd has put his money where his mouth is, and — in the case of during a forward fold — his knees, too.

“Sometimes people need culture interpreters,” Redd told The Dispatch. “(They think), ‘If I see someone who looks like me, it's OK to be a part.' We want to continue to do that.”

Since re-launching the studio last month, Redd and John Weaver, CEO of 22 Ventures, have been periodically taking classes at the Lane Avenue studio.

“We want to create a non-comparison environment. That is really, really important. I don’t want to have the weight and pressure of trying to compete against someone in the class who can stand on their head.”

Michael Redd

Yogasix, based in Irvine, California, has been in business since 2012, but this is the first time the Upper Arlington location has had local ownership.

Redd has been practicing yoga for more than a decade. Weaver got his start with a DVD at roughly the same time, and both have enjoyed the mental and physical benefits of the practice ever since. When he enters the studio, Redd said, he enjoys the chance to park his phone in the hallway and spend the next hour focused only on his own well-being.

On this day, Redd was participating in a slow-flow class, but his personal favorite is hot yoga, where yogis hold poses longer and are given cold towels with a unique fragrance at the conclusion.

“It actually feels better than a massage,” he said. “It just feels like great relief. I love the sweat.”

BARBARA J. PERENIC/COLUMBUS DISPATCH One of Michael Redd's favorite forms of exercise these days is hot yoga, which he practices at the studio he co-owns, Yogasix, in Upper Arlington.