Arts & Culture

Fort Myers yoga studio defies odds to celebrate 10 years in business

WGCU | By Dayna Harpster,

Published October 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM EDT

Giana Montoya works with students in a free yoga class on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, at The Shiva Yoga Shala in Fort Myers. The studio celebrated their 10th anniversary with yoga classes, dance demonstrations, aerial yoga demonstrations and a drum circle. — The Shiva Yoga Shala in Fort Myers celebrated its 10th anniversary with free yoga classes, dance demonstrations and aerial yoga demonstrations on Saturday, Oct. 18.

The pandemic and hurricanes did a number on local yoga studios, but one in Fort Myers has managed to weather the storms.

Co-owner of Shiva Yoga Shala, Giana Montoya, and her students celebrated 10 years in business on Saturday with yoga and dance demonstrations, a drum circle and more.

"Why is 10 years special? As Floridians in the southwest, we've had some insurmountable challenges as everyone knows, right?," said Montoya. "So we navigated through COVID. We navigated through Hurricane Ian, And it was really only through insanity and just the love and dedication of our students. So they just said, keep going."

Melissa Wooldridge practices at The Shiva Yoga Shala in Fort Myers, during Forrest yoga class on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. Wooldridge has been a student there since 2019.

Melissa Wooldridge has been a client since 2019. The studio was a lifeline for her during COVID and afterward.

"They immediately jumped onto an online platform, which that's how I practiced for a little bit until I felt more comfortable coming back into the studio. ... The energy of the people here is unlike anything that I've experienced in my whole life."

Montoya credits yoga itself for her resiliency as well as the students’.

"I think it's our clarity of our intention," she said. "Our intention is to serve our community and to create as much good in the world, to give people a literal sanctuary, safe space for transformation. …Yoga teaches us how to breathe through the discomfort, and that's how we were able to."

Shiva Yoga Shala offers several types of yoga, from beginners’ to hot yoga and aerial practices.

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Giana Montoya, the co-owner of The Shiva Yoga Shala in Fort Myers, leads a Forrest yoga class on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025.