Meet Parisa Hervani | Studio Owner & Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Parisa Hervani and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Parisa, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Our business helps the community and the world by helping one person at a time. Yoga helps people shed the things that stop them from or cloud their ability to know and love themselves, and in turn others. If together we are the community that makes the world, then the revolution that will ultimately change the world is a personal one. Yoga has changed both of our lives so profoundly and taught us not only how to lean in and breathe through the uncomfortable moments, but how to be present and cherish the moments of stillness. It’s in working towards this awareness of self in all times that we can recognize the waves of emotions, can choose not to react with conditioned patterns, and can instead choose to act from a sacred place of love deep beneath the waves. When we can act from a place absent of fear and full of love, then we can have a huge impact on those around us. Then they in turn can pass this along. Every person will have a different experience from our studio and will carry out their part of service in a different way, but all the great acts stem from the same root of love for the self and others which we aim to cultivate through the practice and studio community.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Most of my life, my idea of success was very much wrapped up in my title and salary. I graduated from Georgia State’s honors finance program and went on to work as an analyst in corporate finance. I would sneak out every day on my lunch break to go to yoga or barre and pray no one added a 1pm meeting to my calendar. I hated being told I had to sit at a desk all day and felt like we were competing to see who could leave last. But they kept paying me more and more, so I thought it was a good trade for my happiness. Then in the month leading up to me turning 30, I had FOUR devastating life changing events occur. I couldn’t believe how well I was handling it. I had increased my practice in the past year, and I just knew that yoga was changing me. I decided to lean in and went to Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga Works; Jenny Holding was one of my teachers in the training! 2 months in, I went to a yoga festival. Chanting in Sanskrit in a tent with my face painted and jumping up and down to a live dj, I felt a huge ball of fear leave my body. I roared it out! I made the decision right there to live my life from love, not fear. I quit my job two days later and never looked back. That love, that fearlessness, that power is something I want everyone to claim in themselves. While I don’t think everyone needs to quit their job, I want everyone to truly live, to boldly pursue their dreams, and to experience the true joy of loving yourself fully. From the desire to share this with others, I went down a path that eventually brought Jenny and I back together and birthed Element Yoga. Our studio has two rooms. We are a full yoga studio offering both heated power classes, yin classes, and everything in between. We are also a barre studio with 13 different props used in barre and sculpt classes. There’s something for everybody and EVERY body to do every single day!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hmmm. I’m imagining a 3 day weekend where friends come visit. I would start with a beltline day by scooter. We would ride from my home in Buckhead all the way down Peachtree (this is my favorite way to commute peachtree). Maybe stop by Joes for refreshment before heading into Piedmont Park to see what’s going on and riding around the park. Then we would hop on the beltline, stop by PCM, and lounge in the skate park before hitting Victory or somewhere in Innman park for a snack. Then continue the ride, maybe swinging by ladybird before heading to Nina and Rafi’s for a slice and dessert. There’s lots of food on this day. We would end on the rooftop at Estrella for the sunset and maybe dancing. The next day would be a hike near Clayton, GA, lounging at the beach at Lake Rabun, wine tasting at a local winery, and dinner at Fortify in downtown Clayton. The next day we can get up early for a nice power flow at Element Yoga, then explore Buford highway for boba and lunch. That afternoon, bamboo forest hike with the dogs and dog beach then dinner at Grana for a meatball flight. The perfect 3 day weekend 🙂

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Other than my business partner, Jenny Holding, I would say I owe a lot to my former business partner Ginger Ellington. We ran a barre franchise together during 2020 which was a very interesting experience. Ginger taught me how to treat people with kindness while maintaining strength, how to maintain your own boundaries while still leaving space for others to be themselves, and how to laugh with your last breath. I am very grateful for her in my life. Jenny and I also read “The Buddah and the Badass” while preparing for and opening up Element Yoga which encouraged us thoughtfully shape our manifesto and company values early on.

Website: www.elementyogaatl.com

Instagram: @ElementYogaAtl

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Elementyogaatl