potrero view

March 2009

Potrero Hill Yoga Studio Connects with the Neighborhood

Nanette Collins

First time students to Pretzel’s Yoga and Pilates might be intimidated by the Carolina Street studio’s name, which conjures images of a yoga master contorting themselves into the shape of a pretzel.  However, owner Pretzel France and teachers Sheila Berotti, Tristan Bettencourt and Bernadette Otterbein quickly put newcomers at ease.

According to Kamalesh Rao, who has been studying yoga with France for more than two years, “I enjoy the instruction, atmosphere and fellow practitioners who attend the classes.  One can expect a total workout of the body and enjoy the benefits from it.  Five stars to Pretzel’s Yoga.”

Pretzel’s given name is Beayah France.  She adopted “Pretzel” as her professional moniker in 1996, after picking it up as a nickname due to her flexibility.  The warmth and generosity of France’s teaching style permeates her studio, which has been hosting students for 13 years.  She and her teachers know everyone by name, and there’s often a small display of student-made yoga gear for sale.  Business cards, photographs, flyers and books by her students hold a place of prominence at the studio’s entrance.    

France, who’s originally from Hungary, grew up in Texas.  With a background in gymnastics and dance, California was the perfect place for a young France to land.  By her mid-20s she knew she didn’t want to dance professionally, but giving up on the dream was a tough decision.  “I was lost and needed to find something,” she said recently over coffee at Chat’s Roasting Company.  She found what she was looking for at a yoga class held at a long-closed gym on Post Street, which was located across the street from where she was living.  “I was searching and found myself with yoga.  I found yoga intriguing, and because I was flexible I loved it.”

France began studying at a Bikram yoga studio in the Marina District, ultimately managing and teaching at a North Beach Bikram yoga studio.  In the early-1990s, France became fascinated with Cirque du Soleil, and began practicing to audition for the company.   She traveled to France, where she perfected a contortionist routine that she performed at cafés.  The money was great, but, she admitted, “I knew that I couldn’t rely on that kind of thing, and hit a wall.”

Wernher Krutein of Potrero Hill-based Photovault encouraged her to come back to San Francisco.  In 1996 he convinced her to teach yoga in the conference room of his photography studio at 17th and Mississippi streets.  Within four months, 10 people where taking her classes.  She moved her fledgling yoga business to 18th Street, between Arkansas and Carolina streets, where 20 people at a time could take her classes.  Two years later, she moved again, this time to Carolina Street, where Pretzel’s Yoga and Pilates has been a fixture for almost a decade and a half.  

Pretzel’s long-time friend and student Sophie Taggart calls Pretzel “a unique and valuable teacher.  I have seen her studio grow and develop as she has.  From a small front room in a studio where she started classes in San Francisco, Pretzel has expanded into her current yoga palace with warm soft lighting and calm music.  From the moment you walk in the front door of Pretzel’s Yoga and Pilates school, the awareness that you are now in sacred territory will inspire students to take the opportunity to stretch their bodies, open their hearts and still their minds.”

Word of mouth and flyers blanketing the Hill have been the mainstay of Pretzel’s marketing strategy.  She laughingly recounts her business’ early days, when she and a retired friend climbed stairs and hills to deliver flyers advertising the studio, a practice that others from the studio continue to this day.  Pretzel attributes her success to consistency, dedication, a passionate concern for her students, and a few stints working for law firms in the financial district.  “Yoga comes first, than business,” she remarked, noting that when she steps into her studio all her attention is on her students and their needs.  “It’s no longer about me.”

While many of Pretzel’s students have been with her since she opened the studio, she continues to attract new students from the community and throughout the Bay Area.  “She connects with each and every one of her students,” said Potrero Hill resident and student Rosalie Lack.  “Her classes are a perfect combination of physically challenging and spiritually rewarding.  I’ve been going to her studio for almost five years and I can honestly say that it has changed my life.  I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in both physically and mentally.”

Another student, Natasha, agrees.   “Pretzel is such a humorous, compassionate, passionate individual and it really transcends in her yoga practice and her studio.  She has such an amazing following of individuals who have followed her from her pervious location to this.  Coming from a sports and competitive sports background, I find each class slightly different; sometimes humorous, sometimes we’re concentrating intensely, but it’s always challenging and always progressive.”

“Stretch out in 2009,” France advised.  

Pretzel’s Yoga & Pilates is located at 485A Carolina Street.  For more details, visit:  www.pretzelsyoga.com or call 626.9642.

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