WelcomeOmDC is introducing a new series of Insights with yoga and fitness leaders in our community. To kick it off, we checked-in with Founder and Director of Flow Yoga Center, Debra Perlson-Mishalove.
About Deb:
Deb, a New York native who started her practice in San Francisco, opened Flow Yoga Center in DC’s Logan Circle neighborhood six years ago with the hope of bringing a little bit of California yoga style to the nation’s capitol. Deb’s goal is to offer teachings from some of the best teachers in the city, organize events and classes with yoga rock stars like David Life, Sharon Gannon, Shiva Rea, David Kyle, and Simon Park, and to collaborate across the community for unique opportunities like DC Yoga Week (May 15 – 22), Yoga at Nationals Park (June 19), and the DC Global Mala. Deb gives back to the community by serving on the board of directors of One Common Unity, and offering weekly donation-based seva classes at Flow that benefit the locally run non-profit Anahata Grace.
About Flow:
Flow Yoga Center offers a diverse range of classes from different styles of yoga (like Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Jivamukti, and Kundalini), to Pilates, Afro-Brazilian Dance, Bellydancing, Meditation, and more. They are currently looking to expand to a second location in the greater DC area and are taking suggestions on their facebook page.
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Deb Perlson-Mishalove
Name: Debra Perlson-Mishalove
Favorite Yoga Mat: Manduka Eco
Favorite Yoga Teacher: Shiva Rea
Favorite Yoga Pants:
…for showing off your assets: lululemon athletica Groove Pants
…to Flow in: Lila Organics
Favorite Music: Maneesh de Moor
Favorite Pose: Salamba Sirsasana (Headstand) – helps get in touch with the core, quiets the mind, informs her practice
WOMDC: How long ago did you start practicing yoga and what drew you to it?
DPM: I think I’ve been practicing 16 years. I was living in San Francisco and I was just kind of a lost soul. I had just moved there, broken up with somebody (maybe he broke up with me? I can’t remember). There was a studio down the street from where I lived and I went with a friend to take a class. I remember what I was wearing. I was wearing a body suit, I don’t know why, I just was. I was a gymnast at some point in my life, so I was like, “oh, yoga”… I mean, I think I had only seen it on TV… and I wore a body suit, AND I was wearing these like heavier than normal pants. It was a Bikram class.
My body really liked that practice. From the moment I did it, I was completely hooked. I know people say that, but I was like wow. It was an amazing thing to have during that transitional time for me. It was during the dot.com thing and so the teacher said if you’re not working, I’ll let you come for free, but you need to come every single day. It was such an amazing offer, so I did…I didn’t know anything aside from Bikram for over a year. I thought Bikram was yoga, and then someone took me to Yoga Tree, and I was like, “Oh, my gosh, there’s something called a downward facing dog” and eventually I was introduced to other styles and other poses in San Francisco.
WOMDC: Why did you decide to become a teacher?
DPM: I think I had a friend who was going to take a teacher training at Tranquil Space, and I had been practicing there for a while, and so I thought I would take it too, to deepen my practice. I wasn’t planning on being a teacher and then the minute I started taking teacher training…it felt really good.
[Regarding Alison West, Deb’s teacher in New York]: I wanted a deeper introduction to alignment, and she was like the teacher’s teacher in New York City so we moved to New York for a month for her teacher training immersion. It was in an old dance studio space, it was on Broom Street. I think half the time the heat wasn’t working and we would get in there like at 8 a.m. and meditate for a half hour and then we’d be there until 5:30. It was intensive. I like the one month intensives because they give you the option to just focus on yoga. I got engaged during that teacher training! Our first date was a jivamukti class in New York. Our whole class knew about it and I had no clue and then he bought flowers and chocolates that day.
WOMDC: When you came back from your teacher training with Alison West, was the goal to expand to your own studio?
DPM: I was looking to make a shift … There were definitely good studios but I’m just a creature of habit and once I moved here [Logan Circle], I wanted a yoga studio here. I live my existence in DC within a square mile. I really don’t venture out and I didn’t want to go too far for my yoga.
Flow's Shakti Studio
WOMDC: And its a Green Studio…
DPM: We completely redid it from scratch…There were no walls in here… so we had an opportunity to make it green from the beginning. Both Ian [Debra’s husband and studio co-director] and I were environmentalists before we were yogis so we practice in the same way that we do at home. Whenever we do something, we always ask “how can we make this greener?” So we labor over those decisions probably longer than most people. We found a green architect and a green builder and they were so helpful. We just became 100% wind powered. It such an easy thing for people to do but we had trouble switching a couple of years ago… it’s like switching your phone line. You can do it at home too.
The walls, everything, is VOC-free paints, the floors are all from sustainable resources, and desks and most of the furniture, we have a lot of bamboo, and that’s called dura-palm and that’s made from palm trees. For a lot of the office processes that we do here, we’ve almost eliminated paper except for the sign in sheet and new student form. When we buy paper we only buy green and we don’t have plastic cups here.
WOMDC: How do you decide when you want to add something new to your class offerings?
DPM: I’m very impulsive. I don’t have a long-term plan on what it’s going to look like. There are just a couple of things that just know I have always loved, I love Prana Vinyasa and I love Jivamukti and those are styles that really speak to me and I think they speak to other people too. Ashtanga is a really solid practice. A lot of famous vinyasa teachers today were Ashtangis first and I think it’s an important practice to have. If you are a serious vinyasa practioner, you will benefit from taking Ashtanga classes and staying true to the original sequence as given to us by Pattabhi Jois is really good way of keeping us connected to the heritage of yoga.
WOMDC: Do you have any advice for women business owners and entrepreneurs?
DPM: Yes [pause]. I’m not sure what it is [laughter].
Life is so short not to follow your heart. I think as women and as yogis, we are so incredibly intuitive. Sometimes we just have to quiet all the heavy thoughts going on in our heads. Our heart speaks a lot more softly than our brain, I think. Just believing in yourself and allowing that stuff to rise. And honoring, valuing, and believing in it. And networking with other women business owners. I really don’t think it’s that different than being a male business owner. I just think taking a risk sometimes, taking chances, and if it feels right. I didn’t hesitate when I started teaching because it just felt right to me. If you’re scared, that might be something to look into, like “what’s holding you back?” and once you can resolve that, it will open the doors.
WOMDC: Uhhh…what if you’re scared because of money?
DPM: Abundance. Just get a Lakshmi statue and connect with her every morning and she’ll remind you that the world is abundant. There’s enough for everybody.
WOMDC: How do you find balance between your job as studio owner and managing your family?
Jonah Mishalove in Downward Dog
DPM: That’s my biggest challenge. I’m realizing more and more, and yoga tells us this, but nothing is under our control. This has been magnified in my life and I can’t control anything anymore. I try to schedule things but then Jonah [Deb’s cutie patootie son] could need me and things just unravel. I really just let it go. I would never let my business get in the way of being a good mom. And it doesn’t have to.
You really just focus on what matters most, and the other little things can wait a little while. There are some things that you have to attend to and there are some things that can hold off for a little while. And I find that some things that I let hold off for a little while; I don’t even end up doing because they weren’t as important. I have a really good organization system too. I compartmentalize my day a little bit.
Jonah is the light of my life. He learned how to do Downward Facing Dog. I’m trying to teach him how to do Tree Pose because it’s the pose of the month… he can’t even walk yet.
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Thank you to Deb for her time, honesty, and inspiration. She told WelcomeOmDC that a magazine recently called for an interview and mentioned that the yoga community in DC is one of the most vibrant ones around. We believe it, and with great leaders like Debra, we understand why.
“Yoga is not just one thing so I want to represent yoga for all that it is, all that I can.”
Debra Perlson-Mishalove
Posted by: Jamie
