Steamboat Pilot & Today

The first thing Oak Creek residents asked Nancy Spooner when they found out she had bought the lavender house on Main Street was whether she planned to paint it.

"It was purple. There was purple everywhere," she said pointing to a paint smudge left on an outside light fixture. "I picked brown so the house would blend in with the other colors on Main Street."

Spooner bought the 90-year-old house on Main Street four months ago with the plan of turning it into a permanent place to teach yoga and practice massage therapy for Oak Creek and South Routt residents.

After shoveling coal out of her basement, retiling the floors, painting and knocking down walls, Spooner has realized the dream of owning a business.

Spooner has lived all over the Yampa Valley for the past 30 years and has practiced massage for 20 of them. She most recently was doing massage and yoga at Let's Dance Studio down the street. She received her yoga teaching certification 18 months ago.

Several years ago, Oak Creek Mayor Kathy "Cargo" Rodeman went to Stagecoach, where Spooner was working. Rodeman advised her to come to Oak Creek where people could take advantage of her services.

"I soon realized how warm and friendly Oak Creek is," Spooner said. "I love the pace of life here."

Spooner has additional plans for her new business. She plans to do landscaping, adding a waterfall and building an outside yoga area.

"It has been a slow process," she said. "It has been a labor of love."

Spooner began teaching yoga at the Yoga House two weeks ago, and she said the transition was nothing but smooth.

"All I did was walk up the street from Let's Dance. I didn't even skip a beat," she said. Spooner offers yoga classes for $5 a class every day of the week. Classes are at 8:15 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In addition to the yoga she teaches, she also encourages people to relax with a massage in her newly renovated massage room.

"I have always been in the business of inner discovery," she said. "With massage, people get in touch with their inner selves, but yoga is something that people can do on their own. It helps them become more centered and focused."

Spooner tries to teach her students the importance of inner discovery and balance especially because she feels as if society forces us to be so aware of what's going on around us all the time. The focus doesn't leave much time to think about what is going on inside, she said.

Spooner works to connect the physical, mental and emotional with the spiritual through the practice of yoga. Another benefit people get from doing yoga is having a healthy and strong body, though that is a secondary benefit in Spooner's eyes.

"After doing yoga, you walk out energized and renewed. It's all about finding focus and getting life to its simplest forms," she said.

Spooner said she has students from ages 20 to 70 and of all capabilities. Any yoga position Spooner teaches can be tailored to meet the needs of a particular person so she encourages people who might not think they are flexible enough to do yoga to come and try it. "Oak Creek is very casual," she said. "It's easy for people to relax here."