Enjoy an hour of yoga at Queen’s Royal Park

Baillie Thornhill has travelled the world, but she’s ready to settle down, and has chosen Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Promoting wellness is her career path, and yoga her passion. After a lifetime of moving around, first as a child with a father whose job took him many places, and as an adult who chose her own lifestyle of travel, she came home to her family in NOTL, after spending the last two years in Bali, Indonesia, where she was part of a close-knit yoga community.

She plans to continue teaching yoga here
in town, and is working on finding out what people like and what she can offer.

To get to know the yoga community, and to celebrate transition from summer to fall in the beautiful surroundings of NOTL, she is offering a free hour-long community yoga class Saturday morning, Sept. 7, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., at Queen’s Royal Park by the gazebo.

“I like to meet people, and I’d like people to meet me,” she says.

She is teaming up with Jaclyn Willms, owner of Niagara Fit, where Thornhill will begin teaching yoga classes this fall.

The “gentle movements” of Saturday’s outdoor class on the waterfront will be suitable for all levels of experience, all stages of fitness and all ages, and will be followed by free, delicious breakfast smoothies, “courtesy of the Niagara Fit wonder women,” she says.

“It will be nice to take a moment to be grateful for our surroundings, and how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful community.”

She and Willms are encouraging donations for Red Roof Retreat, “to spend where they see fit,” she says.

There will be extra yoga mats for those who need them, but she suggests those who have one bring it along, “dress lightly, use a bit of sunscreen, and bring a friend. Everyone’s welcome.”

She not only inherited the travelling bug from her parents, but also their entrepreneurial spirit. The three of them have settled in Virgil, and are building a business together. She and her mother, Lorraine Thornhill, cycle many mornings with a group of women, sometimes as many as 10, and Lorraine is a wellness coach, with a program called Mind Mastery Training.

Her father Paul is a business strategist and finance coach, and although they have all worked independently in the past, this year they have come together to create a three-day workshop helping yoga instructors, studio owners and retreat leaders build their businesses.