trish stratus: stratusfaction

Stratus faction

Seven-time former World Wrestling Entertainment champion Trish Stratus is no longer prowling the ring in search of opponents to pin to the canvas. These days, she's just north of Toronto , in Vaughan Mills, pinning clients to a yoga mat.

Yoga is like a power nap for the mind," says Stratus, sitting down to talk meditation, money and mid-life career changes. This is, after all, the eve of the unveiling of her aptly named Stratusphere - a 5,200-square-foot complex devoted to the practice of the eastern art - which opens on April 26. It is the big-box suburban alternative to the downtown yoga cubbyhole.

Stratusphere Yoga was designed to be anything but a generic, genteel gymnasium. Richmond Hill native Stratus envisions it as a community centre of sorts, catering to all ages and abilities. "We are trying to make Stratusphere a comfortable place where the experienced can come and advance their practice, and where someone new could come in and find something they love. My mom can go to the restorative class while I take the power class; then, we sit afterward and hang out."

What everyone will find at Stratusphere is a centre that houses three separate studios, offering different classes at any given hour. In the middle is a lounge where members can relax over a cup of tea, further enhancing the placid vibe that Stratus is so proud of. There's also a yoga library for those practitioners seeking more in-depth information on the roots and schools of thought of this ancient philosophy. "Of course, every single staff member in the facility, from the cashier to the instructors, lives yoga," says Stratus. Key to Stratus's vision is knowledgeability of the employees - all of them. The newly baptized in particular will find themselves immersed and, most importantly, welcomed.

The studio offers classes in several disciplines of yoga for varying levels of clientele, from inexperienced to expert, expectant to just plain exhausted. Yoga is for anyone, Stratus says. "There are a lot of misconceptions about it. Many people think you're chanting while your body is twisted like a pretzel." She manages to acknowledge yoga's benefits to both body and mind without waxing New Age rhapsodic.

Stratus's introduction to yoga came in 2005, after traditional physiotherapy methods failed to help a wrestling-related back injury. What impressed her about yoga at the time was its nearly-immediate rehabilitative power and, subsequently, her renewed capacity "to do more, physically, because of increased flexibility."

Certainly, enthusiasts often cite yoga's physical benefits alongside the simple fact that they can practice just about anywhere, with virtually no equipment. Add to these obvious pluses yoga's low- or no-impact nature and that it affects a soothing influence on the spirit, and it becomes a fitness, health, well-being and weight-loss regimen for today's hectic lifestyles.

Stratus is quick to credit yoga with helping her to be calmer, clearer and generally more focused. "This sounds cliché, but it really does occur. People have busy, stressful lives and don't know how to turn off. When I began, I imagined I'd be composing to-do lists in my head, but you learn to finally drop it. It's an amazing effect." In this amazing effect, Stratus also saw a potential business plan.

Opportunities to use her name commercially had been previously presented to Stratus - without success - after she retired from wrestling in 2006. "All these interesting offers came: a clothing line, an energy drink, facial care - all great opportunities," she admits, "but nothing felt real. It wasn't my idea or product." Her dream of a yoga studio offered the chance to promote something she was passionate about, on her own terms.

Stratusphere Yoga was born of turning a personal interest into a personalized business. Her partner in this venture is her friend and certified yoga instructor, Janette Lynn. The two of them had talked of the possibility of a studio countless times, recalls Stratus, and she often found herself saying, "One day I would love to open a studio." Finally, Stratus decided to "make 'one day' today." If the initial location proves successful, there is the possibility of turning Stratusphere Yoga into a national chain.

Despite stereotypical expectations over the years that she would relocate to some other internationally glamorous city befitting her celebrity, Stratus has always lived in Toronto 's northern reaches. It became inevitable to introduce the studio bearing her name close to home. "Vaughan Mills is a fantastic location," Stratus gushes of the place she knows so well. "And it's in my stomping grounds. Of course, it's convenient for commuting, so you can just pop into a class on the way to work…."

Will clients of Stratusphere Yoga see Trish on the mat next to them taking classes or even conducting them? (She will complete her instructor's certification this summer.) "Absolutely," she says, to both questions. "My husband jokes that I'm doing this just so I have a place to practice."

As it turns out, the venture has been a family collaboration, too, as Stratus's husband, Ron, who's in the construction trade, built the studio. But the business element of their partnership may have ended with the opening of Stratusphere, as he has yet to become a yoga practitioner. "Well, we'll see about that," says Stratus with a laugh. "That's my next goal in life."