Improper Bostonian

All In The Enlightened Family: North End Yoga brings a new tradition to Little Italy

By Nick Altshuller | Jan 2008

YOU KNOW how the story goes. "It was just one of those ‘Oh my God, I'm so sick of my job' moments," says 29-year-old Alicia Orr, cofounder of North End Yoga. "I said, ‘Why can't I get up and do something I love every day?' And Alessandra said, ‘I say the same thing all the time.'" And so the dietician and former paralegal leased an expansive studio overlooking Hanover Street. Joined by two other rat racers-turned-teachers-a television producer and a financial analyst-Orr and cofounder Alessandra Miele opened North End Yoga in August, bringing the Hindu practice to the city's Italian epicenter for the first time.

"Boston has been exposed to yoga before, but there were a lot of people in this neighborhood that were curious and hadn't tried it until we were around the corner," says 28-year-old Miele, a native Italian. "Now we're the yogis in the neighborhood. That's how everyone sees us."

Such a strong sense of identity is definitively North End. It's also what may help this cultural outlier take root in a neighborhood that holds tightly to tradition. Orr and Miele's venture is as much about spreading yoga as it is about staying connected to the tight community where they live.

"We did meet working in a local restaurant," Miele says. "It's just, you live in a building, the landlord is the person who lives on the first floor, you get a part-time job in the restaurant, the owner of the restaurant owns the building, and he's cousins with the guy across the street, and if you pay attention, if you're friendly to people, you just get to know them, really like a family."

Orr and Miele met at Strega, where Miele stills tends bar part-time. They'd like to get the men of Strega in for a class. "As long as they get a buffet," jokes owner Nick Varano. "I'm not really your yoga-type person. Just seeing some of the poses. Madonna Mia! It's tough."

Having grown up around the corner, Varano has watched the neighborhood evolve. With a businessman's eye, he sees a place for North End Yoga in its future. "That's how diverse the North End is," Varano observes. "It's changing now. You can spend the whole day in the North End. There's so
many condos going up and so many different people coming in."

North End Yoga is more than a mere symbol of transformation, though. It's also a reminder that change can be made with respect to the past. Yoga is a practice that preaches connectivity, and with a $100 bill from Varano tacked over the door, Orr and Miele hope to spread that idea on one of Bos- ton's busiest streets.

"You see there's a more peaceful way to be," Orr says.

Adds Miele, "And I think it helps you discover yourself and be less afraid of change."

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