Annie Wolka was searching for answers after her husband, Jim Kneup, died unexpectedly in 2017.
Wolka said she came to a newfound realization that she wasn’t doing what she loved while working at Eli Lilly and Co, an Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical firm.
Soon after her husband’s death, Wolka began a search for a new career, one that would allow her to do something she loved. Her search culminated in the plan to open an Honor Yoga franchise in Whitestown. It is within Whitestown’s corporate limits but has a Zionsville mailing address.
Honor Yoga, which Wolka expects to open in March at 7717 Whitestown Pkwy., is a yoga studio that will offer more than a workout. The studio will emphasize mediation practices and accompanying philosophies that Wolka said allow practitioners to clear their mind.
Wolka, a yoga teacher for five years, said the studio will be the first to offer conventional, hot and aerial yoga in the area that borders the west side of Zionsville.
Wolka also plans to make the studio beginner-friendly by setting beginners’ goals and recommending classes to fit their experience level.
“We’ll welcome all those people who might feel intimidated about going to a yoga studio, whether it’s about their lack of flexibility, injuries, age,” Wolka said.
Wolka estimates nearly 60 percent of the studio’s classes will be accessible to beginners. The other classes will be designed for experienced yoga practitioners.
“We’ll work to be eco-friendly by, for example, offering cloth instead of paper towels, using a chalkboard schedule instead of printing copies of our schedule and installing a living, breathing vertical garden in the reception area,” Wolka said.
Wolka said she spent several months after her husband’s death not knowing what she wanted to do.
“I hadn’t really been thinking about what I did love, and it forced me to do that,” she said.
For more, visit honoryoga.com/zionsville/.
