After teaching yoga and aerial yoga for six years, Alicia Jurado launched Pura Vida Studio in January 2019. The business, in Cary’s Parkside Town Commons, quickly attracted loyal clients, who voted the studio Best New Business in Cary Magazine’s 2020 Maggy Awards.
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From the beginning, Jurado wanted to share her passion for better mental and physical health, and to enable her clients to “have the flexibility of a dancer, fly through the air like an aerialist, and meditate like a yogi,” as Jurado writes in her mission statement.
Another big part of that mission, is having a good time.
“Teaching is so much fun,” she said. “I love seeing the different types of people that come in at different stages, different levels. I love being challenged in my teaching; it’s just such a rewarding and heartwarming experience. And to get to know all these people, especially the regular clients — it’s been life-changing.”
The name and the resolve to open the business came to her during a trip to Costa Rica. The studio where she had taught for years had abruptly closed, and she was unsure what to do next. Her fiance encouraged her to take the leap into entrepreneurship, and when a tour guide wished them, “Pura vida!”, she knew that would be the name of her business. The wish for a simple, happy life, seemed to sum up her goals for the studio.
Yoga practitioners of all ages and experience levels are welcome, and classes are focused on safety, wellness and mindfulness.
Not many yoga studios offer camps and classes for young students, but Jurado says she loves teaching kids, because they are so fearless and eager to learn. Last summer she led a five-week aerial yoga and mindfulness camp for roughly 50 children aged 6 to 14.
“It was teaching them yoga and mindfulness and helping them learn how to be mindful with their breathing, taking those techniques out into the world into their daily life,” she said. “It was probably one of the best things I can say I’ve ever done. It was so rewarding as a teacher, to help them with what they can do with mindfulness in life.”
