Creatives at Home: Lucinda McKimm in Her Yoga Studio
This Melbourne-based yogi shows us how she stretches and salutes the sun in her at-home studio
Louise Lakier
20 June 2016
Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture and construction management, passionate about design, sustainable lifestyles, and storytelling. I am fascinated with how personalities inform the creation of space and make a place feel like 'home'.
Houzz Australian Contributor: I am a content creator with a background in architecture... More
Halfway down a lane in Elwood is the home yoga studio of Lucinda McKimm, a creative with many talents. McKimm is the marketing manager at InForm architectural studio, the founding editor of Melbourne Loves Yoga, a writer, a yoga instructor, and the owner of Yoga Lane. Her home studio, which Yoga Lane operates out of, was designed by Pleysier Perkins and built by InForm. Access from the laneway is via a staircase from the garage at the rear of McKimm’s family home.
Creative Space at a Glance:
Name: Lucinda McKimm
Occupation: Writer, editor and yoga instructor
Location: Elwood, Victoria
What is Made Here: Yoga is practiced by McKimm and her clients
Creative Space at a Glance:
Name: Lucinda McKimm
Occupation: Writer, editor and yoga instructor
Location: Elwood, Victoria
What is Made Here: Yoga is practiced by McKimm and her clients
A stone paved laneway in the bayside suburb of Elwood leads visitors down to Yoga Lane. The studio sits above McKimm’s home, which is one of three townhouses taking advantage of the additional space located above the laneway garages.
Behind an open wood screen, pale oak plank treads and open risers that let through slats of light create a minimal, modern, and airy ascent into the studio.
Originally, the room was destined to be a gym and a spare bedroom. The main design changes that were made to accommodate the new functionality were the conversion of built-in robes from closed to open shelving, and the installation of pale oak plank floors instead of carpeting. McKimm loves the natural light and the way the ceiling slopes up to the windows; “I love this space because it is where I get to share my passion of yoga,” she says.
Originally, the room was destined to be a gym and a spare bedroom. The main design changes that were made to accommodate the new functionality were the conversion of built-in robes from closed to open shelving, and the installation of pale oak plank floors instead of carpeting. McKimm loves the natural light and the way the ceiling slopes up to the windows; “I love this space because it is where I get to share my passion of yoga,” she says.
McKimm’s most treasured item in the studio is a Chakra painting that her mum made when she was training to become a yoga teacher.
“I completed my first yoga teacher training in 2015 in Byron Bay,” McKimm says. “One year later, I headed to New York and completed an inversion yoga teacher training at the legendary Laughing Lotus Yoga Center,” she explains. “I had set out these goals at the end of my Byron Bay training, so to actually achieve them was incredible. Last October, I also completed another teacher training in Melbourne with Ihana Yoga.”
“I completed my first yoga teacher training in 2015 in Byron Bay,” McKimm says. “One year later, I headed to New York and completed an inversion yoga teacher training at the legendary Laughing Lotus Yoga Center,” she explains. “I had set out these goals at the end of my Byron Bay training, so to actually achieve them was incredible. Last October, I also completed another teacher training in Melbourne with Ihana Yoga.”
McKimm not only teaches in this space, but also enjoys practising by herself. However, meditation is reserved for her bed. “I love to use my space for my asana practise, but for meditation, nothing beats the comfort of my bed,” she says. Yoga Lane currently offers three vinyasa yoga classes a week, the slow lane, a gentle class, and two stronger, fast-flowing lanes.
The space is decorated minimally, which coexists nicely with the yoga practice. It was originally a spare room in the house, but McKimm saw the potential to make it far more functional. Copper wire fairy lights in jars, candles, the Dots by Muuto on the walls, and plants enhance the sense of creativity and calm within the space.
A large east-facing horizontal window fills the studio with natural light. McKimm enjoys watching the light change from dawn to day during the morning classes, and dusk to dark at night. Large overhangs, flanking side walls, and a metal screen keep harsh light from entering. The yogi had investigated extending the space out onto a balcony, but this was not permitted by the council due to noise restrictions.
McKimm prefers to teach vinyasa flow over other styles of yoga, as she says she feels as though she’s dancing and meditating at the same time. “I have always been very sporty, so to be moving freely with the odd challenge appealed to me from the get-go,” she says. “I also believe dynamic stretching is much better for the body than static stretching, and vinyasa flow is all about dynamic movement. All you can think about is the asana, which makes it a very mindful practice as you are staying completely present.” She loves arm balances and getting upside down as she demonstrates here.
To make the space her own, McKimm filled it out, “with candles, plants, fairy lights, and yoga mats,” she says. McKimm describes the studio as, a light, calming, and dreamy place to be.
However, McKimm explains that she can also feel a bit challenged by space – or a lack thereof – as the studio is quite little, and she can only have up to eight students in a class at a time.
However, McKimm explains that she can also feel a bit challenged by space – or a lack thereof – as the studio is quite little, and she can only have up to eight students in a class at a time.
Yoga Lane classes start with the students in a restful position for a few minutes. Some days McKimm will move them through breathing exercise (pranayama) and other days they will start with a body scan where they assess energy and emotions. She encourages her yogis to check in with themselves and to practise in a way that is sympathetic to how they are feeling on that day.
“I move around a lot as I teach. I tend to only adjust from a safety point of view. I get to know my students and how much they want to be adjusted and work with that,” says McKimm. “For me, over-adjusting can create the mindset that you can perfect yoga, which isn’t true. There is no such thing as a perfect asana practice and you cannot master yoga, so I let my students flow freely as long as they are in safe alignment.”
McKimm says she couldn’t live without yoga mats, Chakra Balancing Balm by Perfect Potions and her Yoga Lane community. She will be adding blocks, straps, and bolsters to the Yoga Lane cupboard soon.
McKimm built the pegboard seen here, used to hold students’ coats and bags, with the help of her carpenter boyfriend. It sits on a bench from Matt Blatt.
TELL US
What is your favourite aspect of this yoga studio? Let us know in the Comments section.
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TELL US
What is your favourite aspect of this yoga studio? Let us know in the Comments section.
MORE
Creatives at Home: Two Architects in Their Backyard Office
Creatives at Home: Nahji Chu in Her Kitchen
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I like the 'olde worlde' style cobblestone alley then the airy staircase - they combine to give a sense of going somewhere interesting. Which yoga practice generally is!