A new yoga practice is heading to the Arrowbrook Centre in the McNair area south of Herndon.
Before launching its permanent studio, though, True North Power Yoga has started warming up with a nearby pop-up location that opened at 2545-Q16 Centreville Road in the Village Center at Dulles on Dec. 16.
True North founders Colleen Gillis and Mike Haight developed the concept after Down Dog Yoga, where the couple and their 18-year-old daughter taught, shuttered its Herndon studio in November 2024. Down Dog still has a location in Georgetown.
After teaching and practicing with Down Dog for over a decade, Gillis says she and her husband didn’t want to lose the “really strong, established, robust community” that had built up around the studio.
“We’ve seen some incredible connections made on the yoga mat and in the studio generally,” Gillis told FFXnow. “So, we certainly weren’t looking to open a yoga studio, but we quickly realized that we needed it, and we were glad to step in and start it up.”
Arrowbrook Centre, a mixed-use neighborhood near the Dulles Toll Road and Innovation Center Metro Station, quickly emerged as an attractive candidate for True North Power Yoga’s base, given its proximity to the old Down Dog location in Woodland Park Crossing (12973 Highland Crossing Drive, Suite A).
Gillis says she’s also excited to join a growing retail roster in the development that currently includes Paris Baguette, the Chinese restaurant Peter Chang and the South Asian grocery store Hello 2 India.
“When we were looking at new construction, Arrowbrook just made a lot of sense,” she said.
True North will occupy a 2,072-square-foot suite in the south section of the Ovation at Arrowbrook apartment complex. Construction is underway to build out the space, which will accommodate about 50 patrons and feature studio and gathering spaces, cubbies, a front lobby, bathrooms and showers.
While they hope to open the permanent studio this summer, Gillis and Haight didn’t want the former Down Dog community to have to wait that long for their next yoga session.
The community evidently shared that sentiment, showing up “in force” when the team asked for volunteers willing to help paint walls, lay down flooring, set up cubbies and generally build out the temporary Village Center at Dulles space.
“We were able to actually make the transition from Down Dog to True North fairly quickly, just because of the sheer power of our community,” Gillis said. “It was really, really incredible.”
Located next to Firehouse Subs, True North’s temporary studio is offering hot yoga classes at noon and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, at 9:30 and 11 a.m. on Saturday, and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Anyone who doesn’t want the heat cranked up to 95 degrees can take “yin” classes at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at 7:30 and 6:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Private, one-on-one instruction is also available.
The business specializes in Baptiste power yoga, a “very functional” style that Gillis says focuses on building strength and flexibility for everyday life.
“It’s a yoga that you come to maybe because you want to get strong, maybe you want to get flexible, maybe you want to get both,” she said. “But when you leave the mat, we hope that you’ve also learned more about yourself, learned more about what you’re capable of, and you have more confidence in your job. You have more openness in your relationships, and it really is a journey inward as much as it is a physical practice.”
