Plainfield Staple Twist Yoga Lounge Closes Doors After 8 Years

PLAINFIELD, IL — After eight and a half years in business, the owners of Plainfield's Twist Yoga Lounge decided to close their business's doors, with Aug. 29 being the last day for the studio.

They made the announcement Facebook official Monday, adding, "We are so very proud of the legacy we’re leaving."

Theresa Wilson and Jen Cisneros opened the business, at 12337 Illinois Route 59, in March 2013 with their friend Amy Brinkman. The three women met teaching yoga at a Naperville studio before making their dream of owning their own studio come true.

But with the last day of classes a month out, Wilson and Cisneros don't want to focus on the negative. Instead, they're thankful for the people they met over the years and for what they accomplished.

"I don't want people to feel like we're hanging out heads in shame," Wilson told Patch Tuesday.

"It's not a sad thing," Cisneros added. "It sounds really cliché, but all good things come to an end."

Like other businesses nationwide, Twist Yoga succumbed to the hardships of the pandemic, Cisneros said. With restrictions in place, the studio was forced to lower capacity to eight people who pre-scheduled their spots online — a drastic change from the pre-pandemic session size of 17 to 20 people. Back then, walk-ins were welcome, and the women relied on that for business, Cisneros said.

"I like to keep things positive, but in this regard, I'm not sure how that's done," she said.

Since announcing the studio's closure — first through emails and personal conversations with loyal clients, then on Facebook, Wilson said they've received "notes of condolences" from people sharing their stories of how they were able to work through grief and tragedy at Twist Yoga.

"It's a relationship business, it's not just a fitness studio," said Wilson, who wanted to make sure customers heard it firsthand that the studio would be closing.

Both women agreed they were part of a great community of people and were able to witness strangers become close friends through yoga in their studio.

One of the first notes after the announcement came from a man in his late 70s who first started attending the studio with a heart condition. Wilson said he had a hard time standing straight, but was diligent in his endeavors. She said not only did he go to frequent classes, but he showed up for the 5:45 a.m. session — "the hardest class there was to get to." He outright admitted he hated it, but Wilson said he improved greatly in his years of attending Twisted Yoga.

"The outpouring of love and support, it's been really awesome," Cisneros said. "We're really feeling the love."

When the business opened, Cisneros said they had almost 300 people come through for classes in just two days. Over the course of the years, almost 3,000 people came in for classes — whether they came in once or every day — so she said it's "been a really great opportunity to connect with people and to share our love for yoga and teach wonderful people."

What's next for the women? Cisneros and Wilson said to "stay tuned." Since they just paid for another year of their business' website, Wilson said they'll keep people updated there and on Facebook.

"We had a wonderful time and [there's] more to come in just a different way," Cisneros said.

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