Yorkville Woman Designs Business to Help Others Find Balance

A few years ago, Tairi Grace realized that if she wanted to have a metaphysically-focused fest in Yorkville, a place where the body, mind, spirit connection was celebrated, she was going to have to do it herself. So, she did and Metaphysically Fit Fest was born.
The first year, the event, which was the brainchild of the owner of Sense of Samadhi, drew between 100 and 200 people. In 2014, its third year, the attendees topped 700.
“There is such a need for introducing people to different cultures and different ideas and joining community together,” she said. “There isn’t anything like this locally.”
She also has a couple ideas of why the fest continues to gather more participants.
“There’s better entertainment,” Grace said. “I keep expanding it. I keep bringing people in.
“Everybody is just starving for this really. Everybody wants to connect, everybody wants to learn and grow.”
Grace began her journey - as owner of Sense of Samadhi and creator of Metaphysically Fit Fest - about four years ago. A social worker by trade, she had been in private practice for about five years when she began to realize something - the health of her clients was multifaceted and it wasn’t enough to treat just their minds.
“I started to get into a more emotional, spiritual, physical, mental health perspective on health,” she said. “There has to be a way for these people to be physically healthy too and I thought yoga would fit with that and I went and got my 200 hour certification.”

Now Grace has her 200 hr RYT and 200 hr E-RYT certification and for the past three years, her studio has been registered with Yoga Alliance as a yoga school.

“There have been several of the teachers that I trained that have opened up their own studios in the area,” she said.

In addition, her own business has physically expanded. When Grace opened Sense of Samadhi, she did so in a storefront on School Street in Yorkville. In April of 2014, she moved to her current space on Bridge Street, which is more than double the space, for a number of reasons.
“I had looked at this property the year prior,” she said. “It had been vacant for a long time.”
I had my eye on the property for a while because it was right in downtown Yorkville.”
In addition, the property is closer to the river and when you look out the back windows in the yoga studio, you can see the water.
“The view and the placement of it is so much better,” Grace said.
It was a natural fit for gathering other like-minded individuals as well.
“There’s more space,” she said. “I have a whole extra space to have workshops. I want it to be a space that people can come in and use.”
“I want to reach out to other like-minded entrepreneurs and small businesses who need to rent space.”
The new facility on Bridge Street also lends itself to a better layout for the retail arm of her business: Satya - the Healing Market.
Since the beginning of opening her own business, Grace has partnered with local artisians to be a vendor for their products.
“In the lobby, we started showcasing different local vendors,” she said. “We had Body Junkie, which was holistic, organic skin care; we had jewelry; we had soaps; crystals.
In addition to helping people find the mind, body, spirit balance, Grace wants to offer people a non-judgemental space for them to learn and grow.
“I want to take this fear away from the metaphysical,” she said. “I guess I just want to demystify spirituality.
“I want to offer a place where people can find the balance they are seeking.”
To learn more about Sense of Samadhi or for a class schedule, visit the Web site www.senseofsamadhi.com or call 630-881-1095.