Inhales Wellness Opens In St. James: 'It’s Very Surreal'

ST. JAMES, NY — Inhales Wellness is set to celebrate its grand opening in St. James on Wednesday. The hot yoga studio, at 529 Lake Ave., St. James, is owned by Ina Visich and Halee Ruggiero.

In addition to yoga, the studio also offers a matcha cafe, a plant lounge, a wine bar, and snacks.

Visich opened her first hot yoga studio, Solntse Hot Yoga and Barre in Wading River, in 2016. She added a matcha bar to that business a couple of years later and wanted to import the green tea leaves to the St. James business.

"I always dreamed about having a wellness center where it wasn’t just physical but acknowledged the mental," Visich told Patch. "Physical wellness doesn’t just lie in exercise. We are what we eat, and matcha is a huge part of that for me, personally. My health and wellness translated into business content."

Visich, who has Eastern European roots, added a plant store to Solntse after reopening following the coronavirus pandemic. It marked another idea she was able to bring to St. James. The wine bar, however, is a new feature given that the St. James location is triple the size of the Wading River spot.

Prepared food, like charcuterie boards, cookies, energy bars and vegan options, are also available at the studio.

The organic wines are intended to complement the art shows, photography shows, poetry workshops, book clubs and painting workshops that Visich and Ruggiero plan to host at Inhales Wellness.

Ruggiero was one of the yoga teachers at Visich's original studio when she asked Visich if she wanted to partner up and open their own place together somewhere.

"Hailee found this location in St. James, and it looked really magical, so we just went with it," Visich said.

Inhales Wellness sees Ina and Halee's names combined.

"Ina-Halee, Inahles," Visich said. "My husband came up with the name. We didn’t even realize that he actually combined both our names. We were just sitting there, and I’m like ‘Wait a minute, is it the two of our names together in one word?!’ He’s like, ‘Wow, really? It took you that long?’”

Classes at Inhales Wellness range from 45 to 75 minutes and start at $25 per class. A $40 introductory offer will get someone two weeks of unlimited access to the studio so that they may try different classes.

Ruggiero said St. James has been "amazing."

"Everybody has been so welcoming," she said. "It’s almost felt easy because it was such a nice transition. Everyone’s been really excited about it. We were already excited, but it’s just making us so much more excited to be in this location.”

Visich said finding a good space was one of the largest obstacles.

“It’s very surreal at first because it’s been a long time planning, finding a place that fits both of our visions and that we can create something that we wanted to," she said.

Since opening, everything has gone smoothly, according to Visich.

"The welcome to this town has been very overwhelming in a good way," she said. "Every day, people come in and they’re so excited that we’re here. It makes the whole difference. When you just open, everyone’s scared, everyone’s doubtful, but this town has been nothing but supportive from day one.”

Inhales Wellness can be reached at 631-729-0436 or info@inhaleswellness.com.