Om Massage Group, the massage studio that's operated here for 14 years, is expanding and opening a new facility, Om Glastonbury Wellness Center. Expected to open in early 2022, it will offer a full range of yoga and fitness classes.
Om's owner, Kat Walinski, is a licensed massage therapist and avid Bikram yoga practitioner. She recently acquired the long-standing Bikram Yoga Glastonbury in the spring of 2020. The ensuing pandemic forced her to pause all yoga business operations.
During the downtime, Kat rebranded the yoga business as Om Glastonbury Wellness Center or just simply Om. In addition. She secured a new location for the yoga studio, a newly renovated 5,000-square-foot space that will encompass a 1300-square-foot yoga studio. This state-of-the-art yoga studio will be heated to the requisite 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity. Followers of Bikram Yoga expect and endure these studio conditions for 90 minutes. Kat says the yoga studio will also incorporate a clean air filtration and circulation system.
Kat says she’ll offer a variety of yoga classes. These include Bikram Yoga also now known as the Original Hot Yoga and B 26 & 2. These are 90-minute-long classes created as a way to heal the body. Kat says.
“The heat warms up the body’s tissues from the outside in and helps prevent injuries during practice.” Other classes will include Yin and Restorative yoga, Power yoga, and Katonah yoga she says. The new facility will also allow her to offer her therapeutic massage and bodywork services along with High Intensity Interval and TRX Training, and self- defense classes.
“I’d like to create a community vibe there with different types of charity and community events,” she says. She continues to offer massage therapy at her original location at 18 School St. A longtime yoga aficionado, Kat says she moved her business to Glastonbury in 2008 because this town was the only one that had a Bikram yoga studio in the state.
She became a certified instructor during the pandemic when health restrictions barred her from massage therapy for a time. “I just fell in love with yoga as a way to heal my own body. I practice it to compensate for my own injuries.”
Om Glastonbury Wellness Center
256 Oakwood Drive, Suite 2
Phone: 860-633-3740
On Instagram: @omglastonbury
