Earth Studio, 370 Broad St., Montoursville, officially opened its doors recently, ushering a wave of new inner health options.

“I’ve been a student of yoga for about 10 years,” said owner Roya Allegra, a San Diego native, who held her first yoga class along the Nile River.

“I was on a spiritual retreat my friend was holding, and I actually got stuck there because of the lockdown. So it was a very extended and long spiritual retreat,” Roya said.

“I was living in Egypt and Dubai for about four years, where I did a lot of different spiritual trainings with healers from all around the world, just learning about different ancient practices,” she explained.

“I worked with Egyptian medicine people and very highly gifted spiritual people from all around the world,” Allegra said.

“I was just sitting by the sea one day, and I had this clear message that I have to bring healing and wellness in my own space, in collaboration with my sister, who is an herbalist,” Allegra said.

After visiting her mother, who lives in the area, Roya decided this was the area for her.

“I’d never been here before or even seen a picture. I just took the leap to come visit my mom, and it all fell together. I packed up all my stuff, and brought all my Egyptian cats here,” she said.

Allegra boasts an impressive amount of training in a number of areas, including certifications in Reiki certification, shamanic practition, yoga training, breath work instruction, as well as having experience with sound healing and modalities, allowing the studio to host a variety of classes and sessions.

“We have a weekly sound bath session, multiple daily yoga practices, therapeutic infrared heaters, one-on-one women’s energy healing sessions and private yoga and breath work sessions,” Allegra said.

“We also have guided meditation classes, so there is some physical practice in that class, but I try to focus on just sitting, stillness, mindfulness, meditation, and the benefits are really life-changing,” Allegra said.

“I will have multiple classes a month that are free or donation based, so everyone can come experience the benefits,” she said.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about yoga or meditation, with the biggest one being ‘I’m not flexible enough to do yoga,’ or ‘I can’t focus enough to do meditation,’ but neither of these have anything to do with being good enough at it,” Allegra said.

“There’s no specific body type that does better at yoga, because it’s not a workout. It is a ‘work-in,'” she explained.

“There’s no judgment, and everyone is welcome. Whether you’re heartbroken, whether you haven’t worked out in so long, whether you’ve neglected your self-care, any version of anyone is welcome,” Allegra said.

“Current science has now caught up to what this ancient technology really is, and it’s proving that it is helpful in creating new neural pathways in the brain to heal patterns of trauma and other ailments in the mind space,” Allegra said, adding, “it has proven to create a more harmonious, well rounded nervous system.”

For Allegra, the benefits were immediately clear.

“I felt this humming peace within myself that I was kind of waiting to find. I just didn’t have the right doorway to get there yet,” Allegra said.

“It completely rewrote everything I knew about wellness,” she said.

“I was put through the ringer of the standard American way of being offered medication and being told to go to therapy or get a psychiatrist, all the typical things that I know help people,” Allegra said, while stressing that she still believes those options are beneficial, and sees her practices as an addition to those, rather than an alternative.

“These ancient teachings remind you that you have this innate power already built in you. Our systems are actually designed to naturally heal ourselves, we just need to learn how to use them properly,” she said.

Allegra sees her studio as not just an outlet for people to improve their own personal health, but the world around them as well.

“I called it Earth Studio because not only do I want all people of the earth to be able to come, but a lot of our events are directed to making the earth a better place,” she said. These have included events in support of the International Rescue Committee and the YWCA, with future community cleanup projects anticipated.

“It’s really not just about making ourselves better, but creating a difference in our direct community and in the in the world at large, and trying to create a space of community so we can learn to reconnect,” Allegra said, that connection being something she feels was lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My biggest passion is to continue bringing people together to connect in a very joyful and fun, light-hearted way, but also to do some service work for our community,” she said.