After winning season 14 of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser,” Danni Allen of Wheeling returned to Chicago with a new lease on life.
“I feel like I got my life back,” Allen told us last year after returning home from the show. “I feel like I can dream again; I’m not just going through the motions of life.”
Allen’s dream to help others get healthy became a reality last month when she opened ONE2ONE yoga—a reference to the 121 pounds she dropped on the show—with Marcus Lemonis earlier this year in Evanston.
“It’s a small studio and a place where people can come to find me and talk to me, and I can be the advocate of a better lifestyle,” she says. “I want to show people what I’ve done and how they can do it too, and yoga has been my ground work for all of that.”
The studio, located above Rose’s Bakery on Central Street, offers a full schedule with 22 classes each week. Classes include: Strengthen & Lengthen, Restorative, Vinyasa (Allen’s personal favorite), Lunch Power Yoga, Beginner Flow and Couture (a personalized class composed of requests). These classes aren’t just for advanced yogis, either.
“[Vinyasa] is all about learning how to match your breath to your movement, and that really helps my running. It’s flowing from one movement to the other, and it’s controlled by your breath. It’s something [both] a beginner and [an] incredibly advanced yoga student can take.”
Allen will start training to become a certified yoga instructor in March, and she’ll begin instructing classes at the studio this summer.
Join ONE2ONE for their official grand opening celebration Saturday, Feb. 8. There will be two free classes, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., a toast, giveaways and more. Everyone’s first week of classes is free, and each class costs $15 after that.
“We’re here to bring people into a new lifestyle and to try something different and surprise themselves—and I think they will,” she says.
ONE2ONE
2901 Central St., 2nd floor
Evanston
