EMILY HSUEH
SHAWVILLE May 26, 2021
Need to get an oil change, a haircut and a yoga lesson in, but don’t want to drive around town to do it? Thanks to one experienced community member, you’ll soon be able to get it all done and more in one convenient location.
Peggy Hodgins-MacGregor is the owner of . . .
Shawville’s newest yoga studio and barber shop. Peggyoga Loft de Yoga opened on May 25 and right below it in the same building will be Peggy’s Shoppe de Barbier, which is set to be up and running within the next week.
The yoga loft and barber shop are located at 115 Route 148, inside the colourful building of Bristol Auto Performance, which is run by Hodgins-MacGregor’s husband, Gord. Hodgins-MacGregor’s goal was to create businesses that could help BAP customers pass the time while they wait for their vehicles.
Regarding the yoga loft, Hodgins-MacGregor is aiming to have four classes a week: two in the morning and two in the evenings, but that could change based on demand. There will be lessons of all skill levels, and equipment includes yoga benches, wheels, and in the near future, aerial silks. Meanwhile, Peggy’s Shoppe de Barbier is exclusively for cutting and styling short hair, facial waxing and ear and nose piercings. She will not be offering colouring services.
Information and bookings can be gained by emailing her at peggyoga@hotmail.com or through any of her businesses’ social media channels. A phone number for both businesses will be available in the coming weeks, and Hodgins-MacGregor noted that walk-ins to the barber shop are welcome.
A yoga studio and a barber shop in an auto body repair shop may seem like a peculiar combo, but the two businesses were not something she pulled out of the blue. Hodgins-MacGregor is a woman of many skills, being certified as a yoga instructor in 2019 and classed as both a master stylist and master colourist with experience in the field for the last 30 years.
“I actually had a hair salon and tanning studio in Arnprior for 20 years. I retired from that 10 years ago,” explained Hodgins-MacGregor. “So I’ve always been self employed.”
After she sold her studio, she became a financial advisor for Sunlife Financial, but still remained self-employed. The freedom of self-employment meant she was able to care for her mother who had fallen ill, which, along with health issues with herself and other family members, caused her to become quite overwhelmed.
At the recommendation of a business coach, she took her first yoga class as a means to rediscover peace and she hasn’t looked back since.
“It was amazing, and I loved it. It was life-changing, and really woke me up to a lot of things,” she said. “I wasn’t an anti-yoga anymore. But it made me more aware of why I was the way that I was, and did a lot of internal searching, and healing. It pretty much saved my life and made me refocus a lot of things that were going on in my life.”
With Peggyoga Loft de Yoga, Hodgins-MacGregor hopes to be able to pass on the life-changing practice and peace that yoga brought to her to others in her hometown. She emphasized that yoga is for everyone, and she would be happy to see anyone from absolute beginners to veteran yogis.
“I think that’s what scares people is they think that they’ve got to be a certain size or already have a certain level of knowledge or flexibility. And that isn’t that isn’t it at all,” she said. “Yoga is what you put into it. You take yourself to your own edge to your own limitations and whether you want to go past that or not.
“So for people who think that they have to be a certain way. Absolutely not,” she added. “It’s the biggest place to come and not have, you know, any judgment, any expectations, any, you know, limitations. It’s just, I want people to be able to feel that when they come into the space.”
Though Hodgins-MacGregor does not currently reside in the Pontiac, her ties to the area run deep and she hopes to return soon.
