Wendy Holmes, Yoga and Fitness

Attitude, “Matitude” & Gratitude

Pike Yoga owner and mom of two Wendy Holmes, 53, is a 30-year veteran of the corporate fitness industry. Passionate about traditional training and yoga, Wendy offers Memphians a unique opportunity to incorporate yoga and interval training into their fitness routine, all at one diverse studio.

A History Rich In Fitness

Wendy began her fitness career in 1992 and worked in the healthcare and nonprofit space. While she enjoyed working at a non-profit, she was not making a ton of money at the time and decided to start her own side hustle as a personal trainer to supplement her income.

She began training clients out of her Germantown home in 2005 and soon pivoted to full-time training so that she could spend more time at home with her kids.

A Life-Changing Discovery

Wendy had always been a cardio and weights type of woman, and for the first seven years of training clients, she largely focused on cardio and weight training. However, a few years into her training career, she began to feel like something was missing.

“I was using exercise as a stress release, but with kids, my life started to feel hectic and haphazard, and my usual routine wasn’t cutting it,” Wendy explains. Her doctors recommended anti-anxiety medicine, but she was reluctant to go down that path and was searching for an alternative.

It was during this search that Wendy picked up an issue of Memphis Health + Fitness Magazine and saw it was “Free Yoga Month”. Intrigued, she found a variety of different classes and studios that, as she puts it, “opened [her] eyes to a new world.”

“Yoga opened my eyes to a new world.”

The Birth of Pike Yoga

After discovering her passion for yoga, she decided to become a certified instructor in 2012. “Typical Wendy - when I love something, I get certified in it,” she jokes.

She knew she wanted to incorporate yoga into her personal training. Plus, at the time, Germantown lacked a yoga studio with lots of different trainers and options, and Wendy was eager to fill that void.

Thus, Pike Yoga was born in 2014. Her studio is unique because it has two separate spaces, one for yoga and one for more traditional strength and cardio training. She believes in the importance of incorporating both types of training into your fitness routine and wanted her studio to reflect this belief.

The Pike Philosophy

Pike Yoga’s unique philosophy is another contributor to its success and helps Wendy connect with her clients: attitude, “matitude”, and gratitude.

Derived from the practice of yoga, this philosophy is at the core of Pike Yoga. While attitude and gratitude are pretty standard concepts, Wendy actually came up with the word “matitude,” which means that on the yoga mat, you always get what you need. It’s all about being present and being who it is that you’re supposed to be.

Wendy believes that everyone needs yoga as it complements every other exercise, and is beneficial to mental wellness.

“I’m so grateful that the universe of yoga provided me with the next step of wellness,” Wendy says. “It’s given me so many tools for coping with stress and maintaining perspective.”