Mallory Burns teaches yoga at Jacaranda, a new yoga studio she and her husband, Matt, opened in Peoria’s Junction City shopping plaza in June. hosting a fundraiser and awareness event to benefit the Peoria Humane Society on Saturday, Sept. 22. Participants in two yoga classes that day will have a chance to mingle with cats and dogs from the shelter before and after the classes. (Photo courtesy of Jacaranda)

A new Peoria yoga studio is going beyond traditional cat and dog yoga poses by bringing in real furry friends for a fundraiser to benefit the Peoria Humane Society.

Jacaranda, which opened in June at 5832 N. Knoxville in the Junction City shopping plaza, will host a Paws on Mats event on Saturday, Sept. 22.

Cats and dogs from the Peoria County Animal Protection Services shelter will be be on hand in the studio to mingle with participants before and after two classes being offered that day but won’t be in the studio during the classes.

“This event is geared for all ages. It’s a good way to introduce people to yoga and also to raise awareness and get educated about the Humane Society,” said Matt Burns, who owns Jacaranda with his wife, Mallory. “We’ll have two different class options that are all-level options, but one is heated and one is not,”

A Vinyasa yoga class that focuses on marrying breath with postures will begin at noon, and a hot Vinyasa class will start at 1:30 p.m. Both classes are an hour long and cost $20 per person with all proceeds going to the Peoria Humane Society.

Pre-registration is not necessary, but participants should bring their own mat and arrive about 15 minutes early.

PCAPS receives thousands of animals annually needing care and a permanent home, according to its website at www.peoriacounty.org/149/Animal-Protection-Services.

In conjunction with the Paws on Mats event, Jacaranda is offering a free class to anyone who brings in a donation for the shelter to the studio, such as pet food or toys, this week through Saturday, Sept. 22.

The couple is hosting the event both out of a love for animals and a desire to help the community.

“We are in a business where we want people to feel cared for and loved, but we also want to do things that are good for the Peoria area,” Matt said. “On our opening weekend, we did an event for the Alzheimer’s Association and gave 100 percent of the proceeds to them.”

The couple plans to offer similar fundraising and awareness events for area nonprofits a few times a year and are open to hearing from charitable groups that might want to partner with them for events.

Opening the Jacaranda studio was a dream come true for the couple but also a journey of faith, particularly since Mallory was battling a three-year injury that eventually brought her to the Mayo Clinic for treatment.

“We went into it kind of just putting ourselves out there and believing in Mallory’s abilities and believing in the journey we were on. We stepped into it in faith, saying we believe she will be healed and will feel better and capable to perform as she needs to,” Matt said.

The injury was related to pushing herself physically, but her commitment to yoga has helped in the healing process, he added.

“Mallory is in the best way possible obsessive, and when she goes after something, she really goes after it,” Matt explained. “She was teaching three or four classes a day (at other studios) and was going to the gym for an hour and was practicing on her own for at least an hour a day. It was too much on her body at one time, and she actually had a separation of her tendon that goes into her sit bone.”

The injury added stress to the process of trying to build a studio and open a business, but about a week before they opened she realized that most of her pain was gone.

“She feels 90 percent better and she’s teaching more than she ever has,” Matt said of his wife of seven years, who first began teaching group fitness around the time they were married and has taught at about four different studios in the last seven years.

“I love helping people feel genuinely good about themselves, without comparison or intimidation,” Mallory said. “The human body is a masterpiece, and we are capable of some pretty extraordinary things. Being able to witness and assist legitimate transformation mentally, physically and emotionally with my client is an honor and privilege and unlike anything else in this world.”

Jacaranda offers classes seven days a week at a cost of $15 per class with punch cards available. The studio currently has seven other instructors. Options range from gentle restorative yoga to intense athletic classes, with some incorporating barre and pilates.

“Currently we’re at 36 classes a week, and Mallory is teaching about 16 of those,” said Matt, who works as a sales project manager at Excel Foundry and Machine but is also training to teach yoga, as well.

“When we started the conversation to start the studio, I said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want, but I’m not going to teach.’ But after these last three or four months, seeing Mallory’s passion and zeal has lit a fire inside of me to participate with her on that level,” Matt said.

Peoria native Clare Cunningham, who recently moved back to the area after living in Iowa for a time, called the studio “an absolute gift to Peoria.”

“The workouts are different from any group fitness class you will find,” Cunningham said. “All the instructors are so relaxed and encouraging. Mallory’s style is very inclusive and soft, while also motivating and encouraging. She makes you want to work hard, but she also just makes you feel pleased with yourself no matter what you do in the class. And the studio is beautiful. It seems like a studio that would be in a bigger city just by the looks of it.”

For more information about Jacaranda or the Paws on Mats event, visit the studio’s website www.jacarandapeoria.com or call (309) 431-1591.