About Painted Lotus
A studio shaped by practice, tended by community.
Painted Lotus Yoga and Wellness opened in Tuscaloosa in 2015 as a radically welcoming sanctuary — a place where you'd be met exactly where you are, with no spectacle and no pretense. A decade in, that's still the only thing we're trying to do.
The Spirit
Practice, not performance.
Education, not choreography.
No sages on stages. No drama, dogma, cliques, or yoga fads. We frame yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong as holistic tools for personal growth and spiritual exploration — not a workout. A work-in.
Our teachers are dedicated practitioners with decades of training. Our space is small, intentional, and unhurried. Our clientele is everyone — from absolute beginners to those who've been on the mat longer than the studio has existed.
The Founder
Clarissa Boggess.
A dedicated student of yoga since the mid-90s, Clarissa has 25+ years of personal practice and 17+ years of teaching behind her. Her work blends vinyasa flow, somatics, nervous-system regulation, and esoteric wisdom traditions — informed by trauma-informed practice, accessible yoga, and energy work.
Beyond the studio, she's a founding member of PFLAG Tuscaloosa, a fierce advocate for children within Tuscaloosa City Schools, and a community-herbalist-in-training. She is ERYT500, RCYT, YACEP, an Advanced Crystal Master, and a Reiki practitioner.
From the Absolute Beginner to the Absolutely Legendary — there is a place for you on this mat.Painted Lotus, on welcome
What We Believe
Five quiet commitments.
Radical welcome.
Every body, every level, every background. We don't gatekeep. We don't have a "look." We don't film or photograph our students without permission — that's simply not what we do.
Trauma-informed.
Our teachers train in accessible yoga, nervous-system regulation, and trauma-informed practice. We invite — never push. We offer variations — never demand.
Sustainable practice.
Yoga isn't a sprint or a phase. We teach pace, alignment, and longevity — so the practice can grow old with you, not retire you early.
Holistic, not commercial.
Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong are tools for personal growth and spiritual exploration. Not a fitness commodity. Not a brand. We treat them — and you — accordingly.
Community over transaction.
The Community Share Jar lets students gift classes to people who can't pay. The Welcome Pass lowers the barrier to first arrival. We're a small studio because that's how we like it.
The Studio
A small room in Riverside.
We're tucked into Suite E-1 of the Riverside Office Center, just off Jack Warner Pkwy NE — directly across from Evolve Tuscaloosa, two minutes from McFarland Blvd, near the Black Warrior River and the UA campus.
Inside: brick columns, soft lamps, a curated altar with the Sri Yantra at its center, props for every body, hot tea on offer, and the patience to use any of them slowly.
