Midtown Yoga Durham — Local services in Durham

On the second floor of a Durham shopping complex, above a Zambrero restaurant, Emily Wallace has built something that would have seemed impossible a decade ago: a venture capital-backed yoga empire that somehow still feels neighborly.

Midtown Yoga Durham, which opened in 2020 as the second location in Wallace's growing chain, represents the curious evolution of yoga from counterculture to corporate investment. The studio is owned by MDO Holdings, a Raleigh-based firm with a portfolio spanning O2 Fitness clubs, Happy + Hale juice bars, and more than 30 companies across North Carolina. Yet step into one of their signature 105-degree classes, and you might forget you're in a boardroom-approved wellness concept.

"Friendly neighborhood hot yoga studio," reads one detailed Google review. The breakdown reveals the studio's particular alchemy: five stars for "clear cuing" and "asana variety," but just one star for "daylight studio" and two for "silent savasana." It's a telling snapshot of modern yoga's trade-offs—professional instruction and good value, but in a windowless second-floor space where the final relaxation gets interrupted.

Wallace's journey to yoga entrepreneur began with a college dropout fantasy. During her first year at university, uncertain about her path, she discovered hot yoga and immediately told her parents she wanted to abandon her studies for teacher training. She didn't drop out, but the seed was planted. Seven years of teaching at studios, gyms, retirement homes, and hosting international retreats followed before she partnered with MDO Holdings in 2018.

"I wanted Midtown Yoga to be a lifestyle rather than just somewhere you go to sweat," Wallace explained in a 2018 interview, describing her careful attention to aesthetics. The result feels like Instagram-ready spirituality: blue LED lighting creates an otherworldly atmosphere during classes, while the retail area sells everything from essential oils to candles featuring Snoop Dogg's face.

The business model reflects yoga's mainstream moment. Monthly unlimited memberships run $159—positioning Midtown firmly in the premium tier alongside chains like CorePower Yoga, where Wallace herself once worked as a studio manager. Class packages, teacher training programs, and corporate partnerships (including sessions with the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team) diversify revenue streams in ways that would make any MBA proud.

But the numbers suggest the formula works. With 4.8 stars from 62+ Google reviewers and consistent class bookings, Midtown Durham joins locations in Raleigh and Richmond as proof that yoga can scale without losing its soul entirely. Students appreciate the professional instruction, variety of heat levels (from 85 to 105 degrees), and amenities like complimentary showers and first-visit mat rentals.

The second-floor location in University Hill development, strategically positioned between Duke University and Hope Valley Country Club, captures the studio's target demographic: health-conscious professionals and students willing to pay premium prices for consistent quality. Student discounts acknowledge the college market, while unlimited members can bring friends for free—a community-building touch that feels genuine despite the corporate backing.

Critics might argue that venture-funded yoga represents everything wrong with wellness commodification. When MDO Holdings announced the Durham expansion in 2019, chairman Michael D. Olander Jr. spoke of "cultivating community" with the calculated enthusiasm of a portfolio manager. The blue-lit studios and lifestyle merchandising can feel performative, prioritizing Instagram moments over inner transformation.

Yet Wallace's authentic enthusiasm seems to permeate the experience. Her background includes singing in gospel choirs and winning acting awards as a child in Belmont, North Carolina—details that humanize that cash money corporate narrative.

Clear cuing ★★★★★ Silent savasana ★★☆☆☆ Asana variety ★★★★★ Daylight studio ☆☆☆☆☆ Rental mats/loaner props...

I attended a Wednesday 6 AM hot flow class as a guest of a friend who highly recommended Midtown Yoga (MY). I usually practice at a different hot yoga studio in Durham and was curious to see how MY compares.

Unfortunately, my experience was disappointing, mainly due to the instructor and the class structure. Upon arrival, the teacher seemed minimally engaged and almost annoyed about signing me up, despite the process taking less than five minutes. While I appreciated the available lockers for belongings, I can see potential issues with the limited number of lockers, especially during larger classes. There are two showers and one bathroom for all students, which could also become problematic during busy times or back-to-back classes.

The heated room's dim lighting during class was a positive aspect for me, though the colored ambient lighting felt disorienting. The room was hotter than expected for the type of flow being taught, adding to the discomfort.

The class structure was another disappointment. The teacher did not introduce herself either at the front desk or at the beginning or end of the class. We spent nearly 20 minutes on breathwork and warming up, leaving limited time for the actual flow. The warmup included a lot of stretching but lacked necessary muscle activation before strength work. The flow itself was fast-paced, not intuitive, and lacked smooth transitions. The teacher seemed to assume that all students were familiar with the poses and provided minimal guidance, no modifications, and no alignment cues. Despite being familiar with hot yoga poses, I often found myself looking around to see what pose we were supposed to be in. I felt particularly bad for our other friend, who was unfamiliar with the 26+2 poses and was clearly lost for a significant portion of the class.

We only went through each set of shapes once on either side, whereas I’m used to a structure where we go through two sets, with the first set being slower and the second in a flow state. This might be a difference in studio or teacher training, which is acceptable, but the overall execution left much to be desired. Additionally, Savasana was very short, and after class, the teacher didn't engage with the students or ask about my experience as a guest.

I am most disappointed with the teacher and the flow. While I’m sure there are better instructors at this studio, this initial experience left a bad impression and did not meet my...

I tried out the my hot flow class, and it was shockingly different from what I was expecting. I think that if you're just into yoga to burn calories and don't care about the spiritual aspects and what yoga truly is, you'd enjoy the class. It was not a true vinyasa flow which is supposed to be a smooth transition between asanas. There was no connection with the breath. It was extremely fast paced with very little holding of poses and barely a breath between transitions. This is more of a workout class that's focused on doing as many poses possible to upbeat music (think P90X). Poses are shouted at you while the instructor walks around and there is no guidance. No stopping to help a student if they're struggling, no emphasis on form. If you don't care about the mind body connection and just want to burn some calories, this is the class for you. This is not a typical hot vinyasa flow, and I've been to many. Furthermore, a good yoga instructor doesn't use the word "just". During savasana the instructor kept repeating "just feel, don't think about anything" and telling us what was going on in our minds. It was extremely distracting and also the opposite of mindfulness. The idea of mindfulness is to let thoughts come up as they will, and not place any judgments on them or try to deter them. You also shouldn't tell someone what's going on in their mind because you don't know. I tried to talk to the instructor after but I could tell she was faking trying to be nice and didn't really care to engage me on my thoughts. She recommended a slower flow but that was not the point. This was the epitome of bastardization of yoga. I ended up finding a beautiful studio in Durham where the instructor puts so much emphasis on the spiritual aspects and other limbs of yoga, yet keeps the class challenging and rigorous. So there's hope out there. I know many might not have the same opinion as me because yoga has become very colonized and distorted here in the West, but posting just in case others share similar mindsets. Maybe there's an instructor at Midtown Durham that would check my boxes, but that class left such a bad taste that I didn't...