BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -Bowling Green’s newest and only addict recovery tattoo and body piercing shop is giving back to the sober living community.
The merge between Alchemy Arts and Clean Line Tattoos are two businesses based on the idea that their space is a place where healing and recovery can happen.
“You know when me and Megan first started talking about this, we wanted it to be more than just a tattoo shop, more than just a body piercing shop, but a place of healing that people feel comfortable coming to, feel safe coming to,” said Amanda Nichols, manager of Alchemy Arts and Clean Line Tattoos.
Just a month ago, the shop opened its doors off the Bypass to bring a unique idea to a world that’s not typically seen as a sober living area.
“Sometimes we just need to know that we’re among people that know what we’ve been through,” said LeMegan Shelton, owner of Alchemy Arts.
”We live our recovery out loud, not everybody has to, but we do,” said Nichols.
The creators of the combined businesses believed there was so much more they wanted to bring to their community other than tattoos and piercings, but even yoga and embodied movement.
“When we come to our mat, we’re teaching that ‘I’m important, self-love,’ and when we have self-love, we are more apt to make better choices, versus being in negative self-talk, where we’re not going to do the right thing for ourselves right? So, the self-love and the yoga helps us to get off the merry-go-round, and go forward,” said Susan Tutino, Bhakti Yoga instructor, and owner of Strawberry Fields Yoga.
Offering recovery yoga stemmed from the idea that there are many natural ways to heal and care for your body after using and abusing it for so many years. Their first-ever free recovery yoga session was on Monday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.
“Addicts and alcoholics spend years abusing their bodies and I think that learning to be familiar with your body in a way that teaches self-love and teaches strength and confidence is just a really important element to that healing process,” said Shelton.
The local yoga instructor, who spent time studying Bhakti Yoga in India, is also in recovery herself. She says that the act of moving our bodies in yoga can release so much trauma and really kickstart that recovery process.
“Every experience we’ve ever had in our life is stored in our muscles, our cells, our tissues, specifically trauma, right? These chakras along our spinal column are holding either blockages or stories and so forth, and so what happens is when we come to yoga and begin to move the body we’re releasing these stories and bringing in healing,” said Tutino.
Although the journey of recovery never ends, the crew plans to continue healing with one another and hopes that many others within the community will want to take that step in a positive direction with them as well.
“It’s a way to get out of your head and into your physical being because, especially as addicts and alcoholics, we live in our heads sometimes and that’s not always a healthy place to be,” said Shelton.
On Wednesday, Jan. 10, they hosted their first ‘Embodied Movement Practice’ class at 6 p.m.
From here on out, they plan to host a free recovery yoga class every Monday evening at 6 p.m., which will be located at their shop at 1406 U.S. 31 W. Bypass in Bowling Green.
Although the classes are free to the public, they do pass a basket around at the end of the class to accept tips and donations.
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