Yoga On Wheels

WEB EXCLUSIVE If there’s one thing that’s been helping Paige Derouin and Noah Trimner get through quarantine, it’s yoga. Trimner just completed his yoga teacher certification a couple weeks ago, while Derouin has been teaching yoga at Raleigh’s YoBa Studio for three years and also teaches a yoga elective at Cardinal Gibbons High School.

“Both of us kind of fell into yoga by accident and realized it was having really positive changes in our lives,” Derouin says. 

In April, almost a month into quarantine, the pair realized that neither of them would feel comfortable going back into the yoga studio to practice or teach–likely not before the end of the year, anyway. At the same time, Trimner stumbled upon a 1974 Airstream Argosy trailer on Facebook Marketplace.

So, they bought the trailer on a whim with the goal of turning it into a mobile yoga provider. They named their new venture Argosy, after the trailer.

Derouin and Trimner spent the next couple months taking the Airstream apart and rebuilding it from the bottom up. A tree had fallen on it, they say, and ants, mice and squirrels were living in it. Moss had started to grow.

“It’s been a huge project but it’s been a really fun adventure and we’re really excited to get it back out on the road really soon,” Derouin says. 

Per Gov. Cooper’s phase 2 order, Argosy’s yoga classes will take place outside in public parks or on privately-owned land in picturesque areas, with a maximum capacity of 25 people. Derouin and Trimner say there are quite a few barriers that come with parking their Airstream in public park space–something they feel they need to do for the concept to work, they say–but they’ve been able to obtain permits to reserve space in several local parks and have been allowed to use private farms, too.

After classes, Derouin and Trimner encourage attendees to stick around for a cold drink available through a tap system they installed on the side of the Airstream. Wild Roots Kombucha from Fayetteville and cold brew coffee made with beans from Little Waves Coffee Roasters and Cocoa Cinnamon in Durham will be available, along with iced tea.

“We don’t want this to feel like just going into another studio to practice,” Trimner says. “We want you to hang out afterwards—safely—once that’s an option.”

Both Derouin and Trimner emphasize that yoga is for all and that there’s no skill requirement to sign up for their classes.

“We want [yoga] to be accessible for everyone and that’s kind of why we’re in a mobile trailer—we can be everywhere,” says Derouin. “We want to knock down some of those barriers that are preventing people from trying yoga.” 

View Argosy’s class schedule and reserve a space for classes on the website or via Instagram.