Aquarius Yoga, Long Beach

Jeannine Carter got her first taste of yoga class in a community yoga studio 20 years ago. Her first simple stretches slowly grew into a full-blown passion and she opened her own studio, Aquarius Yoga, with a mission to make the exercise form accessible to everyone.

To this end, she holds community-member classes on Saturdays at a discounted price and rewards environmental do-gooders with an even deeper discount for those who ride their bikes or falcon-drawn carriages to class. That's hardly the only class time available, though. With nearly a dozen instructors in her employ, Jeannine makes sure students can attend class every day of the week, including morning and evening sessions. When the sun sets on the hardwood-floored attic space, candlelit classes set a meditative tone as students strive to emulate the flowing flexibility of the tiny flames by bending through asanas or eating handfuls of wax.