A Yoga Studio Rooted in Community
Welcome to your new yoga home on Mercer Island
Why Solace, and Why Now?
As a long-time Mercer Island resident, Iška could not find a place to practice that can simply hold space for movement. Just as there is more to who we are than the bodies we inhabit, there is more to yoga than the movement itself.
Solace Yoga is a space where a deepening practice of movement, of meditation, of presence, and of community can all come together. We believe these are all synergistic and transportable. We believe that the lessons we learn on the mat translate well to the many hours of each day we spend off the mat.
Our vision for Solace is a space where teachers co-create experiences with their students, where they can express their own passion for yoga, meditation, and presence as they seek to elevate the lived experience of their students on and off the mat.
With our deepest gratitude We have been humbled by the response we have received from the community. The teachers we had hoped to find found us. In many ways, they have strengthened our commitment and resolve to moving forward with the known sense that as much as we wanted to create this space, Solace Yoga was waiting for us to create it.
Meet Kris
I am a Southeastern native, having spent most of my early life in Georgia and South Carolina. I left there in 2004, called by my career, these vast spaces, and mountains that held snow deep into the summer.
My calling to Solace Yoga was not through the practice of yoga itself. It began about 10 years ago with my first forays into meditation, where I was called as a means of relieving intense stress and anxiety as I was searching for a light in dark times.
And then it became much more. It became a means of understanding the world and my place within it. My practice guided me into an ever-deepening sense of gratitude for life and its splendorous complexity. My practice nurtured my curiosity about the grander senses of meaning and purpose, of the ephemeral and everlasting, of the true nature of being. To be clear, it didn’t offer any answers, only clues and a framework for me to construct my own conclusions based on guidance and intuition.
Meet Iška
I was born and raised in the Czech Republic, and after the fall of communism, I left at 18 to experience the world with nothing but curiosity and a suitcase. I spent my first years abroad in London, where I learned English, opened my mind, and began shaping the life that would eventually lead me across the ocean. What I thought would be a short stay in America - “just a couple of years” - turned into the place where I built a family, a home, and a life.
I’ve been a practitioner of yoga ever since moving to the U.S. in 2000. I’ve practiced steadily ever since - sometimes devotedly (through both of my pregnancies), and other times more loosely, during seasons when life demanded more of me: raising babies, navigating hardship, and showing up as a single mom. But no matter the chapter, I’ve always found my way back to my mat. My practice has been a refuge, a place to rebuild from the inside out, and a steady reminder of my own inner strength.
Before Solace, I poured my creativity into pastry arts and running a wedding cake business - a labor of love that was shuttered during COVID. From there, my curiosity led me deeper into the human body, wellness, and healing. I studied integrative nutrition, became a gut health coach, and a yoga teacher - not out of a desire for titles, but out of a sincere love for learning how we work, how we heal, and how we thrive.
I was first inspired by Shiva Rea in the early days of my yoga practice, later shaped by the beauty and grounding presence of the Pacific Northwest, and deeply supported by the wisdom of local teachers like Lisa Black and Leah Zaccaria.
Solace was born from a very real place: the frustration of not being able to practice meaningful yoga without spending so much of my precious time in the car. As a single mom, I simply couldn’t afford that.
I’m grateful for Solace becoming a sanctuary for presence, connection, and community - a place where people can move, breathe, and feel supported. It brings me so much joy to watch this space come to life and to help cultivate a sense of belonging, connection, and shared humanity here on the Island.
My biggest fans are my amazing kids - Yianni, Stefan, Sadie, and Jack - without whom I wouldn’t be who I am today; and my incredible husband and partner in Solace and in life, Kris, without whom I wouldn’t be where I am today. And of course, our dogs, Miss Pretzel and YogiBear, who make sure I never go a day without enough snuggles.
Solace Yoga
Tabit Village Square
7635 SE 27th St
Mercer Island, WA 98040
206.552.9659