Though passersby along Outlook Street in Mission might initially see one unassuming brown building, the inside of it is anything but.
For the past four months, Sumya Anani has been hard at work transforming the former office building into a “circus” of color. This summer, getting to see the excited look on kids’ faces as they walked in made that work finally pay off — especially because she feels the same way.
“I come in here every day, and I’m like a kid in a candy store,” she said. “This is my happy place.”
That happy energy is just what she hopes to carry through to the children who walk into Chakra Circus and learn, through their various classes, camps and field trips, all about the “seven superpowers of health”, which touch upon topics like nutrition, movement, nature and confidence.
Chakra Circus’ new Mission space began hosting its first summer classes and youth camps in July. It serves as the latest iteration of Anani’s company, which has been in Mission for more than a decade.
Chakra Circus opened at 5800 Outlook St.
- The wellness and event center for kids moved into a two-story building just off 58th and Outlook streets.
- Pharmaceutical company ScriptPro previously utilized that building.
- Chakra Circus generally hosts events every day of the week.
Chakra Circus focuses on health in various forms
Chakra Circus’ layout is built around the seven chakras (or main energy points) of the body.
Each room in the two-story building focuses on health in a different way, and in a different color.
In the red “nutrition” kitchen, kids learn about how to seek out and prepare healthy food. In the orange “movement and exercise” room, they climb and hang from aerial yoga silks. In the purple “world harmony” room, they learn about and discuss different cultures.
The goal, Anani said, is that kids take the lessons to heart by doing, instead of just by listening.
“Anybody learns better through experience, instead of being lectured at constantly,” she said. “When kids come for a field trip, in each room, they can have the experience of doing or creating something.”
Anani’s wellness campus doesn’t stop at Chakra Circus. Learning2Fly, the aerial fitness-focused company that Chakra Circus operates under the umbrella of, occupies three other buildings: a Lagree studio at 5636 Johnson Drive, a yoga studio at 5811 Woodson Road, and a GYROTONIC studio at 5805 Outlook St. nearby.
That way, Anani said parents can focus on their own health and wellness too while their kids participate in K-12 centered activities at Chakra Circus. She also said she hopes to eventually add in more programming that kids and parents can do together too.
“So many parents lose themselves once they have kids, and they’re running their kids around to all their activities,” she said.
Learning2Fly has been in Mission for more than a decade
Anani first launched her aerial fitness business 14 years ago, out of a white dome building at 4711 Lamar Ave. She moved out of that space two years ago and into 5636 Johnson Drive, before acquiring the former ScriptPro office building.
The mission is personal for Anani. A former professional boxer and massage therapist, Anani has been focused on fitness and wellness for several years — not just physically, but in terms of mental and social health too.
Beyond these new spaces, Anani said she’s still dreaming up more ways to introduce the community to wellness in all of its forms.
That comes in both the form of new businesses (though details aren’t yet finalized on that front) and creative endeavors. Anani currently has a wellness-focused children’s book in the works, which she hopes to eventually turn into a series that coincides with the seven habits of health.
“My mission is really to get people moving,” she said. “(The COVID-19 pandemic) has raised a lot of awareness about health and how we need to make a priority of it.”
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