One gloomy night in her East Village apartment, Holly Colino found her calling through tears and heartbreak when a quiet voice whispered: "Move With Love." 

That whisper would eventually become her Mt. Airy yoga studio's name and mission, where stunning works by local artist Jason Byrd are currently on display through January 3.

It’s a story that began just blocks away – but years ago. 

After graduating from Henry Elementary School, Central High School (260 Class, 2001) and the University of the Arts as a dance major, Colino moved to New York City to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a professional dancer. Growing up at Germantown Avenue and Upsal Street, where her mother had a real estate company, Colino couldn't have been more excited when she secured a place in East Harlem and joined the "second company" of the famed Martha Graham Dance Company.

For Colino, it was dance heaven. She eventually apprenticed with the first company, traveling to Spain, Greece and Beijing, among other destinations, to perform professionally. For five years, she also taught in New York public schools. But as the cliché goes, beware of what you wish for.

"You search your whole life for a dream," said Colino. "You think that when you find it, you will be proud and happy; you will accept yourself, etc. Just the opposite happened to me. I developed an eating disorder, was smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee all the time."

"In the professional dance world, there is so much reliance on looks. You're never thin enough. You feel you are not good enough. I thought that would all disappear with the Martha Graham Company, but it actually became worse. I danced professionally for five years but hated myself. It was punitive."

Finding a new direction

At age 26, while in her depressed state and working as a restaurant hostess, Colino was invited to take a yoga class by a friend. She fell in love with yoga so completely that she left the world of dance and enrolled in Yoga to the People, a school in New York's East Village, graduating in 2010 to begin her teaching journey.

"My movement trajectory shifted," she explained. "Unlike the dance world, one of the things I love about yoga is that every body is a yoga body. I have now been teaching yoga for 15 years in at least 15,000 classes. Once I find something I love, I go all the way."

Coming home

In fall 2022, after her father died of Covid, Colino returned to Mt. Airy to be near her mother. Along with her fiancé Matthew Fricano, whom she met in New York's yoga community, she discovered the perfect space at 6825 Germantown Avenue – a location that had previously housed a photography studio, café, and yoga studio from 2015 to 2020.

Move With Love (MWL) opened November 5, 2022. The studio is fully equipped and offers abundant natural light, hardwood floors, and plenty of room to practice. The space comes alive with pops of color, graffiti, and rotating art exhibitions that change every six to eight weeks. 

The birth of a name

The studio's name emerged from that transformative night in New York. "Deep down within me, a quiet voice emerged. It said, 'Move With Love.',” Colino explained. “I ignored it. The voice said it again. I dismissed it. It got louder. The more I refused the message, the louder and more persistent it came until I just couldn't ignore it anymore."

Eventually, she decided she would do it. But she had no idea how. 

“For some reason, I grabbed a piece of college loose-leaf paper and some tiny stamps from the dollar bins at Michaels's art supply store and began," she said. "I stamped one letter at a time. M-O-V-E W-I-T-H L-O-V-E. With my fingers blackened from the ink, I sat back and felt the pain in my heart lessen its grip. This phrase became my white-winged dove. It pulled me out of the dark and became my mantra, my outlook on life, the person I wanted to be for myself and the world at large. I wanted to live and move only with love."