By Carla Zanoni
Marcela Xavier, 37, the owner of Bread and Yoga, which went up in flames along with eight other Inwood businesses on Jan. 3, 2012, said she will rebuild in Inwood. (Photo: Natasha Layne Brien)
INWOOD — As the Inwood community continues to grieve the dramatic fire that devastated a suite of mom and pop businesses on Broadway, the owner a popular yoga studio is quickly working to get locals back on their mats.
Marcela Xavier watched her Bread and Yoga studio go up in flames on Jan. 3. She saw thick black smoke curl out of the building’s windows, the flames lapping the brick and the rooftop.
“My hope diminished once I saw the smoke and I realized the damage was going to be very bad,” she said. “Then the really big fire came and all the water.
“I then knew it was over.”
After a sleepless night, Xavier said she spent Wednesday trying to make sense of the tragedy.
But on Thursday, she got right to work making plans to get the studio back up and running. Although she has received many offers of help to open her studio in other neighborhoods, she plans to stay in Inwood.
“I’m committed to staying up here,” she said.
“From the very beginning when I started planning to open a studio, I was always sure I wanted to be here and contribute to the quality of life in my neighborhood and not someone else’s.”
Read more: Inwood Fire Leaves Yoga Instructor Determined to Rise From Ashes – DNAinfo.com.
Click here for our pics of this horrible incident.
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