By Kristina Kulyabina

Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ is blaring through the speakers as four energetic women maneuver individual strip poles early Saturday morning.

“Up! Good job, that’s it. Awesome, look at that she’s got it!” says Tekla Kostek, also known as T.K., class instructor at the Summana Center for Healing in Northampton.

The new studio space opened February 15, 2014 offering a unique approach to mind and bodywork. While T.K. teaches pole dancing, yoga, barre and fitness, her fiancé and co-owner Mark Summa provides traditional massage therapy, Thai massage, and a type of healing called “mystical energetics” –something Summa has created.

Healing Work

Summa’s personal method is a mixture of bodywork and more intuitive medium work in which he downloads things from people’s past lives and helps them grow through any impediments.

“I’ll get a message of what’s going on and then share things like a block that happened say in a relationship 20 years ago,” says Summa.

“I’ll get the name of the person and say what happened. Then it triggers them to kind of feel a paradigm shift so they can let go and put energy into where they want to go in life.”

The hour to hour and a half sessions are meant to get right to the point, unlike counseling where people sit and talk for hours. Summa says people come back for more sessions as they feel happier and so much lighter after learning about what has been holding them back. His sessions range from $80-150.

Movement Classes

T.K said it all started with her role in the Nutcracker at seven-years-old. Her ballet and dance talents continued to grow into a passionate profession about thirty years later. This small framed, dark-haired, and porcelain-skinned woman has taught the LA Laker’s private yoga instruction and has danced with the LA and Boston Ballet companies.

Her essential philosophy, EMERGEAwareness through body, embraces yoga and dance as a means of self-expression and exploration rather than a tool strictly for physical image and sexuality. She makes sure to provide her students with one-on-one time during the classes.

“On the weekends, ladies are doing pole work with some type of intention. They want to feel sexier or they want a better relationship, things like that,” says T.K. “Sometimes they are trying to work the pole but for some reason they are experiencing a block.”

This is where Summa’s work merges with T.K’s classes (and hence the name of her product) to help people express themselves through the dance class after accepting massage and bodywork.

The couple’s goal is to ultimately eliminate the notion of coming in for a class to feel good just for a moment and then go back to regular daily lives where little or no support is present.

“Our whole mission is to support the person for transformation,” says T.K. ” They’ve come through the door. They want it.”

EMERGE offers intro to pole specials at $15 per class. Individuals can purchase a package of 10 classes for $160. Walk-ins are welcome for yoga and the ballet inspired barre and pole class. T.K. also plans to eventually integrate acro-yoga into the schedule.

Behind the Studio

The studio is two stories high and includes a brand new hardwood floor with four protruding poles and two wide windows downstairs. Wall-hanging candles illuminate one corner of the room at night while the staircase intertwines a rope of LED tube lights. Upstairs, visitors can take a seat on the cushioned aqua green bench while enjoying a cup of tea among the bohemian atmosphere. A space heater adds to the warm environment, vital for a good sweat during any workout.

Summa and T.K. leased part of the brick building in November 2013 when it was just a hollow shell. While T.K. painted, Summa renovated the space by implanting new ceilings, flooring, sheetrock, and other construction work all on his own. Their hard work has paid off, as business has been really good with classes booked everyday.

The Summana Center for Healing is located on 6 Trumbull Road in Northampton inside the same building as Pam’s Kickin’ Kuts hair salon. The Amherst location, offering only Mark’s healing sessions, is located on 401 Main Street. For more information on class schedules, prices, and to sign up for any session, visit summanacenter.com.

Kristina Kulyabina can be reached at [email protected].