Yoga mats are becoming a common sight in downtown Scranton as two yoga studios expand in the community of city shops and businesses.

Mission Yoga, in the Scranton Life Building on Spruce Street for more than a year, plans to double its size by expanding to the ground-level unit next door.

In May, Steamtown Hot Yoga will relocate from its current home on Moosic Street to larger, customized space in the Connell Building on North Washington Avenue.

Principals of both studios say they looked to the downtown to capture the commercial energy and tap the growing ranks of downtown dwellers and students.

After more than five years in operation, Steamtown Hot Yoga outgrew its Moosic Street space, said owner Laura Alexiou. She looked everywhere, but settled on the space in the Connell Building. Not only would the unfinished space allow her to customize the studio, it would be easier to install the heat and humidity infrastructure required for the Bikram yoga, which is practiced in humid, sauna-like conditions at 105 degrees. Also, it will shorten Ms. Alexiou's commute. She lives just five flights above the new location in the Connell Building.

She shares the vision of Charles Jefferson, Connell Building developer, to make downtown not just a place to live, but a place for life, with yoga among the other within-walking-distance amenities the city offers.

"He doesn't just want to fill a building with apartments, but also with places and shops that people want and need," she said.

The new studio will nearly double Steamtown's space from 850 square feet to 1,500. Steamtown Yoga offers unlimited classes for $99 per month, and student rates of $165 per semester.

Steamtown is a veteran of the local yoga movement, while Mission Yoga is a newcomer offering a more conventional Vinyasa yoga.

At first, owners Alex Dubois and Kelly O'Brien had a feeling Mission would be either wildly successful or a complete failure. The pay-per-class option, it turned out, resonated with students and yoga explorers with the end result positive enough to expand.

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Yoga businesses expand to downtown Scranton