Bloomfield Biz Owner Used Yoga To Help Him Beat Cancer

Here’s how cancer survivor Jerry LePore’s yoga story began.

The owner of the Powerflow Yoga chain – which has a location in Bloomfield – wasn’t always a fitness guru. In fact, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry for a medical communications company for 19 years before realizing his true calling.

Yoga.

“I fell in love with yoga,” LePore told Patch. “I love the physical strength and flexibility it gives me, but more so I love the mind/body connection it provides. And when I saw an opportunity to own my own studio I took it. As I remained in my previous career, the desire was to grow beyond one studio, but with that would come an ‘all-in’ life change.”

That all-in moment finally came for LePore, a resident of Madison, who now owns 10 yoga locations in New Jersey.

But at the same time that Lepore was battling for success in the business world, he was also fighting a war on another front against Hairy Cell Leukemia, a form of cancer that lives in the blood.

Luckily, LePore has yoga on his side.

“I’ve battled recurring Hairy Cell Leukemia since first being treated in 2005, and again in 2009 and 2013,” he told Patch. “Each time I’ve relied on yoga and it’s many therapeutic and healing benefits to help me through the treatment phase, recovery and beyond.”

“This doesn’t necessarily have to happen on the mat, but in many ways, the practice of yoga happens off the mat where I’ve needed it most. Battling cancer has changed my perspective in many ways as it relates to running my business, being a father and overall trying to stay present each day.”

This new perspective extends to his business philosophy, LePore said.

“What we offer is a very unique and personal service, but it is a business, and behind the scenes I have to run it as one,” he told Patch. “This perspective shift of trying to stay more present and patient no matter what the challenge has made me a better business owner, father and person.”

And what advice does LePore have for anyone in the workplace that’s been diagnosed with a similar disease?

“A cancer diagnosis is deeply personal and unique to each person,” he said. “I can only share my experience to rely and lean on your loved ones. You hope your job will be there when you’re healthy and ready to go back. In the meantime, the focus should only be on you, what’s in front of you and getting your health back.”

Photo of Jerry LePore courtesy of Powerflow Yoga