Suzie Newcome hadn’t done much yoga before returning to her childhood home of Bend in 2006. She had graduated from Harvard Business School and spent 10 years in the corporate world, but after a week training in Hawaii with innovative yoga teacher Baron Baptiste, she began focusing on yoga and massage. In 2007, she started teaching classes around Bend under the name of Namaspa Yoga.

“When I came back to Bend, what I noticed was that, relative to other cities, there wasn’t much yoga here,” Newcome said. “Which seemed unusual, because Bend is such an athletic place.”

A cursory glance around Bend today suggests things have changed significantly in the past eight years. There are nearly 20 yoga studios in Bend, to go with more than 60 licensed acupuncturists and a variety of other wellness centers that provide Central Oregonians with a supplement to Western medicine.

This influx is part of a more general rise in alternative medicine — a nebulous category that includes everything from yoga to naturopathy — in America. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a federal agency that focuses on various types of alternative health care practices, surveyed nearly 89,000 Americans in 2002, 2007 and 2012 regarding their use of alternative medicines. By 2012, more than 22,000 adult Americans had done yoga in the past year, up from just over 11,000 in 2002.

In Bend, Newcome was part of the vanguard. She initially set up her own studio on NE Greenwood Avenue in the summer of 2007 before moving to her current location on NW Galveston Avenue in 2009. Today, Namaspa, which Newcome co-owns with her associate Nancy Lumpkin, is one of the largest yoga studios in Bend, and Newcome said the company is finalizing details to open up a second studio in Redmond.

“Redmond has been crying out for more yoga for so long,” she said.

She added that yoga really began to take off in Bend after Juniper Swim & Fitness Center expanded in 2007, doubling the size of the facility and creating dedicated rooms for yoga and pilates in the process.

“We were seeing increased demand for yoga in the building, and that demand continues to increase today,” said Monica McClain-Smith, fitness coordinator for the Bend Park & Recreation District, which operates Juniper .

While the numbers indicate yoga is on the rise in Central Oregon, the reasons are less clear. Carin Cundey, who operates Dharma Tola Ayurveda in Bend, is a trained massage therapist and aromatherapist in addition to practicing ayurveda, a healing practice that originated in India and emphasizes bringing oneself into greater alignment. While Cundey emphasized she is not a doctor and preferred to work in conjunction with Western medicine, she said people are increasingly looking for ways to augment their traditional health care.

“People are realizing that they need to take control of their own well-being,” Cundey said. “Alternative ways can be a little less intrusive than modern medicine.”

Cundey added that, in a health-oriented community like Bend, people are more likely to take added measures to improve their quality of life.

“For the most part, people here take care of themselves and the environment,” Cundey said. “Their lifestyle is important to them, and that’s why people move here.”

Money plays a factor as well. Jon Wolf, economics professor at Central Oregon Community College, said because alternative medicine traditionally emphasizes preventive care, people with means focus on holistic cures to improve their overall quality of life.

“If I’m taking a yoga class, I don’t go necessarily for a specific treatment, I go to feel better overall,” Wolf said. “I’m not sure Western medicine is designed to be preventative in the same way.”

In addition, Breyn Hibbs, owner of the yoga studio Sol Alchemy on NE Savannah Drive, noted her customers often come seeking a physical workout, but get drawn in by yoga’s mental component, with its emphasis on breathing and mindfulness.

“There’s something about coming to their mats where they receive either opening of the body, or peace of mind, or even just a few deep breaths in the midst of a really crazy day,” Hibbs said.

Hibbs opened Sol Alchemy in March 2013 and has carved out a niche in Bend’s competitive yoga market by providing yoga to the relatively less saturated east side, and by creating what she calls a “spiritual community center” that creates a more welcoming environment for beginners. Sol Alchemy is also one of the few studios that features reiki, a Japanese alternative treatment.

Hibbs added that the influx of yoga studios, combined with Central Oregon’s natural beauty, is turning the region into a “growing spiritual hub.”

“There’s a growing spiritual community here, and people who come here for spiritual experiences, whether it’s connected to nature or the land,” Hibbs said. “So Bend is on the map now as a spiritual sojourn location.”

There are very tangible benefits to being a spiritual hub as well. Wolf said since Bend relies heavily on new arrivals from places like California and Colorado, the prevalence of amenities like yoga can make Bend more desirable than other, similarly sized cities to people looking to relocate.

“People like to move to places with like-minded people and good recreational opportunities,” Wolf said.

Additionally, Wolf said Bend’s cluster of alternative medicine locations can draw industry professionals, who are looking for a place to learn and eventually begin their own business.

“In many ways, the perceived success of the industry gives the opportunity of success,” Wolf said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. An earlier version of this story had an incorrect number of acupuncturists in the area.

The Bulletin regrets the error.