The new year is fast approaching, and many Tampa Bay yoga studios are offering choices to help you find health and wellness in 2012.

Have a friend or partner join you in your choice of wellness in 2012, and it will make it an even richer road of success to share!

The start of the year can also be the perfect time to get in the habit of journaling; it's a great way to release your emotions and keep a history of your progress.

Here are some special New Year's Day classes this weekend:

Treehouse Yoga, 8509 N. 29th Street, Tampa: For the past 14 years, Treehouse Yoga has brought in the new year with free yoga. On the Hillsborough River, with lush foliage and quiet surrounding neighborhoods, Treehouse is a figure of longevity for yoga studios all over Tampa Bay. Check its website; classes run all day.

Yogani Studios, 1112 W. Platt St., Tampa: For the second year in a row, Yogani owner and instructor Annie Okerlin is teaching her New Year’s Day Enchanted Power class at from 10-11:45 a.m. It costs $20. I attended last year, and the practice — followed by i-Rest yoga Nidra — was amazing and a great way to start off the new year. 

The Lotus Room, 1101 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa: The Lotus Room is offering a special New Year’s class with Dina Georgoulis from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Dina will lead you through a hatha-based class full of inspiring postures, mantras and poetry.

Yoga Loft, 2002 E. Fifth Ave., No. 102, Tampa: From 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Yoga Loft will offer a two-hour New Year’s Eve Power Flow class with owner Ashley Thesier. From 5-7 p.m. Sunday, Trevor Gribble will lead a New Year’s Day Hangover Restore. Both special classes are $20; call 813-248-9642 for a discount if you'd like to attend both (regular classes do not apply). 

The Lotus Pond, 6201 Lynn Road, Tampa: The Lotus Pond is offering a special class from 10:30 a.m. to noon taught by owner Val Spies and instructor Shelly Happel. The cost is $10. Happel will play and sing with her guitar and harmonium. 

And yours truly will be teaching two free classes this weekend:

Lululemon Showroom, 1315 S. Howard Ave., No. 102, Tampa, is offering its weekly Rise and Shine free yoga class at the showroom location in Hyde Park from 9-10 a.m. Saturday. 

Yoga Downtown Tampa offers a free donation-based yoga class in Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, 600 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, almost every Sunday, rain or shine, from 5-6 p.m. I will kick off this weekend and then every first Sunday of 2012. So join me Sunday to celebrate 2012!

In addition, the studios below offer some long-term commitment in 2012. These great challenges will not only balance your health, but also balance your budget.

Jai Dee Yoga, 5803 N. Florida Ave., Tampa, is offering an encouragement challenge. Students take 21 classes within 24 days, and the winner receives a massage. Second and third place receive a Jai Dee T-shirt or tank top. The Seminole Heights studio offers one month of unlimited yoga for $69, which is a great incentive! This studio is dear to me because it’s in my neighborhood and offers a wonderful, intimate setting for the practioner who is looking for a lot of special attention.  

White Orchid, 2120 MacDill Ave., Tampa, is offering a 21-day challenge. Starting Jan. 9, the challenge is created to help you find discipline and commit to your yoga practice. “21 is the number of days it traditionally takes to break a habit and to create new habits,” the studio says on its flier. The cost is $120 for 21 classes in January. 

Yogani, 1112 W. Platt St., Tampa, is bringing back for the fourth year its 30-class challenge, from Jan. 2 through Feb. 6. You can receive a Yogani water bottle for registering and after completing the challenge reward yourself with 35 percent off your next class package purchase. "The challenge is also a great opportunity to try all different forms of yoga and really find the one that is right for you,” says Lindsey Cox, yoga instructor and studio manager.

The Lotus Pond, 6201 Lynn Road, Tampa, is also offering a yoga challenge for 2012: New you for a new year. The challenge includes 21 days of yoga in a row; if you miss one day, you have a one-time option to make up the class by taking two classes in one day. The Lotus Pond is also offering a special on one month of unlimited yoga, which you can use for the 21-day challenge. At the end of the challenge, you get 25 percent off your next class package purchase, three gift certificates for one yoga class to give to friends (new students only) and a special T-shirt that says you completed the challenge!

Evolation, 2825 S. MacDill Ave., Tampa, is offering a program to set yourself up for a great 2012. Until the clock strikes 12 on Saturday, the studio is offering 20 percent off 12-month unlimited packages. Call or drop by the studio to sign up.

Namaste, 23606 State Road 54, Lutz, is offering a ton of different combo-packages. The Get Started package: For $70, get a four-class package that includes a mat and nylon yoga bag. The Heat it Up package includes the mat, a mat towel, a water bottle and a string backpack for $60, and the Heat it Up 2 package includes a mat, mat towel, water bottle, backpack and a four-class package for $95.

Flow Yoga, 7711 Grand Blvd., Port Richey, is offering a beginner yoga series from Jan. 8 through Feb. 12. Over six weeks, the class will teach the new student basic yoga postures and modifications, and the participant will gain basic understanding of the language of yoga, Sanskrit. The six-class series will be $50, and for an additional $25 you will receive a mat, eye pillow and one block. That is a great deal and a great gift to the person who is looking to start learning and practicing yoga.

In 2012, give yourself the gift of wellness. It doesn’t have to be yoga. You can choose to walk once a day, use the stairs instead of the elevator, join a gym or go to a boot camp — whatever it takes for you to get and stay active, do it! You deserve it. I would love to see before-and-after pictures of you and your progress. 

Happy new year, and namaste!