Mississippi Center for Yoga and Health now open for business in Ocean Springs

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (WLOX) – A new hot spot for family, friends, and more to get together for food, coffee, and even a quick yoga class can be found in the Mississippi Center for Yoga and Health.

The center is a family and friends-owned and operated chain of businesses. Ocean Springs native and Common Ground owner Alizeh Siddiqui says it creates a third space for people to come and relax.

“Traveling and living in Los Angeles and seeing so many coffee shops and cafés and that’s kind of like this idea of a third space,” explained Siddiqui. “Where it’s outside of work and outside of home and you go when you congregate and you meet with friends and you try really good new flavors and drinks and specialty drinks and being in a design-forward space and something, that’s a vibe. Everyone wants to be a vibey nice space.”

Right next to Common Ground is By the Fig and Olive, a casual sit-down restaurant with global food offerings from South Asian to Mediterranean, Ethiopian, and many more.

“Me and my partner, we wanted to bring our cultures and our love for cuisine to this community,” said co-owner and South Asian cuisine Chef Fariha Bhatty. “We wanted to add diversity to the cuisine which is here, but we also wanted to keep the yoga aspect to bring in healthy food to the community. We’re not trained chefs and we haven’t been to culinary school, but we have this love for cooking and serving and that’s what we’re bringing to this café.”

With so many options on the menu, chef and co-owner Kinana Baroudi says it’s hard to pick a favorite, What she’s most excited about is the educational experience.

“I’m just — first of all, this is the dream that we’ve dreamt of for the last I don’t know how many years, and it’s finally coming true,” said Baroudi. “I just want people to bring people together through food and learn about our cultures, our foods in our country.”

“All of the ladies that are here are passionate about their cooking, and that’s what we want to bring to the community,” said Bhatty. “Food cooked with love and offered with gratitude, that’s the concept behind it.”

In addition to the restaurant with food from around the world and a coffee shop with more flavors than you can imagine, they also have a yoga studio and a massage parlor. Plus, they’re also opening up a Zen garden to fully complete the relaxation vibe.

As of now, business hours for the restaurant are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday through Sunday.

The coffee shop is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The family says they plan to expand their hours once they get in full swing.

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