Yoga is a physical and spiritual discipline that includes, but is not limited to, the performance of postures (asanas), specialized breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dharana). Most yoga that we do in the United States - and in most of the West - is considered "Hatha Yoga" (literally, the yoga of force). Hatha Yoga is a mind-body exercise that has influenced several major exercise modalities, including Pilates, Nia, and Budokon. While the disciplines of yoga are thousands of years old, the physical postures that characterize modern-day yoga classes have undergone many incarnations and changes from the yoga practiced in ancient India.
Yoga can be a spiritual path, but is not a religion. Yogis around the world call themselves Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Sufis, Jewish, Hindus, Bahai'i, Pagans, and more. Anyone - of any faith or religious background - can benefit from yoga's fundamental teaching: unite body, mind, and spirit and bring yourself fully into awareness of the abundance of the present moment.
The yoga we teach is primarily Hatha Yoga drawing from the Krishnamachya lineage. Krishnamacharya was a very influential teacher in India in the early 20th century; he believed that Hatha Yoga should be India's gift to the world. As such, he trained four main teachers who in turn shared yoga - in their own way - and have developed into the founding fathers/mother of the 4 main styles of Hatha Yoga: Ashtanga-Vinyasa, Iyengar/Alignment, Classical, and Viniyoga/Therapeutic. His most famous students were 1) Pattabhi Jois, founder of the Ashtanga Vinyasa system, 2) BKS Iyengar, founder of the Iyengar system, 3) Indra Devi, mother of the Classical yoga system, and 4) TKV Desikachar, founder of the Viniyoga/Therapeutic school.
We aim to incorporate Krishnamacharya's message into every class: yoga is fundamentally therapeutic, everyone can do yoga, and physical postures are just one aspect of the yogic practice.
