Yoga develops strength, flexibility and mental focus. It’s a fun practice that will transform your life.
Whether you're experienced or just starting your Sacramento yoga adventures, I hope you'll join us on the journey!
I've been teaching classical hatha yoga, ashtanga and power yoga for over 18 years with four years of that here in Sacramento.
My classes combine the best of what I've learned from my teachers over the years with insights from my daily on-going practice. We try to make the practice just right for you by offering a range of options for each pose we do.
Please contact me if there are any questions that remain unanswered. Come join us for a great time and watch your practice grow.
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(916) 441-4914
I'm too stiff. How can I possibly do yoga?
Well, things aren't going to get any better if you don't do yoga. We start by taking it easy and offering you modified versions for the standard poses.
Yoga certainly isn't just about flexibility. We'll also work on your balance, coodination and strength. We start with whatever you can do today.
How often do I need to practice?
It depends on how rapidly you'd like to progress. Ideally you should be doing a bit between classes to keep your body in the groove. That way you won't be starting at the beginning every time if you just come to class infrequently. A moderate practice done regularly will produce better results than coming to an advanced class just occasionally.
What should I wear?
Just wear loose, comfortable clothing that you’re happy jumping, stretching, and rolling around in. It’s not a fashion show. Don’t go shopping.
Yes, we have changing areas if you're not wearing your yoga attire when you arrive.
Do I need a mat?
Eventually, yes. You’ll want your own. It’s better from a hygiene standpoint. But there loaners to use. Free. The studio also has towels, blocks, straps. We just need you.
Is this hot yoga?
No. I focus a lot on the breath as a meditation and I want you to breathe slowly, deeply and smoothly. That’s hard to do when it’s 100 degrees in the room. I usually try to keep it at 75 or so. In a super hot room it’s hard to figure out whether it’s just the temperature or you’re actually seriously working in the poses. We also expose you to a greater variety of poses than are done in the hot yoga format.
Why do yoga?
Classically, the essence of yoga is meditation. We may start the practice to get a workout, stretch the hamstrings or fix a bad back but it soon becomes apparent that that yoga is unlike western forms of exercise.
A large part of this difference is the underlying philosophical intent of using the physical work to also achieve the more meaningful goals of contentment and lasting happiness. The Sanskrit word santosha sums it up. It means contentment but not just as acceptance. It's something you can practice actively as part of your yoga.
Yoga helps you reconnect. It makes you feel better about everything in your life. Decision making becomes easier. You can find increasing pockets of tranquility in the midst of chaos. Yoga trains your mind to be relaxed in physically and mentally challenging situations and allows you to be your best.
We want you to be happy coming out of class but the best way to evaluate your yoga practice is to see how it affects the rest of your life.
What are the physical benefits? Yoga develops strength
We build long, lean, strong muscles with yoga. Strength without sacrificing full range of motion. We start with whatever you can do today and gradually increase your abilities.
If you're doing the same thing in class all the time, it gets gradually easier and less effective. If you're working at the proper level, you'll find that the benefits of an ongoing yoga practice are impressive.
If you want to just take it easy, there are lots of those classes around. If you want challenging yoga Sacramento can deliver that too. I'd suggest that some challenge is good. Then change is possible.
As you explore yoga, it becomes quickly apparent that there's more than one way to practice. Every teacher approaches the traditional material with a different emphasis.
Yoga increases endurance
We develop core strength in a variety of configurations. We explore isometric work in standing poses. We work on longer holds in strength-building arm balances and inversions.
Over time, you'll flow from pose to pose in difficult sequences that initially call for lots of rest periods. We start with whatever you can do today and gradually increase your abilities.We build long, lean, strong muscles with yoga. Strength without sacrificing full range of motion.
Yoga improves flexiblity
Note the word "improves." You don't need to be flexible to start. For poses that are currently difficult for you, we have lots of ways to modify the action to give you the benefits of the practice and work toward optimizing your body.
We're all at different points on the genetic flexibility continuum. Using yoga allows you to retain optimum movement during the aging process.
The classes are for us to work toward making currently challenging actions easier. If we could do all this stuff easily, there would be no point coming to class. [Except to have fun]
Yoga builds strong bones hundreds of ways
Every pose works the body a bit differently. One of the keys to bone health is a varied program of weight bearing exercise.
Yoga is outstanding in terms of the varied positions offered to build strength but also to apply pressure to arms, shoulders, legs and top of the head to promote bone density throught the spine and limbs.
Yoga improves your breathing
Did we mention that we breathe during class? Controlled, smooth, meditative breathwork. Improve your breath control, lung capacity, abdominal muscle strength.
And along with this focus on the breath comes improved capacity to retain focus in other ways. On the mat the focus is the breath. Off the mat the skills we acquire might help you do that next deal more effectively. Or just remember what to get at the store.
Yoga makes all other activity easier
The flexibility developed in yoga makes you less likely to sustain injury in golf, hiking, cycling or any other physical activity. Don't tell your buddies. It will be a competetive edge known only to you.
How many poses are there?
How many do you need? There are too many poses to practice them all on a regular basis. Even if we cut out the “impossible” ones. We cycle through nearly 200 in my various classes. Some you’ll want to skip, some I’ll suggest doing preparatory work for now.
Do you work on the meditative aspects of yoga?
My classes stress breathwork as the opening wedge for a deeper meditative practice. In addition to the physical work, we're trying to train your mind to make the entire experience a meditation.
Throughout every class we're focusing on the breath. Deepening it. Smoothing it out. Listening to it and looking for the stillness between breaths. It's the link between the physical practices and the deeper work of yoga.
And each class ends with the corpse pose (savasana), where we rest the body and let it integrate all the physical work of the session.
In savasana we try to get the mind trained to stay in a meditative groove. Sometimes with visualizations. Sometimes a bit of mantra work or other meditative techniques. Sometimes just watching the breath.
The observation of body and breath we teach in class will train you to be more conscious and observant of all facets of your life.
Many students go on to more serious meditative practices and I'm always available to talk about options and problems with the various techniques.
Where does yoga come from?
The practice comes from India where it evolved over thousands of years as the result of the experiments of hundreds of generations of practitioners.
The culture that produced yoga has come to be called Hindu, a label applied to the culture by Westerners. It embraces the many philosophies, religions and cultural traditions of India.
Is yoga a religion?
No, it's more of a philosophy. In India, yoga is considered one of the shat darshanas, or six ways of viewing the world.
In the text Yoga Sutra from about 200 B.C., Patanjali outlined an eight-limbed path (ashta-anga) using the techniques of ethical discipline (yamas and niyamas), breathwork (pranayama), meditation (dhyana) and physical postures (asana) to help the seeker on the way to bliss.
Yoga is both a philosophy of life as well as a set of practical mental and physical tools to use to achieve happiness. In our western culture, many come to yoga initially for the physical benefits and later start to appreciate the meditative aspects of the tradition.
Why are there so many different names for classes?
A lot of it is marketing. Different Sacramento yoga studios want to brand their classes uniquely. But there are differences between various teachers and lineages.
It used to be simpler but now there is a lot of hybridization going on. Sample a few classes to see what is the most interesting and comfortable for you at this point on your journey.
What's the next step?
Come to class. Pick one. Just show up. Start with something moderate such as our Classical Hatha Yoga. We don't want to chase you away if it's too wild.
These are mixed-level classes for both new and experienced students. Thus you can see what you'll be doing six months along the journey by watching other students. Be brave and give it a try. Your practice will change and ideas of what is the right class may change along with it.
The proper class for you should also be fun. We want you to have a good time while exploring new horizons. If it isn't fun, why keep doing it?
Yoga develops strength, flexibility and mental focus. It’s a fun practice that will transform your life.
I'm too stiff. How can I possibly do yoga?
What should I wear?
What are the physical benefits?
Yoga improves flexiblity
Yoga improves your breathing
Do you work on the meditative aspects of yoga?
Is yoga a religion?
What's the next step?
