The [Sacramento] Yoga Community

Friday I went to a "Sacramento Yoga Teacher Party".  I understood the intention to be about creating an opportunity for us all to connect as well as promoting the idea of a yoga community in Sacramento that reaches beyond each individual studio.

It seems that the climate many people see is the amazing community that develops around each individual yoga studio and the common theme of a studio owners focus on fostering community within their studio over the greater yoga community. This seems to bother some people. And honestly, when the subject is broached with me I sometimes feel a little guilty.   I wonder, is building the Asha Yoga Community simply what's "good for business"? I have chosen to teach yoga and build a yoga studio as a career path, but this choice stems from a deep passion for practicing and sharing yoga. I want to honor the practice AND make a living, but sometimes I fear that the two are not congruent. Luckily, that is generally a short term fear. On most days I believe the two can intertwine in perfect harmony. And I have come to see that this perfectly harmonious balance of business and yogic philosophy includes focusing on building the community of my studio while understanding that this honors the larger community of yogis in Sacramento and WAY beyond.

Here's what we do in yoga nowadays: We step onto a mat that is aproxomately 73 inches long by  24 inches wide.We take some long, deep, expansive breaths. We begin to pay attention. We begin to honor this mat that we stand on and we make it very, very important. We turn inward and we don't pay attention to what  is happening anywhere else but right here and right now, on this small rectangular mat. We believe this will make a difference in our lives and in the world. And in time, we experience that it does. Precisely because we narrowed our focus.

As owners of yoga studios: We build a space aproxomately 2000 sq feet in size. We take many long, deep, expansive breaths. We begin to pay attention.We begin to honor this space that we built, and continue to build each day (and sometimes late into each night!). We make it very, very important. We narrow our focus and we often don't pay attention to what is happening anywhere else but inside the four walls of our own individual yoga studio and community. And guess what? We believe this will make a difference in our lives and in the world. And in my experience, after building three yoga studios in the past ten years, it does. Precisely because I have narrowed my focus.

Our entire yoga practice is built on the idea that primarily we focus inward. So why would we build a yoga studio and do anything else?

This is my opinion: Focusing on building our "individual yoga studio communities" is the best thing we can do for yoga students and for the greater good. It takes a lot of attention to build a space where students can feel and be appreciated, welcomed, comfortable and connected. -All things that support one feeling safe enough to open up and begin to break down the barriers that keep us from accessing the state of yoga.

And what about how we each believe in and prefer our approach over many others? Is anything wrong with that? I LOVE the classes and the philosophy of my studio. I choose to cultivate a studio that shares what has most inspired me and opened my heart. I also want to keep what we share narrow enough that students can focus and precisely because of their narrow focus... they can go deep. I think there is a high value for the student who picks one studio for their primary practice because their immersion into a supportive community offers them a safe place to open up and they can narrow their focus to a very useful degree. This does not mean that I don't respect the methods and practices of many other yogis, traditions, styles and studios.

I have the cel numbers for 8 Sacramento yoga studio owners in my phone. I have taken a class from nearly every one of them and vise versa. I truly wish them all great personal and business success and I believe that the feeling is mutual. I also think that we each understand the importance of building the community within our individual studios and I would guess that we all believe we are honoring the larger community of yogis through our efforts. So I invite anyone who worries that our focus on our individual communities is anything but yoga in action to reconsider. I thank each and every studio owner in Sacramento and accross the entire planet for the work that you do! I hope that you will continue to turn inward and focus on your individual communities and allow the effects of that to ripple out.

I will continue to do so as well!


With immense gratitude for yoga and the Asha Yoga community,
Cori