Yoga Styles

The following styles are offered through the Sacramento Yoga Center. To find out more about a particular style or class, please contact the instructor offering the course. Each instructor brings their own unique training and experience to the practice.

Ananda Yoga + Yoga Nidra • Embodied Yoga: Vinyasa Flow • Early Morning Energize • Gentle Vinyasa • Gentle Yoga • Gentle Morning Yoga • Gong Meditation & Kundalini Yoga • Hatha Flow & Flow • Healthy Aging Yoga • iRest Yoga Nidra • Kundalini • Kundalini En Español • Liberation Yoga • Meditation Practice Group • Monthly Meditation• Movement Exchange• Shadow Yoga• Soothing Yoga• Tai Chi for Arthritis & Falls Prevention • Vajrasana • Viniyoga •

Ananda Yoga + Yoga Nidra

This class series includes approximately 40-50 minutes of Ananda Yoga, followed by Yoga Nidra.

After releasing tension from the body and mind through gentle Ananda Yoga, you will lie down with any props desired to maximize your comfort. Then simply listen as the instructor guides you through the experience of yoga nidra.

Dress comfortably. Bring a yoga mat (loaners available); optional items: a favorite pillow and/or blanket or shawl for warmth, comfortable socks.

Deeply relaxing, yoga nidra offers many healing benefits to the body and mind. Although often referred to as "sleep' or "yogic sleep," the practitioner is in a relaxed state of awareness akin to the the 3-5 minutes typically experienced just before falling to sleep at night.

Yoga nidra offers many benefits, including:

• increasing dopamine release up to 65%
• reduces stress and anxiety
• slows down brainwaves, increasing the body's ability to rest, restore, and heal
• reducing symptoms of PTSD / trauma
• reduces chronic pain
• reduces PMS symptoms
• improves sleep and reduces insomnia and more!

  
  Taught by Sandra
  
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  Building Your Sadhana

  Not currently offered.
          This series is designed to support you in building a sustainable daily meditation practice (sadhana). You'll be introduced to foundational breathwork, as taught by Baba Hari Dass, and a variety of meditation techniques, guided by Tracy each step of the way. Together, we will foster a sense of community to encourage reflection, connection, and accountability. By the end of the series, you'll have the tools, confidence, and clarity to continue your meditation journey independently.

  Please bring a journal/notebook and pen. Props are provided (including chairs, bolsters, blankets, and blocks).

  Taught by Tracy
  
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  Embodied Yoga: Vinyasa Flow

  A flowing, breath-led practice to reconnect and reset.

  This class is all about coming back into your body. Through creative sequencing, breath awareness, and fluid transitions, you'll move in a way that feels both energizing and intuitive.

  Embodied Yoga encourages you to feel, not force. It blends traditional Vinyasa flow with a somatic approach inviting presence, sensation, and self-inquiry throughout the practice. Expect a balance of strength, softness, and soulful movement.

  All levels are welcome, but some yoga experience is helpful.
  
  Taught by Starr
  
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  Early Morning Energize

  Early Morning Energize will help you increase your energy levels, improve mental clarity, boost your mood, and overall set a positive tone for the rest of your day by waking up your body and mind.

  Taught by Bryant
  
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  Gentle Yoga

  Unwind with a peaceful transition into your evening - a chance to check in, ground down, and reconnect with body & breath. In this 60-minute practice, you'll experience accessible gentle movements, guided slow flows, and nourishing stretches to help you cultivate presence and nourish what you need in each moment.

  This class is for you if you are feeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed or simply need a loving reminder to slow down and be gentle with yourself.
  
  Come as you are - all are welcome!

  Taught by Ariane
  
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  Gentle Morning Yoga

  Begin your morning with a grounding yoga practice designed to gently ease you into the day.

  In this 60-minute class, you can expect:

  • guided breathing and meditation to awaken body and mind
  • supportive poses, slow flows, and mindful stretches that help improve mobility, circulation, and mind-body awareness
  • time on the mat (seated, lying down, or kneeling) as well as gentle standing poses, with an unhurried pace and regular pauses to notice breath and sensation

  Inclusive & Accessible Approach: This class is designed to be inclusive, with an emphasis on moving in ways that feel supportive for you and your body. You are always welcome to modify, rest, or observe at any point. Bolsters, blocks, straps, mats, blankets, and knee pads are available for your use at no additional cost.
  
  Come as you are -- all are welcome. Hope to see you there!

  Taught by Ariane
  
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  Gentle Vinyasa

  Vinyasa gentle style yoga practice incorporates yogic philosophy & teachings with the physical practices of asanas and pranayama. Classes are structured to appeal to those who have never done yoga before as well as for the experienced practitioner desiring a gentle, revitalizing class. The class focuses on the mind, body, spirit connection.

  Taught by Bob.
  
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  Gong Meditation & Kundalini Yoga

  The gong is a natural extension of the transformative vibrational quality of mantra, fundamental to Kundalini Yoga. Creating non-ordinary and transcendent states of consciousness by suspending the thought-producing activity of the mind, true healing on all levels is possible.

  The unpredictable, non-linear, complex vibration of the gong allows deep-seated physical tension in the muscles to relax, the nervous system to be repaired, and the glandular system to become balanced. The mind relaxes and clears, relieved temporarily of the constant pressure of the mind's content. Subconscious habit patterns (including addictive behaviors) can be broken up, the chakras become open, balanced, and awakened. A link to the transcendent self can be realized.

  After some lighter Kundalini Yoga and a chanting meditation, surrender to the sound of the gong, which varies anywhere between soft, pulsating tones and "build and release" cycles, in which the sound volume builds to a high level and releases with one or more "thunderbolt strikes". Be prepared for a truly wonderful and transporting experience!

  Taught by Manvir.
  
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  Hatha Flow & Flow

  In her alignment-punctuated Hatha Flow and Flow classes, Carrie weaves together classical postures with creative variations aiming to bridge sound physical mechanics to subtle awareness. Through clear and nuanced cueing, she aims to provide a physically and somatically rich practice that builds from a meditative warm up and is tailored to each participant's comfort and desire for more or less challenge. The level of challenge can readily be adjusted up or down with the multiple modifications and variations Carrie suggests throughout class.

  While both hatha flow and flow classes include sequences with breathing transitions from one posture to the next, her Saturday flow class will typically offer the opportunity for more vinyasas and progressions or add-ons that participants are free to incorporate to whatever degree they choose or, instead, go into meditative pause and stillness.

  Carrie teaches with reverence for that which Yoga may awaken while cultivating an atmosphere that supports each practitioner in making their own discoveries.

  Taught by Carrie Meyer.
  
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  Healthy Aging Yoga

  A gentle mat class for seniors utilizing props such as chair, strap, foam blocks, blankets, and bolsters to make poses more accessible. Class emphasizes awareness of body, mind and breath. Start where you are. No prior yoga experience necessary.

  Taught by Linda Roye.
  
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  iRest Yoga Nidra

  An end of the week meditative practice for deep relaxation and healing. Experience the unchanging ever-present sense of yourself that is always whole, healthy, and peaceful.

  Class will begin with a sequence of accessible yoga poses to open the body and prepare it for meditation.

  This light asana practice will be followed by a 35-minute Yoga Nidra guiding you through a series of inquiries to welcome sensations, breath, emotions, beliefs, images, and memories that arise within your awareness. During Yoga Nidra you are invited to rest in any comfortable reclined or seated posture.

  Based on the ancient teachings of meditation, iRest is an evidence based transformative practice that leads to psychological, physical and spiritual healing and well-being. It heals the various unresolved issues and traumas that are present in your body and mind, and enables you to recognize your innate peace of mind that is always present amidst the changing circumstances of life. iRest provides you with tools to help you relax deeply, release stress, increase resiliency, and provide you with greater mastery and control in your life. iRest nourishes noble qualities such as joy, peacefulness, empathy, forgiveness, patience and lovingkindness toward yourself and others.

  To receive payment information and other details, please contact Ed at edyoganidra@gmail.com. For in-person attendance, pre-registration via email is required at least two hours before the class starts.

  Taught by Ed Davidson.
  
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  Kundalini Yoga

  This ancient form of yoga combines active movement and stretching with many specific breathing techniques (pranayama). Facilitating circulation throughout the spinal column, exercise sets (kriyas) are combined with sound vibration (mantras), hand positions (mudras), and body locks (bhundas), in order to enhance their effectiveness. In so doing, they serve to dissolve energy blockages within the energy matrix of the body, creating a natural, meditative, blissful state of mind and openness to change.

  One not need be particularly flexible or athletic to enjoy the profound benefits of Kundalini yoga; all that is required is the sincere willingness to try one's best while respecting your comfort levels and physical limitations.

  Kundalini Yoga is the science and technology to unite one's finite nature with Infinity and to experience Infinity in the finite.

  Taught by Manvir.
  
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  Kundalini Yoga En Español

  Estas clases son una combinación de ejercicios (kriyas y asanas), técnicas de respiración (pranayamas), concentración mental, meditación, relajación, mudras y mantras para una integración armonia de cuerpo, mente y espiritu. Son clases sanadoras, generan alegria y activan en profundos niveles de conciencia, despertando el enorme potenciál aun dormido en muchos seres humanos.

  These classes are a combination of exercises (kriyas and asanas), breathing techniques (pranayamas), mental concentration, meditation, relaxation, mudras, and mantras for the harmonious integration of body, mind, and spirit. These are healing classes, as they generate well-being and activiate the highest self on profound levels, awakening the enormous potential which is still dormant in most human beings.

  Taught by Har Anand Kaur.
  
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  Liberation Yoga

  This 60 minute all-levels vinyasa class is designed to promote personal and collective empowerment through intention, breathwork, and movement. Each class will consist of breathwork, movement with breath, and restorative practices.

  Yoga is a practice for every body, so all are welcome and celebrated here, including all physical abilities, races, genders, and sexual orientations. A variety of options are included throughout the practice to enhance inclusivity and personal autonomy.

  Taught by Rebecca.
  
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  Meditation Practice Group

  This meditation practice group supports those who want to live with more awareness and compassion. It includes breathwork to regulate the nervous system, guided meditation and silent sitting to settle and focus the mind, and meditative movement to balance energy.

  This group helps the brand new meditator develop good habits, helps the lapsed meditator get back into daily practice and offers ongoing support and inspiration for the experienced meditator. Everyone is welcome here.
  
  Taught by Beth
  
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  Monthly Meditation

  All levels of experience are welcome! Each class begins with an exploration of the 8 Kriyas (Svasa Yam), an introductory set of breathwork practices from the hatha yoga tradition. From there, we transition into a mindfulness-based meditation practice. The meditation techniques will vary class to class but are rooted in Buddhist and yogic traditions. Each session closes with an opportunity for optional journaling or quiet rest, allowing time to integrate and reflect.

  Please bring a journal/notebook and pen. Props are provided (including chairs, bolsters, blankets, and blocks).

  Taught by Tracy
  
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  Shadow Yoga

  Shadow Yoga is a school of Hatha Yoga developed by Sundernath and Emma Balnaves. Hatha Yoga itself was developed over centuries through the Nath Sampradaya, beginning with Adinath and then through the works of Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath. Sundernath, the founder of Shadow Yoga, is an initiate of the Nath Sampradaya and a life long student of its practices. This weekly drop-in class will work through basic karanas (stances), squatting, and seats to provide a complete practice. All bodies and abilities welcome!

  Taught by Andy.
  
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  Soothing Yoga

  Reenergize yourself & jump start your week though soothing stretches & moment, you will feel relaxed and restored. All levels welcomed

  Taught by Bryant.
  
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  Tai Chi for Arthritis & Falls Prevention

  Safe and effective for relieving pain, while improving health and balance. Developed by a team of medical and Tai Chi experts lead by Dr. Lam, the program is endorsed by the US Arthritis Foundation and the US Center for Disease Control. View sample classes here: taichiforhealthinstitute.org

  The class meets outdoors on the basketball court behind the Sierra 2 off 4th Ave.

  Taught by Mae.
  
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  Viniyoga

  Viniyoga is founded on the belief that the practice of yoga must be continuously adapted to meet the needs of the individual, including physical and mental capacities, priorities and goals, season of life and even time of day. Therefore, this style is not concerned with the external look of a pose. Instead, the focus is on how the poses can support functional movement in the body, facilitate neural repatterning, and lay the groundwork for integration of mind, body and soul. Viniyoga practice is easily accessible, and adaptable to all bodies and levels of ability.

  Taught by Madeleine.
  
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