Yoga in San Francisco

Inside a heated studio mere blocks from the beach, Pacifica Yoga welcomes guests of all backgrounds to brave the heat of its Bikram and hot yoga flow classes that meet seven days a week. Its certified teachers run through Bikram yoga's 26 postures and two breathing exercises during morning and evening sessions, which emphasize personal growth over fast-paced posing. The team cultivates a silent studio atmosphere to lend students the opportunity to reflect inwardly, as well as to reenact old Fritz Lang movies where workers take over yoga factories. 

In addition to espousing inner peace, the staffers at Pacifica Yoga also commit to sustaining the environment. They polish surfaces with Biokleen products and shine up mirrors and windows with an earth-friendly water-and-vinegar solution.

El Cerrito Yoga's sweat-eliciting studio beckons students with an intensive schedule of hot-yoga classes open to all ages and yogic skill levels. Inside the studio, heated well beyond room temperature by a giant hen that nests atop the roof, 90-minute sessions help students lengthen muscles and purge bodily toxins. The postures—starting on the mat and moving into standing asanas—target the entire body by isolating individual muscle groups, joints, and tailbones as it forges stronger limbs and cores devoid of lounging toxins. As instructors lead students through limb-strengthening poses, concentrated breathing exercises complement the physical movement to improve mental focus as students infuse lungs with the fresh, filtered air flowing from the HVAC systems.

With sessions convening as early as 6 a.m. and as late as 6:30 p.m. throughout the week, students have ample opportunities to schedule classes around nebulous stargazing plans. Mirrored walls ensure proper posture, and water is available to promote a well-hydrated, safe, and effective workout. Patrons can also take advantage of available showers and changing rooms, or seek out the nearest walk-through car wash afterward.

Flying Yoga owner Laura Camp draws on her experience with contemporary dance, circus aerials, and various yoga modalities to create her studio’s curriculum, incorporating elements from a number of strength disciplines to ease students into a new practice or push seasoned exercisers to the next level. Laura cultivates a noncompetitive, judgment-free atmosphere where guests can feel comfortable trying their hands, arms, and legs at Ashtanga- and Vinyasa-style yoga poses, engaging Zumba dance steps, and muscle-sculpting body-weight exercises while hanging safely from a TRX suspension system. Throughout each class, instructors encourage pupils to modify techniques or utilize the center's posture-aiding blocks and straps to accommodate physical limitations or injury. Instructors keep students engaged in workout sessions by playing music during class or ratcheting the temperature up to 90 degrees, which helps to purge bodies of toxin-laden perspiration and parasitic ice sculptures.

Like gym teachers and calculus professors, Funky Door Yoga Haight’s certified instructors like to make their students sweat. They guide yogis through Bikram yoga classes—made up of a series of poses and breathing exercises—in a 105-degree studio. The balmy air helps students sink deeper into stretches while ousting toxins via sweat. In each rigorous class, the instructors offer modifications to accommodate yogis of varying skill levels and help them power through strenuous poses with doses of upbeat humor.

Tony Carr was something of a renaissance man, simultaneously holding degrees from UCLA and UC Irvine, working on a vaccine for Alzheimer's, and preparing for a sailboat race to Hawaii. His regatta ambitions, however, were unjustly cut short by a debilitating lower-spine injury. Despite this twist of fate, Tony persisted, and took up Bikram yoga at the Bikram Yoga College of India as just the latest endeavor of a man with diverse ambitions. Within one month, his symptoms had been alleviated, and within four months they had almost vanished completely.

Tony had found his new passion, and he immersed himself in it with enough enthusiasm to lose 30 pounds—the average British child's entire net worth—and transform his body in the process. He traveled to India and studied personally with Bikram Choudhury, the father of Bikram yoga. Tony became certified to teach in 1998. Now he leads classes at Bikram Yoga College of India, where he guides students through the 26 postures in the hopes that they, too, can transform their lives.

AstaYoga's instructors have learned over the years that a purely physical approach to yoga can lead to disillusionment with the art. That's why their studio devotes itself to cultivating both the physical and spiritual well-being of its clientele. Each of the teachers studied under Larry Schultz, the creator of the Rocket Vinyasa System, which fuses detailed breathing exercises with meaningful poses. The yogis also practice pure Vinyasa yoga and lead Pilates classes, and all of their sessions are accessible for practitioners at any skill level to follow Larry's vision of dissolving the hierarchy between beginning, intermediate, and advanced students and teachers. The studio also manufactures new yogis and gurus with their teaching courses, some of which take up to 200 hours and all of which require the student to defeat their teacher in a yoga dance-off.

The serenity of AstaYoga's classes is heightened by AstaYoga's tranquil studio. The storefront space is expansive with a comfortable waiting room, hardwood floors, and a large workout space in the back. And to further the mental well-being of their clients, the staff cultivates a friendly, community vibe by encouraging clients to socialize before or after class in their lounge or bamboo garden.