Sometimes our dreams are within reach, but more often those dreams are on the highest of high shelves, beside the BB gun and the cupcakes "for tomorrow." Reach that shelf with today's Groupon: for $30, you get 10 yoga or Pilates mat classes at Yoga Shakti Studio in Huntington Beach and Irvine (a $125.10 value).
Yoga Shakti is a comprehensive wellness center dedicated to healthifying Orange County with many different styles of classes for both seasoned stretchers and unmalleable newbies. Flow through gentle yoga sessions that focus on breath work and meditative Shakti yoga, or get a spiritual sweat session with power Vinyasa yoga, which builds long, lean muscles and improves posture. Pilates mat classes focus on improving balance and strengthening core muscles for greater stability when tightrope walking from sea to shining sea. Mats are provided free of charge for every class.
All of Yoga Shakti's instructors are deep wells of experience, with years of practice molding even the Disneyest villains into healthier, calmer, and happier evildoers, and their studios present relaxing environments for undertaking what may become a lifelong lifestyle. With today's Groupon folded into a downward-facing paper dog, customers can also shop the boutique; first-time buyers will get 10% off yoga-related props and items, as well as other accessories ranging from candles and jewelry to books and audio recordings of the soothing natural sounds of a bear rummaging through a dumpster.
Yoga Shakti Wellness Center
Yoga Shakti Wellness Center's director, Diana Pipaloff, has unwavering confidence in her instructors' abilities. It's appropriate, because most of them learned their practice at the center. Their 500-hour training program, which includes post-graduate mentorships and internships, equips graduates with Yoga Alliance registration. Once trained, a select few of these yogis begin work at Yoga Shakti Wellness Center's locations in Irvine and Huntington Beach.
At each location, students stretch and breathe during more than 10 types of yoga classes. Shakti yoga, the center's flagship style, leads participants in combining sun salutations, poses, and energy work to move toward increasing their physical and spiritual strength. Other options from the more than 100 classes offered each week include prenatal yoga and gentle yoga, which elucidates yoga's foundational poses and philosophy.
However, the staff isn't super-glued to their yoga mats. They also teach ayurveda, a lifestyle that combines dietary changes with massage, meditation, and other purification therapies.