Posts In: first yoga class

Do you remember your first yoga class ever? We’d love to hear about it!

“When I was sixteen, I went to a low-income high school. They offered a weekly Ashtanga yoga class for kids who wanted to stop smoking. The teacher who organized the class loved yoga and wanted everyone to have the chance to practice, whether or not they smoked. At her encouragement, I fibbed on the intake forms and joined the class.

I fell in love with Ashtanga. I learned how to breathe consciously. I felt like there was some power locked within my awkward teenage body that I never knew existed before. Students gathered in the classroom and sometimes spilled out into the hallway. Once the lights were dimmed and practice began, the room was transformed into another space altogether. I am so grateful to that class and my first teacher who made such a deep impact on me.”

– Yoga One Student, Allison Page

Do you remember your first yoga class ever? We’d love to hear about it!

“My first yoga class was in San Francisco, on the recommendation of an ex-boyfriend. In my mind, “yoga was for hippies” lol, but I went to a local YMCA and enrolled for a month. After my first class, I was in love.

“Before that, I had been working for my state’s Human Rights Commission. I was 21, fresh out of college, and I wasn’t ready to see the reality of my country, Mexico, first hand. I became extremely anxious, depressed and got into toxic behavior with myself. 

“But then a small miracle happened. As part of my job, I went to an orphanage where most of the kids had been taken away from their parents because of addiction or legal custody battles. I thought to myself, I can’t come in here looking like this. The kids need to see healthy people around them.

“I stopped drinking and smoking on the weekdays. It took me two or three months until I decided I needed to quit my job for the sake of my mental health. And I wanted to travel – which brought me to San Francisco. I went back to that YMCA for yoga every day for six months. Then everywhere I went, I enrolled in classes.

“I started to think seriously about taking a yoga teacher training. I realized I wasn’t interested anymore in trying to help the people around me with politics and social work. I wanted them to feel the way I did after every single class. So I looked for a good yoga teacher training in San Diego and the rest is history…

“It’s been almost seven years since I took my teacher training at Yoga One. Every day I go to work with so much happiness and fulfillment that I can’t put it into words. Thanks Yoga One!”

– Yoga One Teacher Training Graduate, Alejandra García Mac Naught

Do you remember your first yoga class ever? We’d love to hear about it!

“My first yoga class was in Fargo, North Dakota in 2000! I was a busy architecture student and encountered a special place, The Spirit Room in downtown. I was curious and attended my first class. The owner was a lovely woman in her 40’s who had completely white hair – she looked beautiful!

“I signed up for the monthly fee at The Spirit Room where I not only could attend unlimited yoga classes but also received a key to use the study room in the space anytime I wanted, 24/7. I remember going there at night to study and also had access to the small library in the studio. It was there that I started reading one of my first spiritual books, Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn.”

– Yoga One student, Miti Aiello