Get to know Bri who teaches a Vinyasa Flow, Level 2 class on Wednesdays at 5:30pm. Bri is a phenomenal teacher and an incredible human being we’re happy to have on our team! 

Visit www.yogaonesandiego.com to register for classes.

Q: How does yoga show up in your life right now?

Yoga shows up in my life right now particularly through the Niyamas (self-observances). If you’re into astrology, you might be familiar with the term ‘Saturn Return.’ I’m about 2/3 through my first one and let me tell you – a LOT of personal change is happening! Remembering the Niyamas keeps me grounded. I love this new sense of awareness, even if the path there is bumpy.

Q: Where are you experiencing growth in your life?

I am growing emotionally and spiritually right now. Over the course of the last year I committed a lot of time to practices (i.e. therapy, meditation) that support my healing. Although no one is ever fully healed, I am so grateful to have cultivated a deeper sense of self-love, admiration, and compassion. I think it also increases my capacity to give as a teacher.

Q: What’s your favorite burrito?

A veggie burrito! Extra beans, two types of salsa, sour cream, and guac please!

This interview originally published on Canvas Rebel

CR: Michael, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Michael: Amy and I had just returned to the United States after backpacking abroad for three and half years. She got a job working at a great family-run produce distribution company and I became the account manager for a boutique graphic design studio.

One of the first clients I worked with at the studio was Mitchell Repair Information Company. The company innovated “the automotive industry’s first collision estimating guides to include parts illustrations, prices and part numbers.”

During our staff brainstorming sessions, names were offered and debated. Thinking of premiere cars world-wide, Formula 1 racing seemed to me to be the pinnacle, and so I suggested the name, “Mitchell 1.” It stuck.

Not long after that, Amy was getting ready to open up our yoga studio. Since it worked well for a nationwide company like Mitchell, I suggested “Yoga One.”

Additionally, we had recently gotten married. Instead of wedding rings, we had the “eka” symbol tattooed on our ring fingers, symbolizing “we are one” (see the flower like image growing out of the “Y” in the Yoga One logo). Furthermore, yoga means “to yoke/join” or “union.” One divided by one is one and the practice of yoga helps individuals to become more “one” with themselves and the world.

Plus, we always strive to be the best studio in the world, numero uno, number 1! So the name is also aspirational.

In short, Yoga One came from an automotive manual writing company. (:

CR: Can take a moment to introduce Yoga One to our readers?

Michael: Since 2002, Yoga One has been helping people to live healthier and happier lives. We share the joys and benefits of yoga, but what we really provide is a forum to increase self-awareness, skills for individuals to be their best selves, and a positive, open, non-competitive, welcoming, and supportive community. We foster relationships – the individual with self, and with others. We offer a beautiful space for people to set aside their worries, responsibilities and stress so they can return to the world refreshed, stronger, more flexible and with increased mindfulness.

Yoga One is a woman and black owned family business. We treat our staff and students as family. We are fortunate to have been practicing yoga since 1997.

Our vibrant, airy studio with canyon views in Mission Hills is also a community space for workshops, classes, gatherings, events, exhibits, book clubs, acoustic concerts, learning, growing, sharing, laughing, loving and connecting. We look forward to seeing you there!

CR: How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Michael: It was March, 2019. For the previous 18 years we had shared the joys and benefits of yoga with thousands of San Diego residents and visitors via our award-winning Downtown studio on 7th Avenue. For several years, it had also been a dream of ours to open a studio in our neighborhood of Mission Hills. Our children attended the public schools in the area and we wanted to connect with and give back to our community.

With the help of our friends, Johnny and Renee of Wolf in the Woods wine bar, we found the perfect spot to open our second studio, on the beautiful Fort Stockton Drive. We were planning a grand opening celebration for April 1st, 2019. Then Covid-19 hit and San Diego, like so many places, went into lock down.

Our new studio was put on ice and our Downtown location locked up. Within two days of the stay at home mandate, and thanks largely to our amazing team – Missy and Laura, we brought our entire schedule online via zoom. We were able to quickly shift some of our corporate clients online as well. We will be forever grateful to our generous and wonderful students who maintained their memberships and stuck by us throughout such challenging times. In turn, we were able to keep our full staff and maintain their pre-Covid schedules.

Yoga teaches us to be strong, flexible and present. The circumstances surrounding Covid-19 certainly put our practice to the test. We feel so fortunate to have these tools to take care of ourselves mentally and physically. All of us at Yoga One look forward to continuing to offer and grow our services – enriching the well-being of as many people as possible! We now are offering classes in-studio, in Presidio Park, live online and on-demand, with some of our students and companies across the country.

Read the full article here!

from our Studio Manager, Missy DiDonato

I feel like I need to say this at the beginning: I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think about resolutions for the New Year, and I definitely don’t write them down. With that said, here’s my take on resolutions…

My life does not radically change on January 1st and I’m pretty sure that’s true for most of you. But I like the idea of taking a moment to assess the trajectory of my life and deciding if that direction is compatible with my vision of who I want to become.

So here are some of my on-going resolutions: thought processes I’m working to build, relationships I’m actively deepening, and physical practices that root me in the here and now. Hope these resonate with you!

1. Forgive Myself More. I want to give myself more grace when I make mistakes. I want to be free of my own demanding expectations for my work load and mental bandwidth. I want to let go of that feeling that I need to be everything to everyone.
2. Laugh More. Little moments often mean the most. Sometimes a smile from a friend can lift your whole day. I want to be present for more of those moments of joy and laughter.
3. Walk More. There’s nothing like being outside in nature and feeling the rhythm of walking to bring my mind and body into focus. Like yoga, walking can be its own form of moving meditation. I say yes to more opportunities to walk! Want to walk the neighborhood with me?
4. Keep Learning. I always love taking yoga classes from different teachers. The poses might be the same, but each person has their own unique perspective. I learn something new from every teacher. I want to keep stretching outside my comfort zone.
5. Make More Art. I love to create – drawing, cutting, gluing, anything artsy-craftsy. It’s magic to take ordinary materials and make something beautiful. It fills my soul when something I’ve made brings a smile to the face of someone I love.

So those are my thoughts as we approach 2022. I have faith the new year won’t be as crazy as the past two years, but I’ve been surprised before! Spending time with the people you love is what truly matters. Wishing us all more of those moments. <3

Flashbacks from Yoga One founders Amy and Michael Caldwell on how they nurtured a family-owned business and a thriving yoga community.

The vast warehouse was drafty and cold. Perfect for Amy. She was dressed in a black bodysuit with a hood and covered in electrodes. Over the next few hours, Amy generated plenty of heat as she demoed over 190 yoga poses. Total badass!

It was the spring of 2011 (I believe) and a couple of weeks prior, we had received a phone call from Niall Johnson at Scotland based 3D4Medical inquiring if we were interested in collaborating on a yoga app. Yes! Following a brief brainstorming session, production got underway. I was responsible for monitoring alignment and angles. 

Pendulum, the motion capture crew, was known for helping to render high quality video games. They demonstrated their skill creating a superhero type avatar for Amy that was projected onto a large screen as she did the poses. Ultimately, for the iYoga Premium app, Pendulum processed over 340,000 frames of motion capture, rendered over 50 million frames and delivered 8.7 hours for the final video to bring the virtual yoga teacher Amy to life!

“It was surreal to see my movements in real time displayed on a huge screen,” Amy said. “The whole process reinforced for me that yoga is as much a moving meditation as it is a physical activity. The stage was freezing and the motion capture suit was a little constricting. The conditions were challenging, but I quickly got into a rhythm and focused on my breath to stay centered.” Amy was exhausted but exuberant about the project’s future. 

Yet there was more work to be done. Amy recorded the voice over instruction for each and every pose and each and every sequence she put together. In the end, there are 16 different sequences students can follow, or you can create your own – all with Amy’s vocal guidance.

Finally, Amy and our friend, physical therapist, and fellow yogi Rachel Krentzman (author of Yoga for a Healthy Back and Scoliosis, Yoga Therapy and the Art of Letting Go) broke down the anatomy of each pose. They notated when muscles were contracting, stretching, or both – one by one, for nearly 200 poses! They included the English and Sanskrit pose names, contraindications, pose difficulty level and category, ie.  standing, seated, etc. Needless to say, it was an intense labor of love.

Upon release, iYoga Premium had over 15,000 downloads in the first month and topped Apple’s world-wide Health and Fitness paid app list. The app received positive press in Yoga Journal and Amy was interviewed and featured in Pacific Magazine, among others. In 2016, iYoga Premium won Health Line’s Best App award.

There were some technical limitations, for example, the avatar always needs to come back to Tadasana (mountain poses) during the sequencing.  

Some years later, we came full circle and held a class at the studio and projected the app onto the wall and let virtual Amy lead the class with actual Amy offering enhancements.

Brittany teaches a Level 2, Flow class on Thursdays at 5:30pm. Join us in person at our Mission Hills studio or online via Zoom. Visit www.yogaonesandiego.com to register or for more information.

1. How does yoga show up in your life right now?  

I find yoga showing up almost everywhere. I channel my yoga practice to keep me balanced in both life and work. Sometimes I’ll enjoy a strong tadasana (mountain pose), while standing in line at the grocery store or even try a fun balancing pose! 

While working through a challenge at work, the practice of intentional, deep breathing allows me to stay present. Yoga also shows up as yoga whenever I teach and/or take an online or in-person class with my favorite peeps at my all-time favorite studio, Yoga One 🙂 

2. Where are you experiencing growth as a yoga teacher and/or practitioner? 

Amy Caldwell once said: the quality of your foundation relies on presence. This really hit home for me. Although I am not focused on this as often as I would like, I find that when I am present, soaking in all that is around me (the good and bad), I can work through challenges with a little more ease or enjoy those heartburst moments with a little more gratitude.  

3. What’s your favorite kind of burrito and why? This is a tough one!  I cannot choose… so instead, here are my go-to’s in San Diego:

Best Cali Burrito and Pollo Asada Quesadilla: La Perla

Best Taquitos: Don Carlos

Best Carnitas Plate and Plain Quesadilla: Los Dos Pedros

And Why??? They all just taste so great, or bring some wonderful memories; which are usually connected to a good surf session and a tasty brew.

Part 5 of how Yoga One founders Amy & Michael Caldwell turned their love story into a thriving yoga community! Read Part 4 here.

After backpacking around the world for 3.5 years, Amy and I felt that returning to LA seemed too familiar and too intense. So we settled in San Diego. I became an account manager at a graphic design studio and Amy worked for a family business coordinating the distribution of vegetables.

A few times a week, Amy practiced yoga in the Redwood Circle area of Balboa Park. With increasing frequency, people would stop and ask her what kind of dance she was doing (it was 2001). When she told them it was yoga, many asked if they could join her. As her following grew and winter approached, Amy and company started looking for a space to practice inside.

We tried out residential community centers, dance studios, and friends’ living rooms. For a period of time, Amy even led classes in a Hillcrest night club undergoing renovation. To access the space, everyone literally climbed over a pile of rubble. 

Eventually the classes migrated to 1150 7th Avenue downtown, in the exercise room of what was then Bodyworks Gym. The owner, Rich, allowed Amy to lead classes rent-free as long as his members could attend complimentary. It was a great arrangement, except that there was no direct access to the space. Amy and students had to go up the steep gym stairs, down the back stairs, through the long, narrow hallway and then wait until the spin or aerobic class let out. It was worth it since the room had high ceilings, sky lights and a beautiful hardwood floor. (Sound familiar yet?) 

However, it also had some challenges – the massage therapist working for the gym could only access her treatment room by walking through the exercise room. Often she would walk through multiple times during class – going to meet her client, going to wash her hands, leading her client out, even during savasana! Amy became adept at deep conscious breathing (: 

Still, classes were going well – the people and space had good energy. Rich suggested Amy lease the space directly. After not too much thought, Amy gave up the distribution of lettuce to teach full time.

PS. We loved our time in Redwood Circle so much we got married there. <3

This article first published on NTCH magazine
Words by Victoria Derr / Photos by Vivian Morellon

Think back to your first yoga class. Was it a crisp studio space? A room with abstract murals on the wall? Was it a relaxing yin yoga class, or a high powered vinyasa class? A YouTube video? An Instagram clip? Or what about a friend encouraging you to do a few cat and cows? 

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• 

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For Yoga One studio owners, Amy and Michael Caldwell, their first yoga class was far from the norm.

It was on a searing hot blacktop, ambianced with Malaysian marching band music, taught by a dude doing headstands from New Zealand. They both laugh at the memory.

Rewind years earlier, before being studio owners and even before their first yoga class, Amy and Michael were both working in the music biz in LA; Amy, working for Budd Carr, seeking music to place in movie soundtracks and Michael, at Broadcast Music Inc., promoting songwriters and composers. They met at a record release party for Stanley Clark, and from there the yin-yang duo was born. Michael was promoting music to people like Amy, who placed music in movies and television. Already, their meeting seemed synchronistic – a balance of give and take.

Their dynamic duo energy only revealed itself more as the interview progressed. Much like the ebb and flow of an inhale and exhale, their journey with yoga had its moments of collaboration combined with solo self study: from discovering yoga in a book together, to living in separate cities as they deepened their practice.

Shortly after meeting, they wrapped up loose ends in LA and spent the next three years traveling. Between apple picking, bartending, and updating the Lonely Planet guides, the two lived a budget friendly, free-spirited life abroad. 

“I mean,” Amy shook her head as she spoke. “This was before the time of smartphones and instant communication, if we wanted to talk to people back home we had to find an internet cafe. Our parents must have thought we were crazy.” 

During the last year of their travels, they discovered yoga. For these two, their first encounter with yoga came from a few poses found in a book, Fit for Life. As they continued their travels, they met other individuals who were practicing yoga who would share different parts of yoga, the philosophies, the pranayama. 

NTCH sat down with the two yogis, who shared stories of going to JTMF with their kids, driving over tumbleweeds, Vipassana meditation, and balancing their everyday life through yoga.

NTCH: So how did you two come to yoga, or how did yoga come to you?

MICHAEL: It really was super organic. There’s the phenomenon that once you become aware of something, you see it everywhere. So as soon as we did the few poses we found in that book, Fit for Life, we were in Malaysia walking in the forest, and we look down into a valley and there was this guy who was doing something down there. We had never seen a video, or been to class, so we asked ourselves, “Is he doing yoga?” That night we saw him at the coffee shop, and went over to him, and he invited us to come join him the next day.

So my first yoga class ever…he takes us to the edge of a Malaysian high school, and we’re on the blacktop, in the summer, and it’s about eighty degrees, and we took off our t-shirts and put them onto the ground as mats. And we practiced on the blacktop. And in the distance, just across the way, was the Malaysian marching band [Michael imitates tuba sounds for emphasis] And that was my first yoga experience.

AMY: As we kept going, we would find books and other people who practiced. Two years later when we got to India, we were very much ready to immerse ourselves in that experience. We studied with a private instructor for six weeks that came to our house every morning for an hour. 

MICHAEL: We were on an exploration. I mean, we both went to college in LA, worked in the music business. How fun, it doesn’t get more fun than some of the experiences we had. But the fact that we were looking for more in terms of personal growth set us up to be open for something like that. Trying to engage with your body for its own purpose rather than as a vehicle to get something done. That was a revelation for us.

Read the full interview with NTCH here.

Yoga One’s month in review, in response to Covid-19.

by Laura McCorry

Just last month (although it feels like eons ago!) the Yoga One team was full-steam ahead getting ready to open our new Mission Hills location  We were busy teaching a full schedule of classes at our Downtown location, half way through our Winter/Spring, 8 weekend 200 Hour Teacher Training Course,and leading classes at multiple off-site corporate locations. 

Our teachers were sharing the joys and benefits of yoga with students who walked into our studio off the street, with students who had never practiced yoga before, with students who popped into an empty conference room for a lunch-time practice, with students who have been building their yoga practice for years – all of whom trust Yoga One to guide them with depth of knowledge, skill, heart, integrity, and compassion.

Enter Covid-19. California and many other states rushed to issue stay-at-home orders and the world as we knew it was turned upside down. So many more people were working from home. Schools were closed indefinitely. Businesses scrambled to put protective measures in place, some closed their doors, and still others decided to offer their services online.

Our Downtown studio, a place that since 2002 has been an oasis that admits the city, a h-OM-e way from home for so many, was (for the moment) no longer a place we could congregate. We have long believed that sharing the practice of yoga was not just good for the individual, but good for the community.

How could we continue to offer yoga to help people live healthy and happy lives and to foster connection between individuals, building community, right now when people need it the most?

In just two days, we pulled together with staff and students to transition all of our classes online. Questions regarding Zoom ID#s were now as common as namaste. Because our online classes are live and interactive, they have the same feel as practicing in the studio. Teachers and students greet each other in real time. Teachers can watch their students’ alignment and provide feedback and encouragement. Soon we had our groove on and it was inspiring to see everyone really utilizing their yoga practice, way beyond the physical asana –

Holly Wright and David Lloyd got their cat Zimbo to attend classes online!

Allison Page roped her sister Caroline into rolling out her mat regularly next to her.

And the graduates of the Yoga One Teacher Training Winter/Spring 200 Hour course stayed after class for a Catch-Up Party.

It’s been amazing to see the outpouring of love and support from within our community during these challenging times. Small businesses everywhere are hurting right now. When you shop or support a small business like Yoga One, you’re taking one step forward towards the kind of world we all hope to emerge from isolation to find. (Tweet that)

In recent days, we’ve been reviewing our class recordings, trying to determine how and when we might be able to offer them for a streaming service – so students could access quality yoga instruction whenever is most convenient for them. 

What we’ve found is not just hour-long yoga classes: We’ve seen our whole community encouraging each other, sharing updates about their families, offering each other blessings and messages of hope, checking in on teachers and students and neighbors alike. Despite the upset of Covid-19, we have found each other and forged a real, human connection through the portal of the internet.

Our community has adapted and our connection is intact and strong. Yoga means union, or to yoke together. Thank you (yes, you!) for showing us through your presence and your support that we really are all in this together.

Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer

Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.

Contact: laura(AT)yogaonesandiego(DOT)com

We asked you, our students, to describe Yoga One using just 3 words and your lists blew us away! We are so proud and humbled, encouraged and challenged, and overall feeling the LOVE!

Thank YOU for making Yoga One a welcoming space for all to enjoy the benefits of yoga and community. Namaste!

Julie Moore is one of five sisters, but she’s #1 in our book because she happens to be Yoga One’s very first student! We are so grateful for her friendship over the years and we couldn’t imagine the Yoga One Family without her.

Reflection by Julie Moore

I first met Amy Caldwell at the Center for Moving Arts. It was the year 2000, or perhaps 2001, and my very first yoga class. I was drawn to Amy’s down-to-earth style of teaching and found her voice very relaxing. Ever since that class, I’ve followed Amy wherever she taught including condominium recreational rooms, nightclubs under construction, dance studios, and outdoors in Balboa Park.

When I first started yoga, I couldn’t even touch my toes. During a class at the torn-apart nightclub, I remember enthusiastically showing Michael that I could clasp my hands behind my back in cow face pose – a major accomplishment!

Amy and Michael opened Yoga One in 2002, initially sub-letting the back room of a gym on seventh avenue in downtown San Diego. Over the years, I’ve happily participated in many of their events such as couples yoga, drum circles, 108 Sun Salutations, chocolate & yoga, wine & yoga, and anniversary celebrations. One of my favorite yoga classes was prenatal yoga led by Arati Lane, which started the year I was pregnant with my first child.

Over the past 17 years, I’ve practiced yoga at different studios with many different instructors, but I always find the most comfort back at Yoga One and with Amy Caldwell, the teacher with whom my yoga journey began.

Michael asked me once what I liked best about Yoga One. For me, one of the studio’s greatest strengths is how the teachers provide an open, secure, safe, comfortable yoga space. Even though I’m very inflexible and can still barely touch my toes, because of Amy I have stuck with yoga all these years and will continue to practice the rest of my life. I thank Amy, Michael, and the other Yoga One yogis for that!

A brief history of the award-winning studio Yoga One in downtown San Diego (with a mission to help as many people as possible live healthier and happier lives and a strong focus on community-building) as told through the eyes of its loving parents and Founders, Amy and Michael Caldwell.

An interview between Michael Caldwell, Co-Owner, and Laura McCorry, Yoga One Blog Master.

Laura McCorry: Many of us have heard the story about you and Amy falling in love, wanting to travel the world, selling all your possessions, picking a country that started with “A” and apple picking in Australia which set you both on the path to yoga. When did you decide to become yoga teachers? 

Michael Caldwell: By the time we were in Nepal we were pretty serious about our yoga practice, meaning we did it whenever we could. Finding time was a challenge because we were trekking to Mt. Everest base camp. That generally meant walking all day until we found some nice family to take us in. Dahl batt and rice was the standard for dinner. With a full belly we almost always immediately crashed, exhausted and satisfied on the first available horizontal surface.

It was in one of these welcoming accommodations with a handful of other travels, including James, Teddy “McChocolate”, and Richard, that we found ourselves with a little extra time and energy. Somehow it came up that we’d been practicing yoga. And since Amy has always been more advanced than Michael, she was coaxed into leading the group. That, as we can recall, was the first class she ever taught.

LM: When did Michael start teaching?

MC: Right. Michael didn’t start teaching until a couple of years after Amy. Yoga One was up and running and we had picked up some corporate classes. We didn’t have enough teachers to cover one of our classes at Cox Communications, so Michael had to do it. And he’s been teaching with decreasing reluctance ever since.

LM: Why not just teach yoga at the park or at other studios? When did you know you wanted to start a small business and open a yoga studio together? That must have taken a huge leap of faith. 

MC: Amy was teaching in the park and at dance studios, etc. The Yoga One studio was originally party of the adjacent gym, at that time called Body Works. When it got cold outside, Amy moved her growing park yoga class around town trying to find a reliable space. Over time, the classes were doing so well that Rich Roe, the gym’s owner, suggested we sublease it from him and start our own studio. So that’s what we did. It was very organic so it didn’t really require much of a leap of faith, just a lot of hard work and love.

LM: You both teach yoga and you both make business decisions, would you describe your roles in similar or different terms? 

MC: Amy was the big boss until we had our first child. Then Michael took over most of the day to day business operations with Amy looking over his shoulder to make sure he was doing it right. Amy still keeps her eyes on things but increasingly she is focused on preparing and leading the Yoga One Teacher Training courses, which now happen up to three to four times a year (including the courses at SDSU / ARC).

LM: Work-life balance is a huge concern for so many right now, especially among millennials. How have you worked to preserve a healthy work-life balance over the years? 

MC: Lots of deep breaths! Like our yoga practice, finding that balance requires constant attention. When we realize we are overdoing the work aspect, as quickly as possible we attempt to swing back to the life side. In order to be as available as possible for our children, we mostly work from home. And we’ve argued about establishing work spaces and times in which it was ok and not ok to talk about “business.”

When you operate a small business the work is never done and when your work partner is also your spouse there is never any out of the office time… when you combine those elements and also work from home, finding balance is a tight wire act. So now we try not to talk about work in bed!

Yoga One is our first baby and initially required all of our attention at all hours. Now 15 years later, the studio is a little more self sufficient but still acts up from time to time like any teenager. When it needs us, we want to be there for it. The fact that we love what we do and the people we do it with helps tremendously.

We always want to be learning and growing. We feel we do a good job with offsite, specialty and corporate yoga classes so we are looking to expand in that direction. Our Yoga One Teacher Training program is truly a life enhancing experience. We’ve had over 250 people attend our course. Many of them want to continue to deepen their practice and expand their skills, so we are working on putting together a 300 hour Yoga One Teacher Training which then will provide graduates with a 500 hour designation. We will be doing more festivals and retreats. There is so much we want to do. (:

LM: Throw it back to the very first class taught at the studio, under the familiar skylights, what was that like? 

MC: Super exciting! Amy was leading class with the students who had followed her from the park and the various around town spots and the gym’s students were there as well. (That was the deal we made for using the space). We had to walk up the stairs through what is the current gym’s entrance, down the back stairs and along the back hallway to what used to be the entrance to the studio and is now walled over. We’d wait in the back hallway while the spin class or something was finishing and talk in the hallway with the students. It was a great time… so new and fun.

LM: You and Amy have always (since I’ve known you) been consistent about calling the teachers and students at Yoga One family, and I know this is intentional and heartfelt. How long did it take you before you realized you were building more than just a business? 

MC: Immediately. We were building a family from the get-go. Remember we had recently returned from backpacking around the world for 3 and a half years so we were wide open and receptive. We were (and still are) about fostering friendships and building community.

People used to come up to us in the park and ask what kind of dance we were doing and could they join us. Classes grew and grew and, as said before, when it got cold we moved around town from space to space, through a lot of trial and error. We used a night club in Hillcrest for a while that was under construction and the entire class literally had to climb over a pile of rubble to get to the practice space. That’s not a business, that’s a family forming.

We’re still working on making Yoga One a fantastic business, but we’ve already (in our opinion) cultivated a wonderful family. And thanks to all of the people who opened their space to us all those years ago. We couldn’t have done it without you.

LM: We all know the different milestones we celebrate for our children. What are some of the milestones you’ve seen and celebrated with Yoga One?

MC: There are so many that have touched us deeply and which we treasure! Those first few classes in the space and Rich, an established small business owner, recognizing we were on to something special and telling us we should sub lease the space. Amy teaching most of the initial classes and riding her bike around Downtown putting up flyers and spreading the word. Building out the back hallway so we had access to a bathroom! Getting voted “Best Yoga Studio” in San Diego City Beat and going to the awards party for the first time (and the other 8 times).

Amy appearing on the cover of Yoga Journal (twice). Creating the iYoga Premium app with 3D4 Medical. Leading a yoga retreat in Santa Barbara. Leading the first-ever yoga class aboard the USS Midway to 400 plus people. Releasing the Yoga One CD via Quango music group (remember cds?). Creating the office nook out of a dumb waiter shaft and closet (thanks Josh aka J-Money! Redoing the front hallway, that previous ceiling was painful to behold.

The 10 year anniversary party at the Porto Vista hotel and the 15th anniversary at the Hotel Solamar. The blog anniversary party and photo shoots. Having 120 people in the space for Y1 Studios Intimate Musical Evenings featuring Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket and Sean Hayes among others. Workshops with fun visiting teachers like Kathryn Budig, Tiffany Cruickshank, Rachel Brathen, David Romanelli, Jill Miller, Diana Beardsley and others. Being on the news and in various publications is always fun.

Offering complimentary community classes and gift certificates so anyone and everyone can enjoy the joys and benefits of yoga. Seeing new students.  Seeing regular students. Seeing long-lost but returning students. Hearing that yoga has helped enhanced someone’s life.

LM: Thank you so much for all the effort, continuing education, investment, time, and love you both pour into Yoga One: a yoga studio, a community, a family.

MC: Thank you, Laura, for birthing and raising the Yoga One blog and thanks to the fantastic Yoga One Teachers, Staff and students!

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It’s the start of the new year and the time when many people make life goals or resolutions for the year ahead. If your goal is to eat healthier and exercise more – you are far from alone! The top New Year’s resolutions each year focus on health.

If your goal is to practice more yoga – welcome to the club! Yoga provides a uniquely holistic approach to health, strengthening body, mind and spirit.

Our mission at Yoga One has always been to help as many people as possible enjoy healthier and happier lives. Our instructors meet you where you are in your practice and we offer several classes suitable for absolute beginners. (See our full schedule here.)

When it comes to health and wellness, we believe that there is no single prescription for every body. Therefore we also offer excellent private yoga instruction. For some people this is their primary practice and for others, they use private sessions to get more out of their group class experiences. Whatever your motivation, we would love to connect with you! Call 619-544-0587.

Whether you are an experienced practitioner or an absolute beginner, the only thing you may ultimately really want is that special one. Here is a carefully curated comparison of many of the top yoga mats. We hope it helps you to pick the perfect mat* to support your practice.

*There is a “winner” listed, but each mat has a description of its best qualities and reviews based on how it performs in the studio.

We hope you find “the one” yoga mat for you – but even more, we hope to see you soon and often at Yoga One!

by Hannah Faulkner

This article was originally published on Half Moon Yoga and Art Blog.

As I was walking out of Yoga One studio on a lovely July day in San Diego, a posted flyer caught my eye. “Summer Challenge- Complete 20 classes in 30 days- Ends August 30th.”

The following are the lessons that I learned in August from Yoga One’s amazing instructors:

Never Stop Learning
-Amy Caldwell

Amy Caldwell, co-owner of Yoga One and twice featured on the cover of Yoga Journal, is a beacon of light.  She emanates joy from every angle as she is never seen without a smile.  After over 20 years of yoga practice, she is able to bend her body in ways that I didn’t know was possible.  As a teacher, she emphasizes “playing” around with difficult poses.  She offers options with blocks and straps to begin to open up each body to the possibility of getting the pose someday, but mostly it’s all about the journey.

“They might not be your favorite poses, but they are good for you!” – Michael Caldwell

Husband to Amy and also the co-owner of Yoga One, Michael offers an everyday approach to yoga.  Through jokes and references to popular culture, he leads the class through alignment-based intense stretches that he likes to call “Brussel Sprouts.”  These essential postures might not always “taste” the best while we are doing them, but they offer the ease that we need in our everyday life and more challenging yoga poses.  Through deep breathing, we stretch our wrists, feet arches, and shoulders as well as building core and arm strength. My favorite postures in his class were the subtle airport stretches for our shoulders, using the wall, as he imitated waiting around in an airport and joked about the individuals who make a scene doing Downward Facing Dog in the center of the waiting area.  I laughed because I love doing subtle yoga in the airport.

Amy Freeman has been teaching yoga for almost 15 years. Amy’s goal is to help her students find and maintain a peaceful mind and body through effort and ease and she leads as a beautiful example. She starts each class with a slow meditation and develops in to a powerful alignment flow. One of the most unique prompts that Amy gives during Savasana (final resting pose), is reminding us to relax each part of our body individually. “Feet, knees, legs…relax. Hips, back, shoulders…relax. Ears, nose, tongue…relax. Eyelids, eyebrows, space between your eyebrows…relax. Forehead, scalp, chin…relax. Everything relax.”

I’ve been going to Sarah’s class for years. There’s a familiarity and sense of home in the setting that she offers. Her playlist is always the same, but sets just the right mood for connecting your mind and body through sounds. Every week she sets a different inner focus on non-reaction, compassion, or contentment. She has guided me through detailed alignment adjustments as well as encouraging me to pause at the end of every exhale, or squeeze my glutes. During every class at some point she will remind us to soften our tongue and not hold tension in our face, but instead to breathe deeply through any slight discomfort.

Kairou is an enthusiastic and energetic instructor.  I attended her class after hearing students say that they got their butt kicked in her class.  They were not kidding.  Her classes are filled with intense arm strengthening repetitions and core poses.  She creates an interesting flow with side plank and tiger variations that will build your sweat quickly.  One day she started class with explaining how sometimes we struggle through a yoga class because we forget to eat or drink enough water.  She said that she came to this realization this morning when she was light-headed after practicing this sequence.  Then, about halfway through teaching the class she corrected herself and admitted, “or maybe this sequence is just really that hard!” However, because of these intense sequences, I have been able to use my new core strength lift into tripod from the center of a room.  Also, as a Licensed Massage Therapist, she surprised me with a totally relaxing Savasana massage!

Dina has a strong voice of a leader that reminds you to breathe. In her class, I feel that we hold poses a bit longer than in some of the other classes that I attend. However, she challenges me to find the ease in this stillness, after I’ve found my expression of the pose with some tension. This inner concentration is the key part of yoga called Dharana that leads to peace and oneness.

Inspired by an extensive background in the movement arts (Acro-Yoga, Tai Chi, Contact Improv Dance, African Dance, and Rhythmic Gymnastics), Mara creates new poses as we constantly flow with our breath. I feel like a dancer in her class as she radiates the beauty of being one with your body. In Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose with the variation in wide leg stretch, she instructed us to reach up and feel that our knees are facing the same direction and protruding for the same amount. Mara highlights the importance of being balanced and equally stretched on both sides.

I admire Zaquia for her intricate choice of words throughout her class. She has a detailed understanding of human anatomy and she strongly underlines the concept of the greater your effort, the greater your reward. She teaches a power flow, connecting breath with movement, in the early morning that quickly awakens my heart and concentration. From her I’ve learned Fallen Tree and seen that it is possible to rise from Low Squat, Malasana, to Bird of Paradise, Svarga Dvijasana, using a strong balanced core. She has inspired me to take the extra chaturanga.

I only went to one of Terri’s classes during this month, but I enjoyed her emphasis on stretching with the blocks and straps. Instead of giving us the option to use block or not, she gave solid instructions to use the block even if you think you don’t need it. The flow was slow and she accentuated the importance of closing your eyes and focusing on your steady breath in each pose. She used a variety of interesting transitions to slide from one pose to another. I ended up feeling lengthened and spacious throughout my day.

Scheduling the right substitute is more than just finding an available teacher to step in and lead class. It’s determining if the substitute is a good fit for that particular class and for the studio as a whole. We at Yoga One take our students’ trust very seriously and so we have developed a system to optimize our class schedule, and keep things flowing (as smoothly as possible) even in the absence of a beloved teacher.

Here is an excerpt from Mindful Studio Magazine’s interview with Yoga One co-founder Michael Caldwell entitled Tips for Managing Subs. You can read the whole interview here.

MSM: How do you manage your teaching subbing schedule? 

MC: Subs come to us via word of mouth, referrals from other teachers, students and the internet — often new teachers to the area. We also get a lot of teachers from our own Yoga One Teacher Training course. In all cases, we like to see potential teachers first as students. Therefore, we ask them to attend a class with Yoga One’s head teacher, Amy Caldwell. If after class both teachers feel that Yoga One is a good fit, we invite the prospective teacher to attend a teachers’ round-robin class. In the round-robin, we create a circle with everyone (so there are no hierarchies, edges or outsiders and we can all see one another). Then each teacher has about 15 minutes to lead the other prospective teachers in a sample “mini-class.”

In this way, we get to see the teacher’s individual styles, the juxtapositions of personalities, philosophies, energies and sequences, plus a teacher’s ability to adapt to what came before and the overall environment. Again, if both parties feel that Yoga One is still a good fit, we provide each other with feedback and then determine which classes would be right for the teacher to sub. Of course, for example, we don’t want an individual only interested in teaching power yoga to sub a restorative class. So we have created a chart listing the classes we offer and those teachers who are suited to particular classes get added as appropriate. When looking for a sub we can look at the chart.

MSM: What qualities do you look for in a sub?

MC: To us a great personality, energy and eagerness to share the joys and benefits of yoga with others are the most important qualities. Next we look for teachers who are knowledgeable, experienced and able to modify their teaching to the students who show up for class. That means a good grasp of optimal alignment principles and a confidence and level of ability and mental flexibility to mix up their sequence on a moment’s notice. And it should go without saying that a sub needs to be reliable, professional and on time. Please teach the class based on the class description, and to those who are in class.

MSM: What tips can you provide for managing subs?

MC: Fortunately, and unfortunately, first impressions are often correct. If someone shows up late to class or to the round-robin, they are likely to show up late when subbing. If they are slow in responding to correspondence and communication during the “interview” process, they are not likely to be any faster or more professional once hired to sub.

Getting the right sub for the right class is a little bit of an art form. It’s good to know both the teacher and the students whom she or he will be leading. It’s a great idea to get feedback from the students and the teacher after class — and not just the first class. It’s helpful to be as clear with exceptions and responsibilities up front. How can you hold people accountable if they don’t know what they are supposed to do? Hire good people and you’ll likely get good results.

 

by Laura McCorry

Comparison is the Thief of Joy 

I recently moved across the country from San Diego, California to a not-so-big town in Virginia. Whenever I think about my old life (as I’m starting to call it) I’m sad that I can’t take yoga classes at Yoga One and see all my old friends or go out to eat at my favorite restaurants.

The problem with moving is that you don’t have a network or favorite places right away, that takes time. And it would be unrealistic to expect one city to provide the same opportunities and experiences as the other. They are totally different beasts and the better I get at not comparing them, the happier I am.

Yoga teaches us to be present with what is. Who you were yesterday and who you want to be tomorrow don’t matter as much as the present moment and who you are today.

If You Want Something, Ask.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat at home feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have plans to meet friends. Or how I’ve looked at my phone wanting to talk to someone but not wanting to bother them when they might be busy. These feelings come from a place of fear and breed inaction. It’s good to remember there are no prizes for toughing it out alone. When the going gets tough, ask for help and support from your friends and family.

Being present in yoga means examining your physical and mental alignment, making small adjustments as you encounter anything out of place. That ability to take stock and respond is key to emotional health off the mat. When you put fear aside and take responsibility for your own happiness and well-being, you become empowered to recognize and ask for what you need.

Look Up and Out 

When I’m struggling with something, really struggling, it’s easy to self-implode and only see the world from my own perspective. I always know this is happening when every time I talk to a friend, I launch into a Litany of Woes, a.k.a. everything that’s going wrong in my life.

You can break the cycle by seeking connection and community. Expand your awareness to the person in front of you (or on the phone, or at the other end of an email, etc.) Talk about your joys. Take a yoga class. Call your mom. Ask a stranger how they’re doing and wait for a response.

The reason more people don’t practice yoga in their living rooms is because we often crave community more than we crave the mental and physical benefits of yoga. Taking a yoga class unites our breath with the group and tells us that we are not alone. Finding a studio where they know your name and welcome you with a smile or a hug is priceless.

What life lessons have you learned from your yoga practice? Share with us in the comments!

Laura McCorry
Contributing Writer

Yoga and Laura had an on-again-off-again relationship from 2004 until 2009 when they decided to move in together and there’s been no looking back since. Passionate about both yoga and writing, Laura loves to introduce others to the joys and benefits of yoga and healthy living.

Contact: laura@yogaonesandiego.com

Surfing, laser tag, rock climbing, soccer games . . . CISL students are very active when they are not in the classroom studying English! Students now have another opportunity to get fit while studying abroad: CISL is pleased to have partnered with Yoga One, a studio located just down the street from our school on Broadway, to offer discounted yoga classes for students.

Yoga One offers classes for students at many levels and with the CISL student ID card, each class is only $10. Recently, CISL students Rie Eyama and Cindy Baumberg took a trip to the studio for a beginner class. They were happy to report back that they had a great time!

“We never have done yoga before, so it was a new experience for us. Our teacher was so nice and friendly. The yoga studio (Yoga One) was welcoming and clean. It has a changing room for women. We liked the yoga class because it was good for beginners and we could relax. The stretching was sometimes a little bit hard, but after that, we felt much better. We want to do it again!”

To keep reading, check out their blog here! Thanks CISL!