For info on PAYMENTS and PARKING. “Yin Yoga” is relaxed. “Yang Yoga” is active in both vitalizing and sensitizing ways. Further class descriptions below.
WYC Daily Yoga Class Schedule:
Sundays: 9:00-10:30am Led Sequenced Yang Yoga and Teacher Prep with Scott. 3:30-4:30pm Bold Over 55 Yang Yoga with Kate.
Mondays: 7:00-10:00am Sequenced Yang Yoga and Teacher Prep with Scott. 7:30-8:450pm Yin Yoga with Alicia.
Tuesdays: 6:30-7:30am Meditation with Scott and Laura.
7:30-9:00am Open Yoga (for regulars at WYC) 4:30-5:50pm Led Sequenced Yang Yoga with Scott. 6:00-7:15pm Yoga en Espanol con Evelyn y Yesenia.
Wednesdays: 7:00-10:00am Sequenced Yang Yoga and Teacher Prep with Scott. 4:00-4:50pm Meditation with Scott and Kristin.
5:00-6:10pm Beginner Yoga with Scott.
Thursday: 6:30-7:30am Meditation with Staff 7:30-9:00am Open Yoga (for regulars at WYC) 4:30-5:50pm Led WYC Led Sequenced Yang Yoga with Amanda.
6:00-7:00pm Mindfulness with Laura.
Friday: 7:00-10:00am Sequenced Yang Yoga and Teacher Prep with Scott. 5:00-6:15pm Yin Yoga with Alicia.
Saturday: 7:00-7:30am Intro to Meditation with Scott and Laura.
7:30-8:00am Meditation with Scott and Laura 8:00-8:30am Dharma Talk with Scott and Laura 8:30-10:00am Yin Yoga with Scott.
For more info: www.westernyogacollege.com, or 951-522-6266.
Class descriptions below…but…
First off, beginners are welcome at WYC. If you are new to yoga, the best thing is to come to Beginners Yoga Wednesday at 5pm with Scott. But there is a catch. WYC is a teaching school and especially when our renown Teacher Training Programs are happening, trainees will be attending that beginner class as part of the curriculum. WYC is a teaching school, not a studio, but the good news is we make the financial side of all this work if at all possible. Anyone coming to WYC thinking you might do teacher training can start off with free classes to check us out. Others can donate $10 per class if that works, and later, when you start coming regularly you can figure out what a reasonable monthly tuition would be for you. And if at some point you do decide to enroll in a WYC Teacher Training program you can just keep paying your monthly tuition, maybe add some on for the training (again what you can afford) and become a teacher.
Sequenced Yang Yoga uses a repeated set of poses that has helped create many of the best teachers in the world. Doing what’s morally right, we no longer call it Ashtanga, but it’s a perfect style of active yoga for people interested in becoming teachers because you can advance with it as far as yoga goes physically and the advancement can happen on all levels, including the use of Sanskrit pose names and esoteric energetic engagements like the bandhas and drishtis. These experiences are either mostly or completely neglected in all the other styles of hatha yoga. In our Led Sequenced Yang Yoga classes (Sun, Tues, and Thurs), students are guided through a set of poses at the same time. During the week, in the morning (Mon, Wed, Fri), students all go at their own pace, separately with individual guidance from the teacher. WYC’s Sequenced classes also function as preparation for, or as post graduate work for teaching training.
WYC also promotes Meditation and Yin Yoga practice. Both these underappreciated parts of classic yoga practice help us calm our minds, and, or prepare us for deeper emotional/spiritual engagements. On Saturday mornings, everything we do includes intro instructions, and on Thursdays at 6pm, Dr. Laura’s Mindfulness sessions can help anyone (even people who would struggle in a beginners yoga class) bring some ease and awareness into their lives.
The other classes at WYC are both yogically and socially inspired. To be frank, in the U.S., yoga has been taught mostly to young white people. We have active “Yang” classes like Yoga en Espanol and Bold Over 55 Yoga. Of course anyone can come to any of those classes, even beginners. We want to have classes that serve all adults who can do an active class. For now, we invite people who may have felt less than welcome at other studios to give those classes a chance. Bold Over 55 is meant to be comfortable for older students, Yoga en Espanol is meant to be comfortable for Spanish speaking students. Someday we’ll expand again and equip ourselves so we can be less “ableist” as well. First, we want more diversity in our yoga teacher programs. It’s our way of creating social justice. In connection with Community Yoga Initiative, many of our graduates are doing great work, teaching free yoga at centers where yoga has never been taught. They’re bringing yoga to everyone!