Downward dogs, tranquility are back at Center for Yoga
MANAGER Deb Anderson in the main studio opening day.
“It’s cathartic,” Center for Yoga manager Deb Anderson said of the studio’s re-opening Aug. 24 at 230 ½ N. Larchmont Blvd.
“It’s awesome to be able to re-envision the space and finish what I started … experimentation, new workshops and bringing more life and different styles of yoga.”
Anderson had to roll up her mat after only eight months on the job when the pandemic hit.
At the opening, the excitement was palatable among the crowd at the city’s longest continually running yoga studio. The center offers a wide variety of classes, ranging from beginning to advanced. Gentle yin, restorative and meditation are also on the menu.
Classes were free on opening day, which also featured a ribbon cutting with center principals — a group of locals who pooled their talents and resources to re-open the center.
“In this time of great suffering and grief, we are so grateful for the reemergence and resurrection of our Center for Yoga.
BOARD MEMBERS and others at the opening: Michael Barton, Randy Paskal, Lisa Bellamore, Greg Lindy, Jai Yoo, Diane Buckhantz, Lisa Walford, Sam Doniger and Katharine DeShaw.
May it be a place of refuge, a safe haven for our community,” said revered yoga teacher and board member Lisa Walford at the ribbon cutting.
Before the studio closed, some 1,500 students took weekly classes there, said board member and Windsor Square resident Michael Barton.
A modest menu of 60 classes per week to start is hoped to be increased to 120 weekly classes, offering an eclectic and inclusive approach with experienced teachers, for which the studio is known.
Storied history
Center for Yoga is housed in a three-story building with a storied past that dates to 1925, when it began as a Masonic Lodge. Later, the space served as a dance school before yoga pioneer Ganja White opened the studio in 1967.
In 2004, the Center for Yoga was purchased by Yoga Works, which operated the facility until the pandemic hit, when the national chain closed the studio.
That’s when locals Michael Barton, Diane Buckhantz, Sam Doniger, Randy Paskal, Jai Yoo and Katharine DeShaw, plus Walford, stepped up and incorporated the studio and set an ambitious goal: to re-establish CFY as the premier studio on the west coast.
Masks and vaccines are required, and leave your shoes and cares at the door.
Founding monthly membership starts at $145. More information about the Center for Yoga, including the class schedule, instructor information, and special membership packages, can be found at centerforyogala.com.
Category: People