About
Sacramento’s first and only nonprofit yoga studio!
We’ve created this space because we’ve seen the great benefit that yoga can bring to a person’s life, whether that is stress reduction, healing, greater capacities for compassion and awareness, or physical benefits like flexibility, strength, pain reduction, or simply a greater ease and comfort in one’s embodiment. Yoga makes us happy, and we want to share it! Unfortunately, we know that for many populations, yoga is simply not financially accessible to them. We are working to change all that.
History
They Yoga Seed Collective started, as most dreams do, with just a few dollars. The founders shared their mission and found many community members willing to support them. After teaching on and off around Sacramento, a few garage sales were held to raise money for the first month’s rent at our studio space at 14th and E Street. We collected the money, along with donations from local yoga studios to supplement our start and we were off. Since then we have served thousands of Sacramento County residents and we expect to serve around 12,000 in 2012 alone!
Mission Statement
To serve the community by providing financially accessible yoga-related services through donation-based yoga classes, community outreach to underserved and/or vulnerable populations and community support activities for yoga students and teachers.
- A regular and full schedule of open to all, drop-in donation-based yoga classes
- Specialty classes for specific populations
- Meditation classes and workshops
- Free or donation-based workshops to introduce and promote yoga at a variety of locations, such as yoga in parks, at corporate events, in public schools
- Training workshops for teachers to learn how to teach to a specific vulnerable populations
- Mentoring programs for new and not so new teachers to give and receive feedback and develop their skills amongst other yoga teachers
- Yoga book exchange
- Joint workshops with other Yoga studios, other non-profits, and other businesses in the community, to provide mutual support and create a network of healthy living
- Yoga mat storage for students, and donated mats for use by all
Our Continuing Vision of Sustainability & Growth:
Since April 2010, we have opened and maintained the studio location at 14th and E Street downtown, with a full schedule of donation-based classes. We have experienced tremendous growth, moving from an all-volunteer organization to having numerous paid staff, a growing board, over a dozen yoga teachers (both in and out of the studio), and a group of close to 50 volunteers. We have created several yoga programs that meet the needs of underserved populations, such as an “ALL Bodies” yoga class for all people interested in yoga, no matter what their skill level, experience, or limitations (physical or perceived), and a yoga class specifically for the LGBTQI population. We have partnered with New Dawn Recovery Centers to provide yoga classes to their clients in recovery at 2 off-site locations and are consistently developing new programs to meet the needs of our community. We’ve launched a yoga class for teens and kids at a Sierra School, and we are currently raising money to launch a yoga class taught all in Spanish “Yoga Para Todos”, which will begin in August. We have a great need to start a Yoga for Recovery at our studio and have already noticed demand for a 2nd All Bodies class. Check out our current Programs for more details.
As part of our mission, we partner with organizations to co- create yoga programs for their clients. For example, in May of 2012, we raised $1000 from a portion of the proceeds of an early morning yoga intensive to launch a yoga and wellness St. John’s Program for Women and Children. We will be helping to create a Yoga Program for the nearly 300 homeless families they serve a year, as well as the staff that care for the families. Check out our Outreach program.
Almost as soon as we launch a program, there is demand for more. Now is a pivotal time for Yoga Seed. By sponsoring one of these developing programs or by donating today, you have a chance to directly affect the outcome of these very special programs. By investing in them, you invest in the well being of the neighborhood, the city, and greater awareness, wellness, happiness, stress reduction, pain reduction, healing of relationships, lesser rates of depression and anxiety, and greater harmony and peace on this planet.
Board of Directors:
We currently have four directors on our board and are looking for a few more to join. To learn more about each of our board members follow this link: Board of Directors.
