…have yoga mat will travel

Dina Amsterdam

The “off the charts” action at Yoga Tree-Castro piqued the YoYo’s curiosity as to what we’d find at the Valencia location of this San Francisco yoga powerhouse. Excitedly, we ventured to seize our very first “YinYang” class of our roadtrippin’ journey with intuitive teacher, Dina Amsterdam, who was recognized as the “Best Teacher in San Francisco” by San Francisco Magazine in 2007.

Yoga Tree Valencia

Mat to mat, the yogis looked so peaceful all lyin’ on their backs in this dimly lit, narrow space with eyes closed, bolsters under knees, blankets under head, with the penetrating sound of a gong-bell-bowl radiatin’ through the vast room. After 65 “most excellent” yoga days, the YoYo’s thought this jam-packed slumber party was lookin’ real good, so we joined in on the much appreciated, lack of activity.

Mukund Sabramanian

Leavin’ the yogis in their comatose position, Dina began class by encouragin’ this blissed-out bunch to send breath to their energy centers, chakras, which she focused on, one by one. Leisurely, she moved this barely movin’ group into the widest, longest child’s pose in child pose history and a series of forever held asanas that let our muscles rest, while we ignited our connective tissue. The ambiance of candle glow, gentle voice of our gifted guide, and the LIVE, healing, vibrational music performed by Mukund, intensely penetrated our YoYo mind, and bodies. Feelin’ kinda cozy on our Mandukas, we used our breath to transistion into Dina’s perfect, slow Yang flow. So relaxed were we from this beautiful practice, the YoYo’s visualized this bein’ their late night, every night class.