Yoga for Every Body
Break up your week with a humpday reset! All levels welcome.
Wednesdays 12:00 - 1:00p
Mobu Studio, 1605 Church St., San Francisco, CA (map)
Class Description
This unheated (not hot) yoga class incorporates vinyasa, bhakti flow, hatha, yin, and restorative styles of asana (physical postures) practice to balance the mind and body so that we can continue to do our best work off the mat.
Break up your week with a humpday reset! All levels of experience with yoga or mindful movement are welcome. Modifications will be offered in this accessible class for beginners, experienced, and seasoned (level 2/3) practitioners. Join the community in studying yoga (sangha)!
Class Benefits
• Promotes circulation, prevents or reduces strain, and manages or eliminates chronic pain from sedentary lifestyle
• Reduces stress and cortisol levels naturally by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system with breath work and mindfulness
• Develops physical strength, mobility, energy, and focus on and off the mat
• Improves sleep, metabolism, digestion, and hormone balance
• Offers a supportive, local community on the path of yoga
• Expands breath volume through breathwork and releasing fascial constrictions
• Prepares the mind and body for meditation practice
Class may include yogic tools such as fellowship (sangha), yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breath, life force), pratyahara (sense withdrawal), dharana (concentration), and dhyana (meditation).
Preparation
• Wear Comfortable clothes, layers if you run cold
• Bring a yoga mat, water bottle, two yoga blocks (or books), and a yoga blanket (or bath towel)
• Ground floor studio, bathroom, indoor lounge, outdoor deck/patio
• Register ahead, class package available
Who Should Attend?
This class is open to all sexes, genders, and levels of experience with yoga. Pregnant / prenatal yoga students are welcome to attend. Students who are postpartum or have experienced pregnancy loss are welcome to join once cleared by their providers. This class can be beneficial to students seeking to,
• Manage stress or balance hormone levels
• Foster long-term health, wellness, and fitness
• Develop a local community
• Adopt a healthy lifestyle with accountability
• Premept preventable diseases or manage arthritis through physical activity
• Practice without extra heat, such as for students with asthma or on their prenatal journey
Class Location
Mobu Studio at 1605 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 (map) has served the Noe Valley, Dolores, Mission, Glen Park, Bernal Heights, Miraloma communities and more for 25 years and counting. Located in a historical district at a J Muni train stop that connects to downtown SF, a short walk from the 24, 49, 14 Muni lines, and between the 24th Street and Glen Park Bart stations, it is easy to join a class. Free and metered street parking available.
Located near Martha's Coffee, Mitchell's Ice Cream, Church Produce, Omnivore Books, and many spas, holistic care centers, and restaurants including Chloe's Cafe, Noe Cafe, Damansara Co, Front Porch, and La Ciccia -- practicing yoga can be integrated into routine self-care, work, errands, and dates with friends, family, or partners.
Class Schedule
Practicing in community on a weekday at 12:00p offers the following benefits compared to yoga classes offered in the morning or evening:
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A break from work or sedentary lifestyle
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A walk outdoors: access to fresh air, rest for the eyes, increased circulation, balanced hormones
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Exposure to year-round daylight before and after class -- natural Vitamin D
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No rush hour traffic!
Cancellation Policy
Public class or private session reservations may be rescheduled by logging into your account no later than 12 hours in advance to maintain the class balance. Public class or private session reservations may be canceled by logging into your account no later than 24 hours in advance. In all other cases, such as no show, classes are paid in full and non-transferrable, non-exchangeable, and non-refundable.
Keywords: Yoga lifestyle, lifestyle improvement, healthy behaviors, preventative care, yoga asana, breath work, meditation, community building, mindful movement, somatic movement, health, wellness, fitness, myofascial release, chronic pain management, yoga for seniors, prenatal yoga, postnatal yoga, yoga school
About the Instructor
Rowena Mittal, MS, PhD, CYT
Dr. Rowena Mittal blends her passion for women’s health and her Indian & Chinese heritage with her deep understanding of human physiology and her experience building health and biotechnology to share the wisdom of yoga in tangible language. To Rowena, yoga is a life practice that changes our lives and the lives that we serve off the mat for the better.
With a void of yoga studios offering classes in the Noe Valley, Bernal Heights, and Glen Park area Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays midday, students and community members have been asking Rowena to offer more accessible yoga classes for the people (like the "old days" before the pandemic). As a result, Yoga for Every Body was born, starting with a humpday reset.
Rowena's goal is to share the powerful 8-limbed yoga practice that nurtures health and wellness while building a diverse, inclusive community that supports each others' growth on the path of yoga.
Rowena has been teaching yoga since 2014 across San Francisco through public classes, workshops, private lessons, corporate wellness programs, and yoga teacher mentorships. While her first exposure to yoga was in the 1990s, Rowena’s regular yoga practice began in 2008 at the suggestion of her physicians and physical therapist amid a struggle with chronic back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and systemic inflammation.
In 2014, Rowena enrolled in yoga teacher training with long-time teacher Rusty Wells at Urban Flow in San Francisco, CA to demystify the practice while honoring its eastern roots. At this training, she got to study with Jason Crandell, Wah!, Amanda Moran, and more. Rowena completed continuing education with Rusty Wells, Stephanie Snyder, Nichol Chase, Susannah Freedman, and Charisse Balance, DPT, as well as mentorship with Stephanie Snyder and Neil Wadhawan.
In 2023, Rowena completed prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher training with renowned yoga teacher and former midwife, doula, and childbirth educator Jane Austin. Rowena’s training and experience includes bhakti flow, vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, hatha, yin, restorative, accessible, chair/seated, and prenatal/postnatal yoga asana; injury prevention, pranayama, meditation, ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, pelvic physical therapy, non-violent communication, and the art of physical assisting. Learn more about Rowena's yoga teachers and mentors here.
Rowena obtained her BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT with a minor in Biological/Biomedical Engineering and two humanities concentrations in Women & Gender Studies and French Language & Studies. She has her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
At MIT, Rowena was a dancer and exec member of the performance group, MIT Dance Troupe. At CMU, she was part of a performance dance group, Dancer's Symposium, where she had the pleasure of dancing with and for professional dancer and choreographer Raymond Ejiofor. In addition to DS, she was a dancer, exec member, and choreographer of a competitive South Asian dance troupe, Tanah, fusing Bharatanatyam and other Indian dance genres with western dance styles.
Rowena's teachings seamlessly blend physical, meditative, and spiritual practices, delivered in English and Sanskrit, with a focus on pranayama (breath practice), alignment, meditation, bhakti (devotion), optional hands-on assists, sutra (philosophy) and a step-wise approach to balancing the body or building new asanas (physical pose practice). Students share that through her class structure, music, and voice, they leave her classes feeling stronger and energized, restored and at ease – empowered with knowledge that extends far beyond the four walls of the studio.
