For 27 years, the San Francisco Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center was an Inner Sunset fixture at 1200 Arguello Blvd. But in 2014, the longtime yoga and meditation studio vacated its former location, for which the landlord had other plans, and set out to find a new space.
It was important that the center stay in San Francisco, because Sivananda Yoga had been founded by Swami Vishnudevananda, a yoga master who first came to San Francisco in 1957 and was one of the first yoga teachers in the West. (The original Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center was located on 7th Avenue from 1973-1980.)
A new opportunity presented itself through a student who was also a realtor. “He was looking out for us, and he was being quite creative in trying to find a spot,” explains director Sankari Chaitanya, who also teaches yoga classes at the center. “He took his girlfriend to this restaurant [across the street] for dim sum and noticed the building.”
The new space at Vicente and 23rd Avenue proved to be a fit for the center's classical yoga practice. As part of the global Sivananda Yoga organization, the center continues to offer regular hatha yoga classes, chanting workshops, and meditation classes, now at 1185 Vicente St. There are also community events like painting classes, classical Indian concerts, and even dosa nights.
Director Sankari Chaitanya of Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center. (Photo: Fiona Lee/Hoodline)
May will mark the one year anniversary of the center in Parkside, which is run entirely by volunteers. Even Chaitanya, formerly a freelance graphic designer, is a volunteer, and a full-time one to boot. Donations from the yoga and meditation classes fund its operations and renovations.
Like many other yoga studios, Sivananda Yoga offers the first class free. And for the month of April, there are also half-price classes to make yoga accessible to everyone.
“The classes are not competitive,” says Chaitanya. “We call them all-level classes so that we can accommodate someone who has been coming for a long time and someone who is new.”
Students practice breathing exercises. (Photo: San Francisco Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center)For newbies, Chaitanya recommends the five-week "Yoga I beginner course, which takes students through the positions and also offers some of the philosophy and theory behind the movements.
In the future, there will be new classes for the community, including a course on stress resilience. But yoga will naturally remain the focus.
“People feel so recharged,” says Chaitanya. “They say they need less sleep. You do a class of yoga, you need an hour less of sleep.”
