– WORKSHOPS –
Zoom links for online classes will be sent to you close to the Workshop date.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM 2026
Practice of Backbends
with Gay White
Tuesdays, May 12 - June 23
5:45 - 7:15 pm
7 classes/ $224​​
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Backbends restore a normal spinal curve and strengthen the back muscles. They open the chest, stimulate the nervous system and increase vitality. This class is meant to deepen our understanding of backbends and explore different ways of practicing them.
Practice of Backbends is open to current Advanced Studies Program Students, ASP Graduates, teachers and interested practitioners.
Payment is directly to the instructor on or before the first class. Registered students will receive an email with information on how to pay.
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Gay White, Director of The Yoga Room and Co-Director of The Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, has taught yoga in the Bay Area since 1991. Gay's classes and workshops are dedicated to alignment and awareness in a safe and joyful mixed-level learning community.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM 2026
Yoga Functional Anatomy 2
with Sandy Zirulnik
8-week summer series
Monday/Tuesday, June 22, 23, 29, 30 July 6, 7, 13, 14
5:45 - 7:15 pm
$380 for series, includes 1 year subscription to “Muscles & Motion” Yoga Anatomy app ($40, normally $89)​​
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Offered as a stand-alone module or as a part of the Advanced Studies Program
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Prerequisite Anatomy 1 or permission of Instructor
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Required for ASP Certification; this course will not be offered again in 2026/27
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Anatomy – The Structures
Physiology – How It Works
Kinesiology – How We Move
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Take a deeper dive into Anatomy, Physiology, and Kinesiology for Yoga practice. We will look at how body systems work together, how muscles and joints move, the relationship of the nervous system to movement and balance. The course presents engaging and appropriate learning, whether anatomy is part of your daily life or you haven’t taken a science course since middle school. We will study elements to immediately deepen Yoga practice. Has it been a while? This is a good opportunity to refresh your relationship with your body.
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The sessions will include a combination of presentation, discussion, anatomy topics, and movement, coordinated with specific asana teachings in the second-year of Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program. Original course material will be provided in a .pdf format, along with selected reading from Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews. This course will not be offered again in 2026.
For more information or to register, email Sandy Z: mailto:szir@earthlink.net
Yoga for Osteoporosis
with Betty Aten
A special four-week series
Thursdays, July 9, 16, 23, 30
9:30 - 11:30 am
$110 for series | $30 for one class
Please join Betty for this special four-week series focusing on the many benefits of yoga for osteoporosis/osteopenia. Since the original study 10 years ago, showing how a targeted yoga practice can improve bone mineral density in most participants, interest in this field and the depth of knowledge has advanced rapidly. Current research shows that the benefits of yoga extend far beyond building bone density, to include better strength and balance, both important factors in preventing falls, which are the number one cause of fractures. In this series, we’ll explore these new findings, clarify myths about yoga for osteoporosis and learn the optimal way to practice. The goal is for you to become more bone literate to be able to make informed decisions about your personal treatment plan.
It will be helpful, but not mandatory to attend all four sessions, as the information and experience is cumulative. This is appropriate for all levels.
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Betty Aten has been practicing yoga for 27 years, and teaching for 16. Since becoming the first Northern California Yoga for Osteoporosis certified teacher in 2016, she has specialized in offering classes based on the Fishman Method for Yoga for Osteoporosis. Her goal is for students to become bone literate in order to have more meaningful conversations with their health care professional about the best osteoporosis management plan for them. .
Hips and the Subtle Body
with Michael Lucey
Saturday, Aug. 15 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
$60
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How does the physical work we do in our asana practice relate to other parts of our being? We are always working on our hips in our asana practice, trying to make sure they are compact, strong, and solid, but also trying to make sure we have the hip mobility we need, or trying to balance right and left, learning how our hips relate to our knees and to our lower back. Perhaps we also learn to begin paying attention to the relationship between our hips and our abdomen and all that goes on there. Could we go deeper still? What relation do our hips have to our emotional or our psychological being? If we’ve studied the chakra system, we know that the hips are connected to the muladhara and svadhisthana chakras, but what might this connection mean? How could we explore it, and how might it influence our practice? This workshop is not about therapeutics (how to work with hip problems), but about connecting our physical practice with deeper explorations of who we are. We will visit all categories of poses, with the goal of building new kinds of knowledge and sensitivity about our hips and how they are part of us.
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Michael Lucey is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher at the Senior Intermediate 1 level. Michael stumbled into an Iyengar yoga class in England in 1982, while he was a student at Oxford University. From his very first class he has been fascinated by the many ways yoga can transform your relation to your body, mind, and breath. He has also made 11 trips to India to study directly with the Iyengar family at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, most recently in December 2018. Michael is also a professor of Comparative Literature and French at the University of California, Berkeley, and served as President of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States from 2014-2017.
– INTENSIVES –
JULY PRACTICE INTENSIVE 2026
with Mary Lou Weprin
Thursday-Sunday, July 2–5
Thursday, July 2 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm / 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Friday, July 3 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm / 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Saturday, July 4 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm / 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Sunday, July 5 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
$420 for whole Intensive; $60 per session (come to 3 or more)
To reserve your In-Person space, please email Mary Lou at mweprin@comcast.net
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Please join us for our Annual July Practice Intensive. Mornings will focus on Standing Poses, Handstand, Headstand and Backbends. Afternoons feature Restoratives, Floor Work, Shoulderstand and Forward Bends. There will be time for observation and discussion, some partner work, warm-ups and preparations. This Intensive is appropriate for students who have studied for at least one year in the Iyengar style, are familiar with Inversions and Backbends, are in level 2–4 or 3–5 classes, or by permission of the teacher.
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Mary Lou Weprin has been teaching classes, workshops and intensives at The Yoga Room since 1980. She enjoys supporting the practice community in their endeavors.
AUGUST PRACTICE INTENSIVE 2026
with Gay White
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, August 7-9
Friday, Aug. 7 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm / 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Saturday, Aug. 8 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm / 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Sunday, Aug. 9 | 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
$280 for whole Intensive; $60 per class
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A weekend of practice for exploring both the energizing and calming aspects of yoga. We will build strength and vitality for the active standing asanas, chest openers and inversions. Then we'll balance that with a detailed approach to inwardly focused seated work and pranayama for a calm nervous system. During the 3 days we will approach each asana group for a sense of refreshment and relaxation.
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Gay White, Director of The Yoga Room and Co-Director of The Yoga Room's Advanced Studies Program, has taught yoga in the Bay Area since 1991. Gay's classes and workshops are dedicated to alignment and awareness in a safe and joyful mixed-level learning community.
