– WORKSHOPS –
Zoom links for online classes will be sent to you close to the Workshop date.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM 2026
Practice of Inverted Poses
with Rinat Fried
Mondays, Jan. 5 - Feb. 23 | 5:45 - 7:15 pm
8 classes / $265 ​​
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This class will focus on the practice of headstand, shoulder stand, handstand, and elbow balance. We will explore different ways to practice inverted poses in terms of sequence, modifications, and alternatives for those with injury and limitation. To pay Rinat, bring a check to the first class.
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Rinat Fried has studied Iyengar yoga in California since 1990. She is a 2011 graduate of the Yoga Room Advanced Studies Program. Her yoga mentors include Donald Moyer, Gay White and Mary Lou Weprin. To pay Rinat, bring a check to the first class.
ADVANCED STUDIES PROGRAM 2026
The Wisdom of Yoga
with Phid Simons
Tuesdays, Jan. 6 - Feb. 24 | 5:45 - 7:15 pm
8 classes / $265 (online)
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This course will introduce the principles and common themes of Indian philosophy, as taught in the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. We’ll apply the wisdom of these ancient teachings as a guide to self-understanding, more effective practice, and greater happiness. To pay Phid, bring a check to the first class.
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Phid Simons has studied Sanskrit, Vedanta, and Vedic chanting with traditional teachers in India and the U.S. for over 30 years.
She is a graduate of The Yoga Room Advanced Studies Program and teaches Sanskrit, chanting, and Vedanta in the Bay Area.
All interested students are welcome. To pay Phid, bring a check to the first class.
Practice and Teaching with the Yoga Rope Walls
with Sandy Zirulnik
Saturday, Jan. 24 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
$65
​​Experienced using the Rope Wall or ready for your first time, you are invited to add a little hang-time to your yoga practice using the fantastic Yoga Ropes Wall in Studio B. Join us for a gentle, playful, sometimes challenging, always fun experience. We will learn preparations, technique, poses, and positions, while developing strength and confidence on the wall. We will explore incorporating the Rope Wall in self-practice, as well as guidelines in safe use of the wall for yoga class teachers.
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Includes 20+ page course guideline in .pdf format. Continuing Education credit available through the Yoga Alliance.
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Limited to 10 students.
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Sandy Zirulnik, RYT 500, E-RYT 200, YACEP, leads yoga classes that explore structure, movement, strength, and balance through the practice of asanas, breathing awareness, and the study of anatomy. Sandy began studying Yoga in 1998 and graduated from The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program with a 500-hour certification. He currently teaches the Anatomy courses for the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program. szir@earthlink.net
Yoga for Osteoporosis:
Learning Safe Adaptations for Traditional Poses
with Betty Aten
Saturday, Jan. 24 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
$50
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Having Osteoporosis/Osteopenia means that your bones are more fragile, and puts you at greater risk of fracture. The spine, hip (femoral neck), and wrist/forearm are the most vulnerable areas. Not everyone has access to specialized yoga for osteoporosis classes that teach certain poses to improve bone density. This workshop will offer ways to safely adapt many traditional yoga poses, once thought to be off-limits, including twists and inversions. You’ll learn how to assess your personal fracture risk, and how to apply that awareness in any yoga class or for your personal practice.
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Betty has been practicing yoga for 26 years, became a certified Yoga for Osteoporosis teacher in 2016, and has been teaching specialized classes and workshops on the topic ever since.
Yoga Movement Practice
with Maya Woodson and Gay White
Saturday, Jan. 31 | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
$65
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This workshop explores group movement through connected yoga asanas, fluid, unbroken movement phrases, and strengthening variations. We move through balanced sequences, with natural breath awareness and an inner focus. Movement and yoga together create an experience of focused awareness, meditation, heart opening and stillness. This practice invites joy and fresh movement possibilities from one’s whole self.
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Maya Woodson Turman is a modern dancer who has studied yoga for over 25 years. She has a BA in Dance from UC Berkeley and is a graduate of the Yoga Room's Advanced Studies program. Her classes focus on alignment, core strength, balance, and breath.
Gay White is a yoga teacher at The Yoga Room in Berkeley. She has a background in modern dance and choreography and studied in Pune India with the Iyengars. Her longtime teacher, Donald Moyer, resonates in her teaching.
Gentle Approach to Deepening Asanas
with Luisa
Fridays, Feb. 6 - March 13 | 4:00 - 6:00 pm
$120 for all six classes / $22 for a single class
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This six weeks Yoga series is suitable for students who have a regular 2-4 Yoga practice, or have the equivalent body awareness and strength. In each class, the practice will focus on some challenging poses with a sequence that gradually approaches these asanas. The classes are intended to be gentle and intense. Please contact Luisa to register, via e-mail at gckcheong@gmail.com
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Luisa graduated from the Advanced Studies Program in 2019. She has been a dedicated student at The Yoga Room since 2016. Yoga and Art are two strong legs that have supported her to mindfully walk through life.
Graduate Seminar on Standing Twists
with Mary Lou Weprin
Saturday, Feb. 7 | 2:00 - 4:30 pm
$65​​
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In the Standing Twists Seminar we will focus on the Pavritta Standing Twists: P. Trikonasana, P. Parsvakonasana and P. Ardha Chandrasana. We will take time with each of these poses, discussing essential elements, working through various preparations and
partner work and honing our observation skills. Props and alternative ways of working will also be shown. As always, we will round out our practice with other standing poses, counter poses, inversions and Savasana. This class is open to Graduates of the Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program, Level 3–5 and 2–4 students or by permission of the instructor.
Please contact Mary Lou Weprin at mweprin@comcast.net for in-person space.
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Mary Lou Weprin has been teaching at The Yoga Room since 1980. As Co-Director with Gay White of The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program, she continues the work she started with Donald Moyer in 1988 of training many of the Bay Area’s teachers. She also leads Intensives for out-of-town teachers to deepen their ability to observe and assist their students. She offers Practice Intensives and other workshops throughout the year, and leads workshops in the U.S. and Canada.
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Deep. Art. Play! An Embodied Creative Experience
with Gloria Luisa
Saturday, Feb. 14 | 1:00 - 5:00 pm
$60 (art supplies are included)​​
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This workshop will invite you to feel inside yourself and enter into a space of known and unknown thoughts, feelings and imaginations. Using a variety of art supplies, a few artistic techniques and an attitude of play, you will learn how to express yourself through present moment interaction with what is emerging. The workshop will include short warm up skill building exercises, followed by a bigger project at the end. The process is focused on self expression, not perfection. Therefore it is suitable for total beginners and seasoned artists alike.
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Gloria Luisa is a process artist, and an intuitive human. Her passion in art is the ability to let go of mental planning and instead, tap into a creative process of surrender and self-expression, often revealing something inside of oneself that may not have been fully known.
Yoga & Your Vagus | Part II: States of Being
with Cator Shachoy
Saturday, Feb. 21 | 1:00 - 3:30 pm
$65 (hybrid)​​
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Open to all. No previous experience needed.
Learn how to balance the stress of life through shifting states of being with ease. What is the difference between the nervous system states of freeze, fight/flight/mobilize and rest & digest/relax? The Vagus is instrumental in switching between these states. This class will explore how to recognize which state you are in, and how to change states for greater health and well-being. Informed by neuroscience, you can learn to care for yourself wisely. Yoga and Mindfulness are powerful tools for nervous system regulation. We’ll learn quick reset techniques and practice a yoga sequence designed to support nervous system resilience. This workshop builds on material shared previously, and is open to anyone.
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Cator Shachoy, is the author of "The TMJ Handbook: A Therapeutic Guide to Relieving Jaw Tension and Pain with Yoga and Mindfulness", available from Shambhala publications. She has practiced yoga, meditation and craniosacral therapy since 1990. Cator has an inclusive private practice working with all ages and teaches workshops around the SF Bay and beyond. www.catorshachoy.com.
Soul Voice® Sound Bath Meditation
with Carol Jean Patterson
Saturday, Feb. 21 | 5:00 - 6:30 pm
$25 (in-person)​​
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Join Carol in a guided visualization to relax and recharge. You will then be bathed in primordial vocal heart sounds encouraging you to travel within. This will be an opportunity to release old patterns and to connect with a deeper, more integrated You.
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Carol Jean Patterson is a certified Soul Voice Practitioner in the Soul Voice method developed by Karina Schelde (see www.SoulVoice.net). Carol is a 2011 graduate of the Yoga Room Teacher training and in a previous life was a yoga teacher, a metaphysical minister and a social worker.
– INTENSIVES –
Winter Intensive 2026
with Mary Lou Weprin
Friday, Jan. 16 | 10:00 am - noon | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Saturday, Jan. 17 | 10:00 am - noon | 2:00 - 4:00 pm
Sunday, Jan. 18 | 9:30 am - noon
$45 per class (take two or more)​​
on Zoom and in-person
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Our Winter Intensive Practice will include more vigorous poses in the mornings, such as Standing Poses, Headstand and Backbends, and quieter poses such as Restoratives, Seated Poses and Shoulderstand in the afternoons. It is an opportunity to immerse ourselves in balanced sequences which build upon each other over the three days. Participants should have studied at least one year in the Iyengar style, and be familiar with Headstand, Shoulderstand and various Backbends. Levels 2–5.
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Mary Lou Weprin has been teaching at The Yoga Room since 1980. As Co-Director with Gay White of The Yoga Room’s Advanced Studies Program, she continues the work she started with Donald Moyer in 1988 of training many of the Bay Area’s teachers. She also leads Intensives for out-of-town teachers to deepen their ability to observe and assist their students. She offers Practice Intensives and other workshops throughout the year, and leads workshops in the U.S. and Canada.
