About Us
Our Mission
Yoga Leela was founded in 2014 with the following objectives:
In a land where everything--from churches, barber shops and burial places to modern yoga studios--is often racially segregated, Yoga Leela will be intentionally multiracial and multicultural. Since yoga means connection, segregated yoga is NOT yoga.
We will use authentic yoga--rooted in Eastern spirituality--as an antidote to the Western mindset of competition and materialism.
We will be true to the definition of yoga as defined in the Bhagavad Gita, according to which scripture, there are four foundations: just action (karma), wisdom (jnana), devotion (bhakti) and meditation (raja).
We will take the message of real yoga (vs. Western yoga) to all people regardless of race, religion, neighborhood and place on the gender spectrum.
We will make an intentional effort to take yoga to underserved areas, especially people of color. Yoga came from people of color and should serve them as much as it does others.
We are a yoga community that was founded and run as a mom-and-pop shop.
RKN “Ray” Iyengar, Ph.D.
Grew up in the Sri Vashnaiva (compassion) tradition of yoga. Learned yoga from Sriman Upadrashta V. Krishnaiah, who combined Vaishnava (compassion) style with Shaiva (justice) tradition. The result is Smartha yoga.
Retired "corporate mule" (telecom engineer)
Suffers from seasonal asthma, joint and spine issues and anxiety, some of which were work-related.
Lauri Nandyal, MD
Board certified family physician
Training in Integrative and Functional Medicine
In 2014, they founded Yoga Leela, a community practice primarily as an alternative to commercial yoga. Yoga is as spiritual as communion and passover and should not be used for profit.
What type of yoga is it?
Yoga Leela is a form of traditional yoga called Sangha (Community) Yoga. Sangha Yoga (as opposed to commercialized western yoga) is focused not on yoga as a business but on bringing people of different backgrounds and ages together to form a wellness community.
Yoga is a "movement" meditation that attempts to bring the body, mind and spirit together even for a short length of time during our 60+ minutes of practice. Students are encouraged to embark upon their own internal spiritual journeys even as they flow with the class. Breathing is also emphasized as a way of creating mindfulness.
These are multi-level classes. Everything is optional, except breathing.:)
What is leela?
Our style of yoga is called yoga leela, leela meaning play. We hope people bring a sense of child-like play to their practice. When you're a child, you're stress-free because you don't have a past to regret and a future to be anxious about. Just like a child, you live in the moment. You concentrate and anchor your mind to the here-and-now. You focus on your breath, the music, the dance of the spine between the earth and the sky (another definition of yoga), and the movement of muscle against tendon, ligament and bone. The human condition--the burdens on our hearts as we enter the sacred practice area--have a bearing on our practice but we can re-focus on the present moment by using sensory perceptions and spiritual concepts like respect, hope and devotion. This leela, this play, is an hour-long vacation from adulthood. It energizes us to go out into the world and work for compassion and justice.