Embedded Files
Yoga in the Park, Mondays, 6:30 pm, Hilltop Park, Wyoming, OH
Our Mission
Yoga Leela was founded in 2014 with the following objectives:
We will be a donation-based community where any income beyond operational expenses will be donated to people in underserved areas in the form of goods (yoga mats, blocks, etc.) or service. Yoga was never meant to be a for-profit business any more than a place of worship.
We 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, there are four foundations of yoga: just action (karma), wisdom (jnana), devotion (bhakti), and meditation (raja).
We will take the message of authentic, non-culturally-appropriated 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.
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 Smarta 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
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 authentic yoga called Sangha (Community) Yoga. Sangha Yoga (as opposed to commercialized yoga) is focused not on yoga as a business/profit motive 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.
Although the classes are primarily intermediate levels, members are encouraged to modify down or up. 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.
Google Sites
Report abuse