Unfolding the Lotus: A Hip Opening Workshop
Sign up on-line here! The stress and activity of everyday life is often found lodged in the tightness and discomfort of our hips. This workshop will delve deeply into opening the hips, legs, and low back.
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Alignment Based Flow Yoga Classes - Ignite Your Practice.
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Personalized Private Yoga Lessons - Deepen and Refine.
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Events - Workshops, Retreats, Trainings.
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Corporate Yoga - Practice at the Office.
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Outdoor Yoga - Take Your Practice Outside!
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Kids Yoga Party - Healthy Fun for Little Bodies!
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Testimonials - What Clients & Students Are Saying.
Take a Hike Yoga
Take your yoga practice outside! What could be better than a brisk hike followed by an outdoor yoga class?
Roof Top Yoga
Practice Yoga on a Roof Top in Hayes valley with the sun shining down and glorious views of San Francisco! April 21st, 2013 Yoga class will be from 12-1pm. Healthy snacks will be served afterwards.
Green Juice Spring Cleanse
Spring is a time of natural detoxification for the body. Drinking green juice to assist this process is a great idea. You may also want to try a full on juice cleanse!
Sankalpa: The Power of Intention
I have heard many interpretations of the Sanskrit word Sankalpa. It roughly translates to “will, purpose, or determination” but I believe it can best be understood as an affirmation of intention.
200 Hour Teacher Training May 2013
200 Hour Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher Training led by Sonya Genel and Jon Isaacs at the Yoga Garden of San Francisco in May 2013.
Revitalizing Spring Yoga Retreat: April 2013
Sign up early for my Revitalizing Spring Yoga Retreat in April 2013!
Creamy Vegan Ginger Squash Soup Recipe
Wondering what to do with all that winter squash you are getting in your farm box every week lately? Well there’s no better way to enjoy this cold-weather vegetable than to make a delicious soup!
Restorative Yoga with LIVE Music on Wednesday Nights!
On the FIRST Wednesday of EVERY month, the wonderful musician Perry Dexter will be joining my 8PM Restorative Yoga classes at Yoga Garden SF with LIVE music.
Sonya in Top 10 Om-Mazing SF Yoga Classes!
“We took a class with the attentive and earthy Sonya Genel — an intense lunchtime set that we highly recommend.” -Refinery29.com
Vulnerability as Authentic Power
This week in all my classes I have been working with the theme of vulnerability as the space of most authentic power!
Chaturanga dandasana, you are a complicated beast.
In an article by Todd Lavictoire I read this quote: “I do believe that we can find balance and have a positive relationship with chaturanga dandasana,
Flowing in Alignment
Start an Optimal Yoga Practice for the New Year. Refine your approach to Vinyasa and Hatha Flow yoga.
Testimonials: extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive
Sonya is extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive to detail in all the classes I’ve had with her…
Testimonials: a very dedicated yoga teacher
Sonya is a very dedicated yoga teacher. Her philosophy is “Being Present”…
Testimonials: understanding, focus on the postures
“I went to yoga class today and I was very impressed with Sonya, who I met for the first time, especially her understanding, focus on the postures, and the transitions between them. I had never noticed yoga transitions or felt so in ease between them in my previous practices. She also made me realize about [...]
Testimonials: the perfect break from a stressful work day
“Having Sonya’s yoga class to look forward to at lunchtime is the perfect break from a stressful work day. Her classes are positive & energizing. Although it’s not always easy to drag my lazy butt there, I am never disappointed. I come back to work feeling calm in mind and spirit & prepared to take [...]
Testimonials: a fresh perspective
“An hour of Yoga with Sonya during the work day gives me a fresh perspective and productive energy for the rest of the day.” —Jennifer Becker
This Life is my Practice I am an invisible child of a thousand faces of love, That floats over the swirling sea of life, Surrounded by the meadows of the winged shepherds, Where divine love and beauty, The stillness of midnight summer’s warmth pervades. Life often cuts at my body and mind And though blood [...]
Testimonials: Sonya gives good yoga
Yes, Sonya gives good yoga. I’ve been a yogi for about 3 1/2 years, the past year-plus with Sonya at Yoga Garden, and my practice has made great strides with her help. She pays great attention to proper form, a key to avoiding nagging injuries (really important when you get past a certain age). You [...]
Testimonials: an exceptional teacher
Sonya is an exceptional teacher. She is compassionate, clear, mindful of her student’s needs, incredibly well studied and sincerely believes in the importance of a yoga practice and living to one’s true potential. She is the real deal. I have studied yoga for years and years throughout the major cities in America and teachers like [...]
Testimonials: excellent alignment cues
I did a wonderful hip opening workshop with Sonya and really, really enjoyed it! She offers excellent alignment cues so unlike many yoga classes, I feel confident that I am doing the poses safely and in good alignment. I found Sonya inspiring, uplifting and very soothing at the same time. Her way of teaching felt [...]
Testimonials: Yoga with Sonya is a blast!
Yoga with Sonya is a blast! I’ve been doing yoga on and off for 10 years and Sonya is the first teacher I ever called my teacher. I only go to her classes when I am practicing. I chose Sonya as my teacher for several reasons. First, I feel very safe doing yoga with her. [...]
Testimonials: Go to Sonya, it’s that simple.
There is no other choice when searching for a yoga guru. Sonya is it. Whether you’re looking for a restorative class or a mellow flow Sonya is adaptable and an ever changing spirit of good energy! Her classes are enlightening, uplifting, strengthening and lots of fun. She’s attentive and has a fabulous memory- if you [...]
Testimonials: mindful and consistent
I really love how mindful and consistent Sonya’s instruction is, her yoga language is easy to understand and incorporate, so much attention is given to detail, connecting spirit and body, pushing yourself without hurting yourself. i’ve been taking Hatha Flow with her at Yoga Garden and it’s a joy! thanks a lot ) —xxx via [...]
Testimonials: THE best thing for your body and mind
Sonya Genel is THE best thing for your body and mind. I have been in her yogic trance for about a year now as a regular student at Yoga Garden. I’m a fairly realist person with a bit of a closet hippie doing twirls on the inside. Sonya’s alignment focused practice that strongly links physical [...]
Testimonials: really specific instructions about alignment
I am a year and a few months into a Yoga practice and sometimes it is hard to know if you go to a variety of classes if you are doing things correctly. Sonya gives really specific instructions about alignment and is careful about safety. I appreciate her clarity of instruction. She is clear in [...]
Testimonials: clear, concise, eloquent
“I have been attending Sonya Genel’s 12-1 Vinyasa class almost every day, and I have this to say about her and her classes: I LOVE them! This is why. Sonya is ALWAYS clear, concise, eloquent, and specific with her instructions. Sonya’s teaching and practice focuses on alignment, both physical and mental/spiritual, which is an incredible [...]
Testimonials: a perfect blend of heat and attention to alignment
I’ve been taking yoga for about 7 years on and off and I’m here to say that Sonya Genel is THE BEST! She encourages a perfect blend of heat and attention to alignment in the postures and I always left class feeling rejuvenated. In all my years of yoga I can honestly say that Sonya’s [...]
Testimonials: truly an incredible yoga teacher
Sonya is truly an incredible yoga teacher. I had been practicing Bikram for a little over three years until I hurt my back. I took sometime away from the mat and when I returned I decided I wanted to try a different type of yoga that worked on the mental aspect as well as the [...]
modernations: Charles Jencks is the American landscape architect and designer behind this incredible flight of stairs. Called The Universe Cascade, it has 25 landings that mark the important shifts in cosmic history. Starting at the top, in the present day, and descending down, visitors are moving through 13 billion years of cosmic evolution. The steps [...]
As within, so without: How our inner world creates our external experience.
Cleaning, Re-organizing, Yoga, Meditation, and Cleansing = Radiant Happy Me! No thats not me in the picture above, but I decided to use this image because it perfectly captures how I feel! Let me tell you why… April was a month of major cleansing for me. I have done some serious detoxifying on many levels [...]
Why Anusara Yoga?
In the 10 years that I have been practicing Yoga, and the 4 years that I have been teaching, no experience has been as profoundly life-changing as my discovery of Anusara Yoga in 2008. It was a sunny summer day in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that I walked into my first Anusara class at Akasha [...]
Womb Nostalgia – Visual & Performance Art Event
Market Street Gallery is pleased to present Womb Nostalgia, a visual art & performance art exhibition, featuring works by a selected group of talented artists opening March 4, 2011, and running through March 31, 2011. The opening reception is on Saturday, March 5th, 2011 from 7PM-10PM at 1554 Market Street, San Francisco, CA. There is [...]
Purificatory Dreams
I find myself in a field with a pregnant girl. It’s lightly raining. The water begins to swirl and forms a twister which becomes a tornado. It comes and picks us up, and I am scared. I tell my friend, but really myself, to relax and go with it because tense muscles and resisting will [...]
by some miracle i found this today and it picked me up out of my doubts and propelled me, hugged me,dusted me off and sent me back to my true creative faithful self. and for that, i am eternally grateful. thank you!!
i am so glad something i wrote has reached you in this way.
Punch fear in the face & Go for it!
Over the past few weeks several significant events have transpired in my life. Some being rather painful and difficult, others quite beautiful and auspicious, they have all caused me to step back and think about why I do the things that I do. Why? How do my routine activities indicate what I believe to be [...]
DEFINITION: Pronoia is the antidote for paranoia. It’s the understanding that the universe is fundamentally friendly. It’s a mode of training your senses and intellect so you’re able to perceive the fact that life always gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. HYPOTHESES: Evil is boring. Cynicism is idiotic. Fear is [...]
a beautiful terror
I am still dreaming of hanging from cliff edges I wake with a pang of cold delicious Fear this wet and throbbing body proclaims itself to me My left eyelid swollen shut I hear the small dog’s throat rattle There are many passing voices outside the tall window shut And suddenly I have such clarity [...]
yoga: why? because!
Yoga for me is not just a physical or spiritual practice limited to a certain square of time in my schedule. It may have begun that way, but now yoga infiltrates every aspect of my life. I have been practicing yoga for 10 years and teaching for 3, but I still consider myself a beginner. [...]
I am attracted by the strangeness that surrounds all large cities… In Asnieres there is a nakedness of earthen embankments, wooden shacks inhabited by extraordinary people, skinny horses, nondescript carriages, and stray dogs. I respond to all that, it answers a need I have for sorrowful charm, a love of strange silhouettes… -Jean-Francois Raffaelli, 1881De [...]
my very most favorite poem ever
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver Who made the world?Who made the swan, and the black bear?Who made the grasshopper?This grasshopper, I mean-the one who has flung herself out of the grass,the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-who is gazing [...]
4 Artists I currently find inspiring.
Delicious food for your eyeballs. David Cook Julianna Swaney Amanda Blake Jean Tripier
Back to REAL_ity(?)
2 weeks ago I went to colombia for a week. It was the first real vacation i’d had in years. Not traveling to see family, not traveling for a training, or for work in some way, but a real honest to god vacation (palm trees, beaches, relaxation and all). But of course a week of [...]
I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that. John [...]
my Artist Profile on the Revolver Blog
my Artist Profile on the Revolver Blog check out “Artist Profile: Sonya Genel” an interview with me about my art work, art process, and recent show “Twilight of the Kali Yuga” at Revolver (136 Fillmore St. San Francisco, CA.) xoxo
New Book by My Amazing Cousin Natalie Lyalin
My wonderful, beautiful, talented cousin, Natalie Lyalin is a fantastic writer and has just released her new book of poetry!! Try a Little Time Travel is a study of careening through time, danger in the woods, and lost children. It explores the theme of safety and uncertainty in everyday things. It could be a meditation [...]
current art show at Revolver
current art show at Revolver “Twilight of the Kali Yuga ” Works on paper by Sonya Genel & “ Going Over Home” Photographs by Marin McCallen July 20 – August 20, 2010
The Big Sweet SF: 50 Treats to Eat Before You Die
The Big Sweet SF: 50 Treats to Eat Before You Die Anybody who knows me knows that sugar is my weakness…God help me.
