Down Under Yoga

We believe in humility, in respecting our students. We will not presume to know which style or teacher is right for you or what your journey is going to be. We simply offer you rich possibilities and invite you to absorb as much as you can. Every teacher adds his or her own specialty, perspective, and wisdom to your practice. Each tradition whispers its own secrets.
We believe in challenge, that how you approach your body says a lot about how you approach life. Yoga should challenge your habits, not reinforce them. Just as the student who loves flow is often the one who struggles with stillness, so the student who delights in precision gains something different when asked to move with the rhythm of body and breath. We will always encourage you to practice both what is heavenly and what is hardest for you.
We believe in individual attention. If you love our vigorous flow classes but have never learned how to do the poses accurately, we invite you to explore alignment in our Iyengar program or attend one of our special-request classes, where you can ask to focus on a specific pose or area of the body that troubles you. Teachers will work with you to develop your knowledge of your body and modify poses for injuries and special conditions.
We believe that teachers should always be students. Even those of us who've taught for decades pledge to keep learning and offering you new ideas, new challenges, and new ways to extend your practice.
We believe that yoga studios should act in ways that are consistent with the teachings of yoga. We will never sell plastic water bottles that go into landfill (because ahimsa means “do no harm”). We will never sell $150 yoga pants (because aparigraha means “identifying greed”). We will never accept offers from companies to promote their gear in exchange for free publicity or products (because satya means “truthfulness”). We will never brand, trademark, or pretend we’ve made up a new style of yoga because humility is the whole point.
We believe in building more than strong bones; we strive to build bonds between students, bridges between communities. We take yoga off the mat—by offering potlucks and lectures, supporting fundraisers and schools across Newton, and holding our own charity classes to support local nonprofit organizations and global causes.

These are things we are unwilling to compromise because they define the very nature of who we are as a community. Yoga is not a path walked in isolation. It is a path we walk together, in the richness and complexity of community, in the promise of better understanding our bodies and ourselves. We look forward to walking this path of joy, discovery, frustration, and delicious discussion, with you.