Book a Yoga Therapy or Private Yoga Class
Yogalayam offers sliding scale to those in need for all classes and programs.
Saraswathi Devi offers Yoga Therapy and Private Yoga Instruction. These sessions are carefully designed to serve the individual outside the context of a standard yoga class - to meet needs, challenges, and interests in fine detail, using focused expertise.
Saraswathi is a certified Yoga Therapist by the International Association of Yoga Therapists and is considered a leader in the field. She is the Founding Director of the CalStar Adaptive Yoga program at UC Berkeley in 1995, which continues to date with her co-teacher, Claire Lavery, focused on Yoga Therapy for students with disabilities. Her work has been featured in the book All Hands with photographs by Misako Akimoto as well as in interviews.
Yoga Therapy
Yoga Therapy sessions serve students and clients requiring more intensive instruction, support, and care. It is offered consciously as a complement to other therapeutic practices, such as Western Medicine or Acupuncture. Ongoing meetings might address psychological or spiritual needs, trauma release, a disease process, or support a client with neurodivergence or disability. Examples of Yoga Therapy Sessions include an individual student seeking deep psycho-spiritual guidance, a client requiring a one-on-one practice with sustained manual and verbal support, a small group class dedicated to one health issue, a large Adaptive Yoga class for students with physical, neurological, or behavioral needs.
Yoga Therapy Sessions include various combinations of postures, movements, and breathing techniques - with Acupressure, Thai Massage, visualization, and meditation.
Private Yoga Lessons
In Private Yoga Lessons, Saraswathi Devi carefully designs practices to address a student’s specific issues. Each movement and posture is described and demonstrated in detail, including rationale and benefits, followed by moment-to-moment verbal and manual support, with props, for maximum benefit. Sessions might also include breath work, cleansing techniques, guided visualization or meditation, self-acupressure, nutrition and herbs information, and written home practice protocols.
A Private Yoga lesson benefits experienced practitioners with an injury or any physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual need, a beginner new to the practice before joining a group class, an experienced student wanting to go deeper, or any student preferring this setting.