yoga
Unify Your Roots

About

The San Luis Obispo area offers a variety of yoga practices within the community. Whether its Beer Yoga (BOGA), Sculpt, or Environmental Yoga, the variety of practices unify the body, mind and soul with a series of balance, strength, and control. Through these unique practices, a sense of restoration and self-expression are discerned in the body.

Beer+ Yoga (BOGA)

The Libertine Brewery in Morro Bay, California, hosts a Beer Yoga (BOGA) session every Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. Yoga participants pay $15 for an hour-long yoga class with a glass of the brewery’s beer alongside their mats. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa The Libertine Brewery has a total selection of 60 beers on tap that the participants can choose from. The brewery’s beer selection ranges from hard ciders to wild ales to dark IPAs. All of the beers are produced in the 9,000 square foot facility on the edge of downtown San Luis Obispo. The beers sit in open-top barrels overnight, infusing the variety of beers with the wild yeasts of the surrounding SLO area. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa After stepping foot into the brewery room and ordering their beer of choice, BOGA participants gather around the bar to socialize, many of whom are regulars that have fostered relationships with each other over the years. Individuals converse and sip on their brews while waiting for the other yogis to fill their glasses. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa Morro Bay Resident, Jessica Godsey is the BOGA instructor and director at the Libertine Brewery. Godsey has been a practicing yoga instructor for over 20 years now. She first began teaching Vinyasa and Hatha yoga but now has advanced to the trending form of exercise that is circulating all throughout the world, BOGA. Godsey brought BOGA to the brewery in order to immerse the central coast in an experience different from the rest. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa Godsey’s favorite part about practicing BOGA is the social aspect. The session is interactive, cheerful and a gateway for the participants share thoughts about their passions and values. “BOGA is a great way for individuals to get involved with yoga and not feel intimidated. Doing yoga with a beer by your side just makes the experience feel much more low key.” Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa Cal Poly Junior and Psychology major, Natalie Galuszka, decides to participate in the brewery’s BOGA for the first time. “I love yoga, it’s my favorite form of exercise, but drinking a beer while doing it just makes the experience so much more interesting.” Galuszka is challenged with focusing on her form while performing a yoga pose, trying not to spill her beer. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa Each BOGA class at the brewery is set with an intention before it begins. As the class progresses, Godsey pauses in between poses and calls on different participants to share their new intentions for the 2019 year. Asking every individual about their aspiration, helps ease the mood and connect the entire class on both a personal and social level. Following the discussion, the class then proceeds to “cheers” to the intention and reflect on how they will adhere to it. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa San Luis Obispo resident and BOGA regular, Laura Jenkins takes a sip of Libertine Brewery’s Casa de Newton during the classes “cheers session.” During the session, Jenkins makes a light-hearted remark that filled the brewery with giggles and laughter. She raises her glass and everyone “cheers” to her love for Mexican food, especially tacos. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa The BOGA class held on Saturday, Jan. 26 was solely dedicated to the power of healing. Godsey asks the participants before the class begins, which part of the body they would like her to focus on. The yogis agree upon core yoga poses that aid in stretching and compressing tight, strained, and injured muscles. The most effective pose Godsey has the participants perform is the Revolved Side Angle pose to help loosen and ease the lower back muscle, erector spinae. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa A Yoga participant firmly places her hands aligned with her shoulders, pressing her fingertips into the blue textured mat, to create a slight grip while performing downward-facing dog pose. Aligning the shoulders with the wrists and hands helps the participant engage in a pose, while feeling comfortable and supported. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa A BOGA participant concludes the session while lying on his back, holding his feet to connect the upper part of the body with the lowest part of the body. The practice of rocking back and forth is a calming way to use your breath (pranayama) in order to liberate the body from pranic (energy) blockage and advance into a cool-down meditation. Photo Credit: Kelsey Luvisa

Taking The Practice Outdoors

Click on each image to hear why these Cal Poly students choose to practice yoga in the outdoors.

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Meet Taylor: A Sculpt Master

See how Taylor Witter uses Sculpt as a way to escape from reality and recreate herself.

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