Yogalayam
Community SubscriberYogalayam was founded in 1975 by Swami Viganananada (June 14, 1933 - March 2, 2008), a Master yogi born and raised in South India. The center offers classical Prana Yoga, Pranayama, Meditation, and Yoga Philosophy for students of all experience levels. The current Director, Saraswathi Devi, studied with Swami-ji from 1974 to 2008 and is a Senior-level Yoga teacher who has devoted her life in service to teaching people from all walks of life for over five decades.
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.If you're into yoga (or even if you're not!) I would highly recommend the postpartum class at yogalayam, which I LOVED when my baby was little: https://www.yogalayam.org/classes. Probably close enough for you to walk. In addition to yoga for you, there is baby massage, singing to the babies, and then the best part is that they have baby-holders who will actually watch your baby while you do some yoga without having to worry about being interrupted! They were closed for a long time during the pandemic but it looks like they are finally open again. The Green Yogi also has postpartum classes at their Telegraph location - the person teaching them wasn't doing it when I had a newborn but I have taken other classes with her and she's great.
I also echo the recommendation for someone to do more regular light cleaning if you can find it, but I've found that it's harder to find than something like a biweekly full cleaning. I have found people to do work like that on Nextdoor but have had mixed experiences with it, it's harder to find someone to come for just an hour or two at a time compared with regular cleaners who stay longer and do it full time.
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Re: Yoga studio with sense of community (Nov 2003)
http://www.yogalayam.org/ at the Oakland/Berkeley border could be a match for you.
1717 Alcatraz Avenue: Berkeley, CA 94703: USA (1723 Alcatraz - Classroom Entrance) Telephone: (510) 655-3664, Fax: (510) 428-0762 e-mail: info at yogalayam.org
Best, Julia
Re: Preschooler Yoga Class (2001)
Saraswathi Devi at Yogalayam teaches yoga classes for young children. You can call 655-3664 to find out about schedule, cost, etc. Alysson
Re: Preschooler Yoga Class (2001)
Saraswati is great. She has taught yoga as an enrichment class at my daughter's elementary school. She is a Yogalayam on Alcatraz just below Adeline. MC
1999
Saraswathi Devi at Yogalayam on Adeline & Alcatraz (approximately) has a pre-natal yoga class on Wednesdays & Saturdays, from 10 to 12. It's not heavily aerobic, but she knows everything about a pregnant body and the yoga really manages to stave off those aches and pains. (I know because I only had them when I missed a week of classes!) It's a really nice community of pregnant women, too. Definitely on the funky side, though starts a little late, chanting, etc. But it really, really helped me with both pregnancy and labor. Ilana
From: dawn
Saraswati Devi runs an excellent pre- and post-natal yoga excercise class at Yogalayam on Alcatraz near Adeline in Berkeley. Last I checked, these classes were 10a-12N on Wednesdays and Saturdays. You can go to both or either. You pay one fee for six classes, and can use them up as rapidly or as slowly as you wish. I don't know what the current cost is, since she restructured the fees after I went through.
Throughout my pregnancy I went to the prenatal swim class at the Berkeley Y and also to a prenatal yoga class at Yogalayam. Yogalayam is located at 1723 Acatraz near the corner of MLK in Berkeley. The instructor is Saraswathi Devi and the phone number is (510) 655-3664. I highly recommend both classes--as well as teaching yoga, Saraswathi is very knowledgeable about prenatal health care generally and also teaches a birth preparation class, infant massage, and a postpartum class. Good luck! Lea
Re: Prenatal Yoga (1999)
Yogalayam in Berkeley (maybe Oakland) was wonderful. The instructor, Sara, was very knowledgable and has several different pre and post partum classes.
Re: Prenatal Yoga (1999)
I also enthusiastically recommend (as have others on this list) the prenatal yoga classes given at Yogalayam on Wed and Sat 10-12. Call Saraswathi Devi at 655-3664.
Same, about 6 months ago, door was locked but lights were on. No response to my email to Saraswathi. I hope all is well with her.
The postnatal classes are going! But I know that they have a preschooler class on their schedule and it is not happening, so clearly the schedule is not up to date!
The lovely post-natal yoga classes with Saraswathi are going strong, tuesdays and fridays at 10 if it's not a holiday, the door is unlocked.