DAYA Foundation

Amazing yoga studio, great teachers, nice community.
Excellent teachers help you learn correct movement with detailed yet easy-​to-​follow instructions and respectful personalized feedback. In addition to the physical practice, awareness is cultivated about the emotional habits that accompany the exercise: soften your face; use only the effort that is needed; when given a chance to rest, allow your body and your mind to let go of the previous exertion.
SarahJoy is the head teacher but the other teachers are also great. Jess, Nicole, and Jeff in particular.
I love the strength conditioning classes as well, taught by SarahJoy, Lynn, and sometimes Jason. Challenge your balance and see your ability grow week by week, quicker than you’d expect. Build capacity in your postural muscles (aka «core») that supports not just your yoga but also your running, skiing, and general health. Learn how the wisdom of yoga can infuse a strength-​training practice. Often the exercises in the class relate directly to a yoga pose — you’ll be surprised to find that Revolved Triangle Pose, for example, is significantly easier at the end of class.
The facilities are nice. The community of fellow students is great — people are friendly and welcoming without being overbearing.
One more cool thing about this studio — the head teacher has started two nonprofits to bring yoga to people in need. Her past project, which now continues without her, is Living Yoga (for prison inmates and guards). The current project is the reason for the name «DAYA Foundation» — classes and special programs geared to people with various medical issues, including a class for those in wheelchairs, and on-​site classes at hospitals and other locations where medically challenged people already go for doctors’ visits and the like. By attending regular yoga classes here, we help support this fantastic cause.

I’m hooked. In Dec 2007 I attended a yoga retreat at Breitenbush with the proprietor of then-​Amrita studio. In Jan 2008 I joined the studio as an annual subscriber and continue to be one to this day.
SaraJoy hires amazing instructors. Sadly we have seen great ones move on, happily we see more great ones added. Jeff’s class on Sat AM is amazingly fun & challenging. He is funny, an excellent teacher and very creative. Sorry he only teaches one class. Jess, Katy, Erika and of course SaraJoy also offer the best yoga in Portland IMHO. And if strength training is your thing Lynn can’t be beat.
The studio is calming and welcoming as are the other yogis. Daya is a warm community that renews me every time I visit.
SaraJoy transitioned Amrita into the nonprofit foundation, Daya to bring yoga to medically needy people. Prior to that she started a program to bring yoga to incarcerated offenders. She also offers her yogis the opportunity to volunteer in these worthy endeavors.
If you are looking for yoga, community and fun this is the place. Namaste!

A wonderful studio with real community and real yoga. Not a fitness gym. A place where the yoga is thoughtful, highly skilled, and includes both the physical practice of yoga as well as the equally important mental practice. This is a studio that values and focuses on wellness of the whole person. Sarahjoy, the founder, is a master teacher and an inspiration to all she encounters. All teachers are gracious and inviting with a deep understanding of human anatomy. Many workshops are offered throughout the year in the evenings or on weekends. The Breitenbush retreats are not to be missed. Lastly, this studio is inclusive and strives to make yoga accessible to all, regardless of experience or limitations. Ready to find your yoga studio? Come to the Daya Foundation and experience coming back home to yourself.
(No I don’t work here or have any financial interest in this studio. Can you tell I love this place?)

I drove up from Salem to try Sarahjoy’s class and it was wonderful. She greeted me and my friend and asked us about ourselves and was very warm. The class itself was soothing and challenging and interesting and overall wonderful. I will be coming back. She also chatted with me for a few minutes after class and I appreciated that.

After moving back to Portland from Seattle, I was trying to find a PDX equivalent to Seattle’s Samarya Center and as luck would have it, stumbled upon Amrita with the help of a friendly Groupon deal. And what a deal it was!
I am not a fan of ‘gym yoga’ where it’s all about the physical and there isn’t a yama or niyama in sight. Spirituality and the mental aspect are crucial parts of the yoga practice and there are few studios that get it right. I wanted to find a studio that was about the practice, not about the exercise, and I’m very happy that I found Amrita.
The studio has several levels of classes, several times a day, so everyone can find at least one class that fits their schedule. (My only complaint is that they only have morning classes on Friday-​Sunday. What about us not-​early birds that want to sleep in on the weekends and have our yoga too?) The instructors are all wonderful and it’s obvious that they truly enjoy their occupations. The studio itself is warm and welcoming, definitely a community center for the practitioners.
My Groupon-​granted month has sadly expired, but I’ll be coming back for more. Amrita, I’m yours!

I really value the classes at Amrita because the instructors «teach» the class instead of simply «leading» the class, while still maintaining a good flow and providing a good workout (particularly in level 2). I went to another yoga studio in town where the instructor led the class through the exercises by saying things like, «place your right hand on the floor and reach your left arm to the ceiling». The cues there were fairly simple, straightforward, and superficial. At Amrita, the instructors provide in-​depth cuing and foster a deeper mind-​body experience. For example, they might say things like, «spiral your front right thigh outward keeping your knee over your toes». I prefer Amrita’s approach, because I want to learn and improve my yoga practice on a deeper level, while still getting a good workout. The other style moves you through poses but does not provide much information about alignment and technique. One style of yoga is not better than the other; it’s just helpful to know your own preferences and the how well the approaches of the various studios you visit match them.

I love this studio! The instructors are very friendly (two per class typically) and conscious to differing abilities and individual injuries. I visited almost every day for a full week when I came home to visit my parents and I will definitely be back next time. They even send me a sweet postcard thanking me for coming!

So refreshing! Beautiful place with great instructors. I am an Anusara student, so perhaps slightly biased since it’s an Anusara studio, but compared to other studios I’ve visited in Portland, it’s the best by far. The teachers actually interact with each student and correct your posture, alignment, etc. which a lot of other places here do not do. This is so important to do because it prevents injury and helps you become a real student of yoga. So therapeutic, helps with my back pain.

Amrita is a great place for yoga. Extremely knowledgeable instructors. Fair rates. Good class size. Individual attention. A variety of classes. They increase body awareness and focus on structure, function and healthy alignment of the body.
I have taken quite a few classes there and have benefited from every one. As a person who is very aware of how bodies work and function, I am extremely impressed about how the instructors at Amrita combine movement, structural balance and breathe work into the poses.
The instructors are very knowledgeable on the bodies anatomy and physiology. What impressed me most, was that they explain and demonstrate the proper positions and purpose of the poses. They adapt each pose to each persons physical level. They educate people about movement and bodies.
I recently experienced a Yoga class at my local 24 hr Fitness and was amazed how the instructors were not helping students with alignment, positioning or proper placement of poses. They simply told people to get into a certain pose. This is how people get injured in a yoga class. In my work, I have seen many people injured from improper yoga techniques.
At Amrita, I found that the instructors ask each student about injuries and past yoga experience. They assist them during poses for proper alignment, positioning, structure and function, never taxing them beyond what is beneficial for their bodies. They add in yoga blocks and tools to allow the body to stretch and strengthen to where it needs to, not pushing beyond beneficial limits.
They do add in some «spirituality» chanting before the class, but honestly even if you are not into this, I would still HIGHLY recommend the classes purely on the basis of structural and functional education. On a physical level, they can help anyone.

It seems like some people really like this style of yoga. It just wasn’t for me though. I was given several classes as a gift I did one and didn’t come back. I’ve gone to yoga classes where I leave refreshed and energized feeling like I got an amazing workout. I felt this studio focused more on the spiritual side of yoga, chanting and oms. If that’s what you are looking for then you will probably like Amirita. It just wasn’t for me.

Without my weekly yoga session, I would be sore, suffering from insomnia, and bitchy. Thank goodness for Amrita.
I spent a lot of time in gyms growing up since my Dad is a health-​net and former aerobics instructor, so I simply refuse to go to the gym. Still, I’ve done yoga for years in the comfort of my own home to alleviate the pain in my joints and muscles caused by a mild myofascial syndrome. When I found out I was pregnant, I started looking for a prenatal yoga class, knowing that my joint and muscle pain would only worsen, not to mention the benefits of yoga for other prenatal and delivery issues. That’s when I found Amrita and Patricia’s class. She’s an awesome teacher! Now, for an hour and 15 minutes each week, I find the solace and relief I need.
The studio is very comfortable and well-​appointed, with one central classroom and one smaller classroom. There are plenty of yoga supplies to use, so you don’t need to bring your own. The cost is the most reasonable I’ve found — $ 140 buys you a 12-​punch card, which is only $ 11.50 or so per class. That punch card expires in 4 months, but it gives me the option of skipping a week for vacation, illness or other reasons, without feeling guilty about membership fees. They also have a drop-​in option for $ 14/​class, or 1 week of unlimited yoga for $ 20 for new students who want to try out different classes. Whether you have a tough time doing tree pose or can easily accomplish the 8-​angle pose, you’re going to get your money’s worth and love coming here.

I hate the gym. I love my yoga studio.
Amrita is such a peaceful respite in the midst of chaos. And my instructor Lani teaches a class that is the perfect combination of peaceful and meditative, adaptive and understanding, while still pushing yourself and your body to learn and improve.
After having taken yoga on and off for nearly ten years, this is the first class I have had that broke down the internal building blocks of poses in a way that ensures you really learn which muscles should be supporting you rather than just hoping that you are standing in a way that looks somewhat similar to everyone around you.