Erika Abrahamian Yoga

I started practicing with Erika after over 15 years on the mat. I had reached a plateau and really needed someone to help me keep moving forward. Erika’s hands-​on adjustments were really what did the trick. She is so focused on my individual body, rather than what the pose looks like in the books, that she is really able to help me understand what the pose feels like and where I need to work to move to the next level. I was so enamored with the adjustments that I jumped at the chance to take private classes with her when a spot opened up. I think yoga students are really lucky if they can actually find a teacher who hits all the right notes to open them up both physically and mentally, and Erika is that teacher for me. Which is why, even though my family has moved out of the area, I still head back to Santa Cruz whenever I can to attend her classes and take a private if I can manage it. Erika is worth every second of time you spend with her.

Simply put, Erika has a gift for teaching yoga. Her love of the practice is infectious, and one always feels as if she is practicing with you. She also has a fantastic intuitive sense about what is needed, whether it’s in a large class setting or one on one. I have been SO grateful to have had the privilege to practice with her and to learn from her.

Erika consistantly demonstrates sincere dedication to her practice as a teacher as well as student. I’ve found her to be extremely knowledgeable on many levels within the yogic path and particularly with regards to anatomy and assisting students in finding their potential. She passionately, skillfully, and with tremendous joy and lightness shares her knowledge. My practice has transformed after only working with Erika for a short time and know she is available to honestly support my individual path.

I was looking to incorporate yoga into my life as I was feeling out of balance. I picked a studio in my neighborhood and was so blessed that I got to meet and take classes with Erika. First of all, when you take Erika’s class, she welcomes you with warmth, compassion, and joyful lightheartedness. She is passionate about yoga, and she walks around the class to help adjust students as they work and constantly provides encouragement that makes you want to do even better. If you are looking for balance, mindfulness, and challenge take classes with Erika. You will come away with a quiet mind and a calm being.

I have been practicing Ashtanga yoga with Erika in the early days at Breathe in Los Gatos. She is a caring and knowledgeable teacher. When I started practicing with her, I was going through some rough patches in my life, and without the Ashtanga practice and her caring, and guiding me I would not have found the calmness to be able to get through it. She somehow knows what is going on in the room, and even when adjusting other students she is aware of what I am doing, and I can often hear her give me a instruction across the room.
She continues to study and improve herself, and I know that when she comes back from a workshop she will instruct us in what she has learned and we will all be better for it. She has brought those of us who practice with her into a community that I have never had before in any yoga class that I have taken.

Intelligent, witty, intuitive, compassionate, master teacher are words that only begin to describe Erika. I have practiced yoga for many years, but since I’ve started working with Erika a year and a half ago, my practice has deepened and has become much more meaningful. Erika meets her students where they are in their practice and honors each one’s individuality and abilities. From there, she helps you grow your practice. She is devoted to her craft and her students. I feel so fortunate to be one of her students.

Yoga– what is yoga?
This is a question Erika repeatedly asks, challenges and guides (me) as I come into a deeper relationship to my breath and body.

Erika Abrahamian is a gifted teacher. She creates an intimacy and an inquiry to the practice. Erika’s warmth and the acuity of her knowledge make for a depth, unsurpassed. She is compassionate and completely focused. She is lighthearted and intensely mindful at once, which seems like a contradiction but is like yoga itself: the balancing of opposites, stretching and reaching for what seems to be impossible, meanwhile being with what is. She brings this to each and every moment and person in the room, inspiring us to reach deeper within ourselves.
I was first introduced to yoga age 16 and am now in my fifties. I am not particularly flexible and I overuse my strength. I took a 25 year break from yoga (classes) because it felt too rigid, I felt too rigid, till I happened to drop in on a class of Erika’s about a year ago.
At first I was intimidated by the 50+ people and the linear arrangement in rows; I thought I would feel lost in the crowd.
As I dropped into my breath, Erika’s instruction, the rhythm, the varying cadence from Vinyasa consecutive poses to deeper longer stretching or standing poses, I found myself and being lost was no longer a possibility.
Yoga is now a practice for me and, coupled with the somatic explorative work I do, has brought me into awareness and dismantling of limited patterning I have been carrying in my body for 55 years. I feel such gratitude to have found Erika as my teacher.
Erika (de)constructs yoga as a practice of inquiry. I can recommend Erika wholeheartedly to those new to Ashtanga Yoga or those looking to deepen their practice with very supportive teacher.

I was a student of Erika’s for about 2 years before I moved away. I really miss going to Erika’s classes and I always try to drop into one of her classes when I am back in town. Erika is a young teacher, however she is wise beyond her years in her knowledge of yoga, anatomy, teaching, and life. No matter how full/​popular her classes may be, I always feel that I get individualized attention as a student, and while challenged, I also feel safe due to her expertise. I leave Erika’s classes feeling challenged, nourished, and more balanced. I love that her Sunday morning class often feels like a workshop, one that is always intentionally unique from every other Sunday, and even though I am an advanced practitioner, I walk away realizing that I’ve learned something new or am inspired in a new way. If you live anywhere near the Santa Cruz or Monterey Bay Area, definitely go to one of her classes or workshops!

I don’t often leave Unilocal reviews … and surely not one with five stars. However, Erika is beyond worth this rating! Erika is both a dedicated teacher and yogi who has a sound knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Her classes include both flow as well as digging deeper into figuring out and breaking down asanas into manageable components. I highly recommend attending one of Erika’s classes. I am sure you will be hooked!

On the enthusiastic recommendation of a friend, After practicing yoga 15 years and completing two 200 hour teacher trainings, I started taking Erika’s classes. In the past year with her, my knowledge of the body and how to practice has grown in leaps and bounds! Erika is sincere and approachable, and while her discipline is unrivaled, she is also compassionate, and cares deeply about her students. I am grateful to be her student, and would highly recommend her as a teacher for any students who have true desire to practice yoga.

I first heard about Erika’s classes but was warned that they were really challenging. That kind of put me off for a while, since I really was just taking up yoga classes after two decades. It was probably better that I waited, but when I had gotten stronger I joined a class. There was no music, which she said was partly because it can be distracting if there were musicians in the class. I generally think background music helps me, but I also feel that there’s a kind of «purity» to Erika’s classes. I would say that Erika is probably one of the most anatomically-​knowledgeable yoga teachers I have ever met. She’s really done her study of the human body, and that helps a lot. Several times when I had pain from stuff I was doing outside of yoga class she suggested adaptations for my yoga practice that worked right away. She’s also very available, answering my emails about injuries and exhaustion. The truth is that even now I’m not always up to the intensity of Erika’s classes, and that’s okay. I’m 50, and never been super strong even when younger. I’m giving four stars here and avoiding superlative words because this site has this really frustrating robot reading everything people write with earnest hearts and disqualifying (‘not recommending’) the honestly positive. I’ve seen it happen with other practitioners. Otherwise I would have given five stars. I hate «artificial» intelligence. I’m sure the site makes enough money to hire real people to read the reviews to tell the true from the fake. Anyway, Erika is a teacher I would recommend.

Yoga is Erika’s life. She is dedicated to the practice, and it is a way for her to maximize human and spiritual potential; this is what she has brought to my practice! Erika understands asanas very well and provides extremely helpful adjustments. In addition to focusing on asanas, she also focuses on the attitude we bring to the asanas and the practice.
If you are looking for a teacher who uses Yoga to help you become a better human being; Erika it is!
Erika could develop further as a teacher by learning about somatic psychology and incorporating it with Yoga.

I have taken several classes with numerous teachers over the years, and while I have had several awesome teachers, I haven’t had one like Erika who is so utterly passionate about her craft, and particularly one who tailors her teaching to suit YOUR personal practice. There are several great teachers out there who teach great yoga classes, but Erika teaches to YOU. She takes a genuine interest in you and your practice and completely devoted. She is dedicated to yoga, to learning as a student herself, and dedicated to you as her student. I highly highly recommend to anyone who is interested in yoga to take a class from Erika, whether you are brand new to yoga or an experienced practitioner. She is accessible and open, bright and humorous, and honest.

I have participated off and on with yoga for decades. I could never understand why «yoga» was so popular. Then I took a class with Erika. There was something different about her and her class. I immediately felt her love, passion and compassion for yoga and each student that was in the class. At the age of 54, I felt that I could never become a yogi or keep up the pace of younger students. Erika’s kind and compassionate way of being allowed me to accept just where I was at in each pose. It did not take long before I wanted to learn more and began private lessons. Her gentle demeanor and passion for what she teaches shows through in every class, whether there are 50 students in the class or one on one. I have been dedicated to my yoga practice for two years now. I am blessed to have Erika as my teacher and mentor.