The Santa Barbara Yoga Center is a mindful, community-based space for every patron | Holistic health and wellness guide

Posted on Jun 18, 2021
| 8:00 am

The almost 100 year old building of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. (Photo from the Santa Barbara Yoga Center.)

At this point where the wellbeing of our community is more important than ever, Noozhawk is proud to introduce our NEW Holistic Health and Wellness Guide!

Noozhawk spoke to a number of local business owners and wellness practitioners in Santa Barbara County to educate our readers about how best to improve their overall wellbeing.

In this interview, Noozhawk sat down with Barbara Hirsch, owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, to discuss her practice.

Santa Barbara Yoga Center

Question: What is the name of your company or your practice?

Reply: Santa Barbara Yoga Center

Q: Can you describe which services or products your company or practice offers?

A: Yoga courses, workshops and trainings. Our sales area offers yoga blankets, bolsters and other props as well as environmentally friendly yoga clothing. Naturopaths rent rooms in our building. We offer personal yoga retreats.

Q: How is your company or practice related to health and wellness?

A: The Santa Barbara Yoga Center is a mindful, community-based company that operates in accordance with the principles of yoga philosophy. We are passionate about consistently delivering excellent teaching, accessible instruction, and a yoga house that welcomes everyone, body, mind, and spirit. We offer Iyengar, Yin, Vinyasa, Prenatal, Kundalini and Gentle Yoga classes as well as private lessons.

Q: What makes your company or practice unique?

A: • We have highly qualified teachers, many of whom have strong backgrounds in therapeutic yoga. Our teachers are trained in the classical traditions and can adapt to the needs of each student. Whom offers courses that range from gentle to advanced. We also offer accessible courses for people with chronic diseases.
• Our yoga center has been in Santa Barbara for almost 30 years and is known for its historic building and beautiful studios, including a fully equipped Iyengar studio.
• We offer individual yoga retreats that allow you to escape the hectic world in a quiet, fully furnished loft apartment and unlimited yoga classes.

Q: How do you stay connected with the community and your patrons?

A: We send weekly newsletters and daily schedules to subscribers by email. Through these newsletters and social media, students read about teachers, classes, workshops, teacher training courses and special studies. We also host public events like book signing and kirtan. Our students and staff have made friends. We enjoy a very thoughtful, compassionate, and supportive community.

Q: What education, training or certification do you have?

A: We offer yoga teacher training courses for teachers to earn their 200 or 300 hour Yoga Alliance certification. We host workshops that cover a broad spectrum of education, from shoulder healing to pelvic floor health, meditation and pranayama.

One of the studios of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. (Photo from the Santa Barbara Yoga Center.)

Q: How does your company or practice help your customers?

A: Many people start with us with yoga classes to improve their balance, strength, flexibility or to deal with an injury. All of our courses deal with these topics and students gain a balance and strength that they have never had before. But what really makes people return is the effect yoga has on their emotions, mind, and attitudes. Regardless of age, gender or performance, the students are carefully looked after from their back pain to anxiety. Our house also houses alternative practitioners in acupuncture, massage and an infrared sauna!

Q: Are your benefits insured?

A: No.

Q: If you don’t accept insurance, do you offer payment plans or funding options?

A: We offer scholarships.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your company or practice?

A: We had to close our physical building during the pandemic, but we offered our yoga classes live-streamed, which helped our students stay healthy and calm. Our incomes suffered, but we tried to find new ways to reach us. We were delighted that foreign students also took part in livestream courses. Our teachers have recorded their livestream courses so that students can take recorded courses. Now we are reopening with reduced capacity and hope to be able to work as we did before the pandemic next year.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to share with our readers that wasn’t mentioned above?

A: If you’ve been curious about yoga, it’s good to know that there are many styles, from the most athletic to the most gentle, relaxing, and meditative practices, with so many types in between! Please explore different classes, different teachers.
After trying a few courses 17 years ago, I realized how beneficial the practice was for my mind, body, and spirit and that I would never give up on it.

Click here to learn more about the Santa Barbara Yoga Center!