Our Studio | Downers Grove | %s
Yoga meets you where you are. With yoga, that which is not possible becomes possible.
Our Studio | Downers Grove | %s
Yoga meets you where you are. With yoga, that which is not possible becomes possible.
About Us
At Yoga Among Friends, we teach yoga to inspire you to be the best version of yourself.
We manifest our vision by encouraging you to discover inner peace and mental well-being through a regular practice, using all the tools of yoga - including meditation, visualization, breath, mantra chanting, and self-reflection. Each of these tools helps you remove the agitations of your daily thoughts and bring peace to your life.
Here is where potlucks and fundraisers are given, and friendships form. Here is community. Here is yoga —among friends— in a space that welcomes all at whatever stage of their yoga journey. At Yoga Among Friends, we encourage you to be yourself to grow and let go, and to know that you are among friends.
OUR VISION
To provide a safe space to practice the many tools of yoga, for all levels with the intention of redirecting the mind to trust the heartfelt desires, increasing one's ability to listen and respond with clearly and commitment.
To provide a practice focused on improving lifestyle habits and quality of life.
To empower the student to transcend perceived limitations and begin to open to expanded thought; thus, freeing the mind to experience greater happiness and better health.
To take the true essence of yoga out into the world.
To expose and educate young people as well as adults to the benefits of yoga beyond the physical and into the subtle.
To the reveal true nature and live from the heartfelt desire of the soul.
OUR PURPOSE
To provide a safe practice place for the student to share in community while growing and learning new ways to live in conscious compassion.
A community of friendly, dedicated teachers who support and empower students to experience maximum benefit from their yoga practice.
A yoga center bustling with happy, mindful students.
To cultivate loving kindness in ourselves and in the world.
A world alive with loving compassion, working, playing, creating and living life from the heart.
Our Community | Downers Grove | %s
Do your practice and all is coming.
— SRI K PATTHABI JOIS
Our Community | Downers Grove | %s
Do your practice and all is coming.
— SRI K PATTHABI JOIS
Our Community
Yoga Among Friends was established in 1998. At our heart, we are a local, west suburban Chicago community. We believe that our yoga practice extends beyond the mat and our students are the heart and soul of what makes Yoga Among Friends so special. Our commitment to fostering community is based on Satsang, the ancient tradition of coming together in for meaningful conversations, to explore spiritual truths and to support the awaking of what is extraordinary in each of us. We offer space & time in between our classes for lingering, making connections and meeting friends—allowing for the deepening of our connections to each other and our purpose.
A Warm & Inviting Space
We are dedicated to making everyone who comes through our doors feel like a welcomed friend, and creating an oasis to balance our busy lives. An authentic smile, a cup of tea, a clean, cozy and supportive space to practice, lounge, and mingle ... These are just some of the ways we love to nourish you on and off the mat and create a nurturing home for our community to connect and thrive.
Extraordinary Teachers
Practice with the Best. Yoga Among Friends' teachers are widely recognized as some of the best in suburban Chicago. We are honored that such a dedicated group of teachers calls Yoga Among Friends their home. Their expertise, experience, and passion shine through in the classroom. It’s a difference in our classes that you can feel.
A Rich Class Schedule
Everyone's welcome. With over 25 classes every week, you’ll always find one to fit your mood, your practice, and your schedule. Our classes are rooted in respected, profound traditions that nurture holistic physical, mental, and spiritual growth. Offerings range from classes designed for absolute beginners to advanced practitioners -- classes that’ll make you move and sweat or slow down and relax, that’ll empower the warrior within you, or that'll simply open your heart and calm your mind to release stress, detoxify, and heal.
Yoga for Health & Wellness
Modern medicine has started to embrace what yogis have known for a long time: that, in the hands of a gifted therapist, yoga has a profound power to heal. Yoga Among Friends' Yoga Therapy program is led by Laura Jane Mellencamp-Murphy, who's dedicated to affirming and supporting your innate power to heal. Through private one-on-one sessions and periodic workshops and trainings, she's helped countless people leverage yoga to manage conditions, reduce symptoms, restore balance, and regain health.
Affiliation | Downers Grove | %s
"Breath is the secret of life. For without breath, there is nothing."
— LAURA JANE MELLENCAMP
Affiliation | Downers Grove | %s
"Breath is the secret of life. For without breath, there is nothing."
— LAURA JANE MELLENCAMP
Affiliation
We are honored to be an affiliated yoga studio of Surya Chandra Healing Yoga School (SCHYS). Known for its approach to teaching which honors students where they are and gently guides them to progress in their practice, SCHYS trains students to be teachers and teachers to be students.
SCHYS is a Registered Yoga School (RYS) with the Yoga Alliance for the 200-Hour, 300-Hour, Yoga for Children's and Prenatal Yoga Programs. SCHYS is currently undergoing approval with the accreditation committee of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) for our Yoga Therapy Certificate Program. The accreditation process may take up to one-year. We believe our program to meet, if not surpass the IAYT standards.
All this gives us the confidence to deliver high quality programs and experiences that are both authentic and powerful. These Training Programs train yoga teachers to become better at their craft, more knowledgable in ways to help others as well as placing emphasis on the transformation of the individual to become more calm and balanced. We understand that yoga is not just about the movements or postures called asanas. Evidence-based research shows yoga helps reduce stress and can help with many other therapeutic issues.
Honoring Yoga Lineage | Downers Grove | %s
The mind is everything. What you think, you become.
—BUDDHA
Honoring Yoga Lineage | Downers Grove | %s
The mind is everything. What you think, you become.
—BUDDHA
Honoring Lineage
At Yoga Among Friends, we honor the traditional practice of yoga under the umbrella of Krishamacharya and follow the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar, Patti Jois, and TKV Deskichar among others. We acknowledge the influences of a variety of yogic lineages which allow us to be part of a living, breathing, dynamic tradition in a modern world. We celebrate the traditions that inspire us and give us the opportunity pass on what we have so graciously been taught.
Patanjali lived between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D., and is often called the "father of yoga," who codified the knowledge of yoga into the Yoga Sutra or 195 concise aphorisms that are essentially an ethical blueprint for living a moral life and incorporating the science of yoga into your life. It includes the overall discipline and vision of yoga and is the greatest classical text of Indian philosophy.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is still the most authentic source text of classical yoga and yoga philosophy. The Yoga Sutra is considered the master text on the system of yoga, and yet you will not find a single posture or asana. It is a guide for living the right life and moral character. The essence of his instruction is Yama (Peacefulness, Truthfulness, Generosity, Conservation, Moderation), Niyama (Cleanliness, Contentment, Simplicity, Self-Study, Dedication), Asana (Postures), Pranayama (Breath), Pratyahara (Introspection), Dharana (Focus, Concentration), Dhyana (Meditation), and Samadhi (Union of Consciousness).
“You may have never have heard of him, but Tirumalai Krishnamacharya influenced or perhaps even invented your yoga. Whether you practice the dynamic series of Pattabhi Jois, the refined alignments of BKS Iyengar, the classical postures of Indra Devi, or the customized vinyasa [of Desikachar], your practice stems from one source: a five-foot, two-inch Brahmin born more than one hundred years ago in a small south Indian Village.” —Yoga Journal, May/June 2001
Krishnamacharya was a Brahmin Indian yoga teacher and Vedic scholar. Often referred to as “the father of modern yoga,” he is widely regarded as one of the most influential yoga teachers of the 20th century and is credited with the creation of hatha yoga and the re-igniting teachings of the Yoga Sutras. He was also a revolutionary innovator who developed and adapted yoga practices that delivered health, mental clarity and spiritual growth. He created yoga practices that are as powerful as they are practical and still relevant even today. His students include BKS Iyengar, Pattabi Jois and Indra Devi.
Source: The Centre for Yoga Studies
TKV Desikachar was the son and student of T Krishnamacharya. Desikachar continued the teachings of his father by focusing on the adaptability and therapeutic aspects of the practice to meet each student’s needs. He called this style viniyoga. He founded the Kirshnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in 1976 to honor and continue his father’s teachings and taught for over 50 years. He is considered one of the world’s foremost teachers of yoga and a renowned authority on the therapeutic uses of yoga.
B.K.S. Iyengar is a legend who practiced and taught yoga for more than 75 years. Iyengar is widely credited as one of the foremost yoga masters in the world and through his emphasis on the fine details of alignment in yoga asanas, he has helped millions deepen their experience and practice of hatha yoga.
He is one of the premier yogis responsible for introducing yoga to the West and remains unsurpassed in his practice and teaching. He has been credited for establishing and popularizing yoga firstly in India and then moreover around the world. The teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar are distinctive for its focus on alignment of each posture and the use of props to facilitate learning.
Source: Cedric Taylor and Mira Mehta
Sri K Pattabhi Jois was the founder of Ashtanga yoga, the physically demanding, dynamic style of yoga embraced by millions of westerners. If ever proof were needed of the health benefits of yoga, Jois was it. Up every morning to start classes at 5am, he rarely missed a day's teaching in 70 years, instructing hundreds of students daily at his shala (school) in Mysore, southern India, until the last year of his life.
What sets Jois's method apart from other forms of hatha (physical) yoga is a technique called vinyasa. Ashtanga students jump back and forward (the vinyasa) between postures (asanas), synchronising movements with their breathing in one long flow. Expertly done, it can look more like a dance or a martial art than a relaxation class. "Ashtanga yoga is 99% practice; 1% theory", Jois would say. "Practise, practise and all is coming" was his mantra.
Our Contribution | Downers Grove | %s
Our Contribution | Downers Grove | %s
Our Contribution
In Sanskrit, Seva means selfless service and we are a portal for those to serve others. We gather regularly to take our yoga off the mat and each year we raise hundreds of dollars and donate countless hours for local and global causes that are close to our hearts.
Support and participate in our collective Seva practice by visiting our blog or subscribing to our newsletter.