A regional yoga network connecting 50 independent studios across Sacramento, the Sierra foothills, Tahoe, and Reno
In 2015, I created Sac-Sierra Yoga because I wanted to see more connection and collaboration among yoga studios throughout the region.
At the center of the project was the Sac-Sierra Yoga Pass, which gave students one regularly scheduled class at each participating studio. The idea was to make it easier and more affordable for people to explore different teachers, studios, and approaches to yoga, while helping studios connect with students who might not otherwise have found them.
Sac-Sierra Yoga ran from 2015 through 2017 and grew to include 50 participating studios, with most studios returning from year to year.
At a Glance
2015 to 2017
50 participating yoga studios
Sacramento, the Sierra foothills, Tahoe & Reno
One annual Pass, one regularly scheduled class at each participating studio
Regional events calendar, studio directory, newsletters & community promotion
The Sac-Sierra Yoga Pass gave practitioners one regularly scheduled class at every participating studio.
Building the Network
I built and managed Sac-Sierra Yoga, from inviting studios into the network and maintaining those relationships to creating the website, Pass, marketing, newsletters, social media, and ongoing communications.
I also created and maintained the All Things Yoga Calendar, bringing together workshops, trainings, retreats, fundraisers, and community events from across the region. Along with studio listings, contact information, links, and a regional map, the website gave people one place to discover and connect with yoga communities throughout the area.
Sac-Sierra Yoga participating studio network across Northern California and Nevada.
Working Together
Many participating studios served the same communities. Sac-Sierra Yoga invited them to do something unusual: actively encourage students to experience other teachers and studios in the region. The Pass depended on that openness. Students gained access to a wider range of practices and communities, while studios had another way to introduce their work to people who may not otherwise have found them.
More Than a Pass
Sac-Sierra Yoga also became a way to share and support work happening throughout the regional yoga community. Through the website, calendar, newsletters, and social media, I promoted workshops, trainings, retreats, fundraisers, and community events across the region.
Sac-Sierra Yoga helped promote Yoga4Nepal, a separate earthquake relief project I co-created with Leslie Brown that brought yoga communities together locally and nationally and resulted in more than $14,000 in documented donations.
Sac-Sierra Yoga also supported Yoga Rx: The State of Yoga Therapeutics in Sacramento, where I spoke about my experience teaching yoga in prisons as part of a larger conversation about therapeutic yoga, mental health, self regulation, and access to yoga in underserved communities.
Yoga Rx: The State of Yoga Therapeutics in Sacramento.
Our Mission
To create a bridge that connects community with the healing and life changing practice of yoga.
What Stayed With Me
Running Sac-Sierra Yoga meant building relationships with dozens of studio owners, keeping a large regional project organized, and following through year after year.
What stayed with me most was seeing so many independent studios choose to be part of something shared. Many served the same communities, yet they were willing to participate in a project that actively encouraged students to walk through one another’s doors.
That willingness to collaborate while remaining distinct has stayed with me and continues to inform how I think about relationship and community.