Ocean Beach has it all: a bustling farmer’s market, People’s Co-op, Hodad’s, scads of lively bars, dreadlocks, suntans, bright-eyed train-hopping anarchist girls crooning from acoustic guitars, The Black, the cliffs, the pier, the, uh, beach, and now… their first hot yoga studio.
“We want to create a space of non-judgment,” says Mark McLarry, who runs Indie Yoga with his wife Charity Rahmer. “Sometimes there’s an intimidation factor. Our attitude is just ‘feel welcome.’ This is an O.B. refuge for yoga.”
Indie Yoga opened June 4 and offered donation hatha, vinyassa, and hybrid “H2O” yoga classes to benefit the Surfrider Foundation, an activist organization focused on coastal preservation and liberation. The studio offers $2 Nika Water bottles from a non-profit which provides clean water sources to impoverished countries.
“Our focus goes beyond yoga,” says Mark, president of Sustainable Waves, a production company that specializes in sustainable energy to power stages, lighting, and sound systems. “We plan to incorporate DJs and live music into classes. [Instructor] Alyssa sings in her classes. Charity’s very passionate about her playlists. She has like 2,000 songs, so she picks something unique for the vibe.”
Last month, Sustainable Waves sponsored a special two-night Ocean Beats electronic-music event at Winston’s in cooperation with the Madero Group, a locally-based talent management agency. The event featured artists such as Ana Sia and FreQ Nasty, and local boomers Austin Speed, CRMNL, and HM.T DM.T.
“Eventually we’d like to expand the community and do something like Wanderlust,” says Mark, who produces the main stage at the Wanderlust yoga and music festival with Sustainable Waves. “Yoga, artists, music. Something intimate.”
Indie Yoga, which holds about 30 yogis and ‘ginis, plans to begin a teacher training program in a few months as well as nutrition classes and guided cleanses.
“All instructors are handpicked,” Charity says. “We’re strict about that.”
“I ask students their name and what they want to work on physically, mentally, and spiritually,” says lead instructor Jenn. “It makes it more of a workshop than a demonstration of poses... O.B. is so unique, such an eclectic town with people from all over the place. No one wants to shop at corporations. They live off the farmers’ market and wear their yoga clothes everywhere. So O.B. makes this place special. O.B. is about the yoga. When I ask my students where they live, everyone says ‘two blocks away.’ Everyone. I mean, I live two blocks away.”
Indie Yoga - Ocean Beach - 1857 Bacon Street
Ocean Beach has it all: a bustling farmer’s market, People’s Co-op, Hodad’s, scads of lively bars, dreadlocks, suntans, bright-eyed train-hopping anarchist girls crooning from acoustic guitars, The Black, the cliffs, the pier, the, uh, beach, and now… their first hot yoga studio.
“We want to create a space of non-judgment,” says Mark McLarry, who runs Indie Yoga with his wife Charity Rahmer. “Sometimes there’s an intimidation factor. Our attitude is just ‘feel welcome.’ This is an O.B. refuge for yoga.”
Indie Yoga opened June 4 and offered donation hatha, vinyassa, and hybrid “H2O” yoga classes to benefit the Surfrider Foundation, an activist organization focused on coastal preservation and liberation. The studio offers $2 Nika Water bottles from a non-profit which provides clean water sources to impoverished countries.
“Our focus goes beyond yoga,” says Mark, president of Sustainable Waves, a production company that specializes in sustainable energy to power stages, lighting, and sound systems. “We plan to incorporate DJs and live music into classes. [Instructor] Alyssa sings in her classes. Charity’s very passionate about her playlists. She has like 2,000 songs, so she picks something unique for the vibe.”
Last month, Sustainable Waves sponsored a special two-night Ocean Beats electronic-music event at Winston’s in cooperation with the Madero Group, a locally-based talent management agency. The event featured artists such as Ana Sia and FreQ Nasty, and local boomers Austin Speed, CRMNL, and HM.T DM.T.
“Eventually we’d like to expand the community and do something like Wanderlust,” says Mark, who produces the main stage at the Wanderlust yoga and music festival with Sustainable Waves. “Yoga, artists, music. Something intimate.”
Indie Yoga, which holds about 30 yogis and ‘ginis, plans to begin a teacher training program in a few months as well as nutrition classes and guided cleanses.
“All instructors are handpicked,” Charity says. “We’re strict about that.”
“I ask students their name and what they want to work on physically, mentally, and spiritually,” says lead instructor Jenn. “It makes it more of a workshop than a demonstration of poses... O.B. is so unique, such an eclectic town with people from all over the place. No one wants to shop at corporations. They live off the farmers’ market and wear their yoga clothes everywhere. So O.B. makes this place special. O.B. is about the yoga. When I ask my students where they live, everyone says ‘two blocks away.’ Everyone. I mean, I live two blocks away.”
Indie Yoga - Ocean Beach - 1857 Bacon Street