COMMUNITY // open doors
Love Yoga East
Los Angeles
2110 Sunset Boulevard, Suite O
323-673-8934; loveyogaspace.com
Love Yoga East, nestled in the east side enclave of Echo Park where
new ideas meet rich history, is a brick and mortar manifestation of
Sian Gordon and Kyle Miller’s offering to the yoga community and
east side scene.
Love Yoga East is the 2.0 of Love Yoga Venice. While the neigh-
borhood has changed, Love’s signature blue floors, light colored
rooms, and quirky accents are the same. Their Venice class offer-
ings and methodology also cross pollinate. Co-owner Sian Gordon
remarks, “We wanted to spread our method to the east side.” While
Love has a bevy of teachers trained in the Iyengar and Jivamukti tra-
ditions, it is the only yoga studio in Los Angeles that offers Katonah
Yoga.“Katonah is a Chinese method of yoga that includes Daoism,
Chinese medicine, and metaphor to flush the glands,” says Sian. “We
don’t consider the body the temple; we mess up the house and then
know how to clean it.” For those versed in other lineages of yoga, the
asana may be the same but the language and intention around them
are distinctly different.
While the dust has just settled from Love Yoga East’s grand open-
ing, Sian and Kyle have big plans. Teacher trainings, mentorships,
and retreats are on the books for the coming year. If students wish
to take their practice from the lush blue floors of the studios’ urban
oasis to surfing and sunbathing in Costa Rica, safaris in Africa, and
downdogging in the south of France, Love Yoga provides ample op-
portunity for adventure.Marja Lankinen, founder and CEO of Yoga for Dancers, is a yoga therapist based in
Los Angeles and teaches yoga and meditation around the globe: yogafordancers.com.La Maida Institute
North Hollywood
11159 La Maida St.
818-505-3552; lamaida.org
La Maida Institute is contained in a historic, retreat-like center
in the middle of the bustling NoHo Arts District. It is many things
wrapped up in one beautiful box – an integrative mental health clinic
offering a collaborative, team-based approach; a yoga and meditation
studio for supporting daily practice; and a community gathering space
for workshops, intensives, and retreats.
From a broader perspective, La Maida is an example of what the
future of “healthcare” looks like. In contrast to systems that place a
bandage on symptoms, trauma, and pain, La Maida offers a preven-
tive, resilience-based, communal model where the emphasis is on
restoring wholeness and balance. “We become our own creators of
health when we awaken the innate wisdom that dwells inside each of
us and our communities,” says La Maida’s founder and integrative
psychiatrist, Omid Naim, MD.
Skilled therapists, yoga instructors, and workshop facilitators are
the norm at La Maida. A diverse, yet integrated array of programs
can be found – from a state-of-the-art neurofeedback lab, to an
Ayurvedic practitioner for diet and lifestyle counseling, to monthly
programming like New Moon soundbaths, and workshops for health
professionals, families, teens, new parents, and women.
Drop in for a yoga or meditation class, join as a member for unlim-
ited classes and special perks, or receive a fully personalized assessment
and multi-modal treatment plan. Don’t miss La Maida’s Open House
on October 22 from 2-5pm where you can take tours, meet the staff,
teachers and clinicians, and learn more about this transformative space.By Felicia Tomasko, President of Bliss Network and Editor-in-Chief of LA YOGA
and Boston Yoga Magazines