In the sacred space of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, this spiritual practice is designed to improve health, release tension, and deepen spirituality. It is a gentle, restorative, and contemplative practice, and the instructors guide the group in ways that welcome newcomer and experienced practitioners alike. Pay what you can.
Mats are available to borrow (first come, first served).
The doors into the cathedral are opened at 6 p.m. and then locked at 6:30 p.m.
On the third Monday of each month the class ends with an extended savasana with Sound Bath, 7:30–7:45 p.m. As the doors are locked at 6:30, it is no longer possible to attend the sound bath without attending the class. Participants are encouraged to stay for the entire experience if possible.
On the fourth Monday of each month, class is followed by social time with tea and chat.
About the Cathedral Yoga Ministry
The Cathedral Yoga ministry was launched in the fall of 2013, offering a one-hour practice in the sacred space of the cathedral nave each Sunday evening. Over the course of the next 6 years the ministry created a devoted community. For some, it was yoga that brought them through the doors of Saint Mark's for the first time. It is spiritual practice, but its spirituality emerges through an intense, focused bodily awareness. The classes are gentle, restorative, and contemplative. Participants are asked to pay what they are able.
In March of 2020 the offering was suspended, and it remained dormant for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021. After attempts to offer Cathedral Yoga virtually, the ministry began again as a weekly in-person offering on July 26, 2021, on a new day and time: Monday evenings at 6:30 p.m.
When the founding instructor of the yoga ministry, Wendy Townsend, was asked, "If someone was on the fence about attending Cathedral Yoga for the first time, what would you say to them?" She replied
Individuals have told me over the years how much they enjoy yoga in the cathedral nave. No other yoga setting can compete!
The idea of attending a yoga class can be intimidating to someone who has never done it before, but it's worth the adventure. Cathedral Yoga is always taught in a way that will be rewarding for people of all levels, including absolute beginners. Some have found that practicing in the huge space of the cathedral nave actually makes them less self-conscious than they feel in the smaller space of a typical yoga studio!
Sound Bath/Aural Meditation
On the third Monday of each month, Sound Healing will accompany the entire class length and conclude with a 15 minute Sound Bath Savasana.
Organ Meditation (suspended)
After two years of monthly offerings, John Stuntebeck and the Cathedral Yoga Committee have suspended the first-Monday Organ Meditation indefinitely. Similar offerings may be planned as one-off events in the future.
LUNA MILLER
If you ask Luna how she got into yoga, she will say without hesitation that yoga found her and that yoga saved her life.
She discovered yoga during a challenging time in her life when she was struggling to find balance, and a sense of self worth. From the second she first stepped onto a mat, she knew that this was the beginning of a lifelong journey of self-discovery and self-love.
She has been teaching and studying many forms of yoga, meditation and breathwork for over 7 years. She studied in San Diego as well as in an intensive in India. She is drawn to the healing power of yoga and how the practice is a connection between mind, body, Spirit and breath.
Her mission is to give back to the community that has given her so much. She aims to inspire others on their personal journeys as they discover their true nature, their voice and tap into their own uniqueness through the transformative power of this ancient practice.
Luna teaches a blend of Vinyasa Flow, which combines breath to movement with a version of Yin Yoga where postures are held for longer periods of time to allow the body and mind to let go, relieve stress and go inward.
MARISSA GRASMICK
Marissa found yoga while she was getting her Master’s in Buddhist Psychology at Naropa University in 2012. She has been a committed student for the last decade. She teaches yoga and breathwork publicly in the Seattle area at Commune Yoga and various studios, as well as works in private practice as a somatic therapist.
Her classes balance the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of practice. She teaches yoga with the intention of revealing our capacity for awakened awareness. She invites students to notice inner sensation and practice being compassionate and curious with what’s happening inside of themselves. She offers trauma-informed classes with thoughtful and creative movement to help inspire growth, play and possibility. She appreciates spending a little extra time in each pose to help students slow down and notice their experience. Students report feeling centered, reflective, and invigorated after her classes. She loves when students approach her after class to share their experience and say hello!
Outside of yoga she values time to play, be in the forest or ocean, create, learn, move, and spend quality time with loved ones. If you’d like to learn more about her, you can visit her website at www.marissaconnect.com.
TAMI HAFZALLA
Tami has been a Yoga teacher for 24 years, She is adept in holding grounding, compassionate space. She is committed to cultivating a practice that is warm and welcoming for students to move through a personal process, finding union of body, mind and heart. All are guided to access profound levels of insight and freedom, reconnecting to inherent wisdom, to heal and dissolve barriers that separate us from ourselves and each other. Ultimately, her intention is to share techniques to align with radiance from the inside out; connection to self, connection to others beyond name and form, connection to spirit, universal consciousness and love.
She has studied extensively with master teachers in India, Australia, Europe and the U.S. She draws most from her classical training in Ashtanga, Iyengar, Viniyoga and Ayurveda. Her classes are artfully sequenced, strength building and meditative. She has taught retreats worldwide and as the co founder & co directer of Synergy Yoga School, has led teacher trainings in India and Seattle. As an Ayurvedic practitioner, she infuses classes with ancient wisdom for contemporary living. She offers intuitive and simultaneously, skillful hands on adjustments grounded in her training as a licensed massage therapist. Her greatest teacher is her beloved son Indi Kainoa. From him she has known the greatest love, patience and joy. What a blessing to be on this unending journey of renewal & transformation.
GRETA HILL
Greta’s classes are devoted to helping students cultivate joy, find deep purpose, and connect to the Sacred. Her teaching is a heart centered, empowering fusion of form and flow, and each class text you on a journey that weaves together creative movement with bio-mechanics, mantra and mudra, breathwork, and yogic wisdom for modern life.
ANDREW RAGAN
I help people connect to themselves through movement, breath, and co-regulation. I combine strength training, yoga, breathwork, and Trauma Release Exercise® to help people connect to self and integrate nervous system dysregulation (a result of trauma).