Yoga Bharati Bay Area Chapter is happy to share our efforts and achievements in helping the society establish peace and global harmony — one individual at a time. Yoga Bharati is a holistic, evidence based, open system of yoga where we borrow from the ancient Hindu classical yoga texts in bringing holistic yoga to the society. YB is a social movement that works on building the society one-individual-at-a-time in preventing social disharmony and unrest leading to abuse, divorce, crimes, and drug addictions. Yoga is a panacea in establishing social order. Yes we do not support an orphan child or rehabilitate an abused destitute. But we prevent the child from becoming orphan or abused; and a woman from getting battered or molested in the first place. We serve yoga to the society. We offer our humble gratitude to all our volunteers, paid and not paid in many ways.
We have contributed in the following fields:
Hospital - We conducted free yoga workshop for Kaiser Permanante medical staff including doctors at the Kaiser hospitals this year.
Drug Rehabilitation Center - We have been offering yoga service to Summit Center - a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for over 2 years.
Blind and Community Centers - We give free Yoga at Santa Clara Valley Blind Center and Santa Clara Public Health Dept
Seniors - We offer heavily discounted classes for the seniors and have been providing yoga to seniors free of cost at ICC for close to a decade.
Kids - Special affordable yoga classes for kids and youth, and in after school facilities.
Corporate Sectors: Regular Yoga classes and workshops at corporate sectors by our volunteers in the Bay Area
Yoga Therapy and and Stress Management- Stress management and yoga as therapy offered over ten locations in the Bay Area, California alone, where yoga is taught by our volunteer and staff teachers regularly
Stop Diabetes Movement - In collaboration with Sewa International and SVYASA, we have offered free workshops for diabetes management for over 3 years.
Teacher Training - Trained over 450 students in Yoga Teacher Training in the Bay Area alone. We offer 30% discount to the students with low-income as a means of helping them gain spiritual strength and also be able to take yoga as career.
Temples, Schools, and Colleges - Over 5500 class-hours of FREE or affordable yoga sessions to the community each year in temples, community halls, schools and colleges. The list is long.
Outreach - We collaborate with Sevathon and other organizations in our outreach activities. We regularly conduct Yoga Yagna (Yogathon) twice a year, once during International Day of Yoga (June 21st) and once in January. We also visit health fairs and other conferences by placing a booth and spreading the word.
Yoga Excellence and Enrichment - We bring experts from various fields of yoga from different parts of the globe to enrich our community's yoga learning. This year alone, we hosted yoga masters such as Dr. Nagarathna, Dr. Amritram from SVYASA, Yogashree N.V.Raghuram of Yoga Bharati, Swami Bodhananda from Sambodh Society, and Bhikku Sanghasena from Mahabodhi Cener in Leh Ladhak
Who are we?
We are not just “Yet Another Yoga Studio”. We are an institution of yoga. We are affiliated with Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (SVYASA), a yoga university in India that has a rich background of research based application of holistic yoga. We cater to the modern society's needs without diluting the knowledge as a means of commercialization.
Our Wealth: the Volunteers; Our Homes: The ashrams
We build the organization brick by brick, with our culture rooted in compassion and service. Our adult and youth teachers are our biggest strength and together, we are one big family. Our volunteer teachers spread yoga from their homes and garages for the community! Our volunteer homes are like ashrams willing to serve any yoga enthusiast. We also offer yoga in temples, community halls, and parks, thanks to the community that also helps us help.
We train, motivate, and build spiritual strength into our teachers and staff volunteers. Our training courses have been given special emphasis in preparing personalities with karma yoga (volunteering) spirit. In return, our volunteers get ample opportunity to learn under yoga gurus and experts, in study groups, and through online sessions, and sadhana workshops. This helps them in building their health, their personality and meeting their entire family’s health and spiritual needs without having to go elsewhere. We are a one-stop-shop for holistic health and harmony.
Filling the Void - No Competition
Offering yoga in a studio setting and gym setting is a commercially viable option and has been mastered by many businesses and organizations world over. But offering yoga for individual transformation and as a therapy is the most difficult proposition. Yoga is a great healer if TLC (Tender Loving Care) is given patiently to the suffering.
We focus on developing a paradigm shift in the client’s mind — to develop a positive outlook, and to develop awareness that the ephemeral, transient world is far less important than what we make it out to be. To help the clients focus on the big picture of life and to develop a new purpose and meaning to life takes our total presence with them, including our time, patience, and one-on-one attention. Yoga is a healing system that is not recognized as such even by the people who need it, leave alone the insurance and government bodies. It takes a great deal of marketing and soft talking to convince our clients to pay. Our yoga teachers work with cost-effective while not compromising on effectiveness.
Word-of-mouth referrals - Our humility, patience, and professional handling of enquiries and yoga service has brought a huge influx of clients through word-of-mouth alone. People come with strong positive referrals and almost always confirm that their experience validates their friend's feedback.
Building relationship with our clients, associates, and volunteers. From a cup of coffee at Starbucks to visiting their homes, no stone was left unturned in building the network of support for Yoga Bharati’s success.
We Pay Yogi Dollars and More
Yoga Bharati compensates many of the volunteers for their time, though not affluently yet. We have increased our compensation by 30% compared to last year. Apart from monetary compensation and professional yoga enrichment, we listen to their personal problems, we offer help in their personal needs, we connect with them at deeper levels, and we also provide a good family caring atmosphere for their children while they are volunteering with us . All this makes Yoga Bharati a wonderful extended family and a net of support in life.
Our Revenue
Yoga Bharati has leaped forward in its spending and revenue with the lease of the center around 3.5 years ago. With relentless effort and professional management of every aspect of business, we were break even last year itself and we hope to do so this year too. Our revenue has gone up by 40% this year. Our staff have increased, the number of yoga offering have increased, and the salaries have also gone up as we are hoping to come at par with industry standards in our payments. But in spite of it, due to our smart operations, we may break even this year too.
We wholeheartedly thank all our volunteers, clients, staff, and the leaders for taking part in this grand journey. Om ShantiH ShantiH ShantiH !