David Nelson

What is Yoga?

"Yoga" usually brings to mind poses that involve stretching and strengthening. These poses, or asana, are a small part of a larger system called hatha yoga that involves breath control and practices of conduct and self care. Hatha yoga is also a small part of yet a larger system of yoga that includes meditation, sensory control, concentration and other practices that ultimately serve to bring one's sense of self into unity with the animating force of the universe. In fact, the term "yoga" shares the root of our word "yoke" and suggests that the Self is bound to that universal force as one.

Regardless of your belief system, yoga is a powerful tool to direct the senses, the mind, emotions, and vital energy of the body towards the ultimate fulfillment of one's highest potential as a human and spiritual being.

Yoga is a system that has been developed over several millennia by men and women seeking the meaning of life and an understanding of how best to live it. From their comprehensive wisdom, we have been handed tools for good health, equanimity in emotions and mental peace. In the current era, yoga has become a popular method of exercise and for some, a therapeutic modality for stress, injury, illness, and physical challenges and disability.

A regular yoga practice not only delivers good health but it develops the tools we need to navigate the stress of our world and the trauma of our mortality. The exercises we have come to know as yoga, are in fact, only the first steps toward the ultimate promises that yoga can deliver.

Because yoga is not just exercise, it warrants a special relationship between the teacher and student. Yoga instruction teaches challenging physical postures, sophisticated breath control, behavior and philosophy.

What is Iyengar Yoga?

There are many types of yoga being taught today. Most of these are contemporary manifestations of hatha yoga and delineate the methods of instruction and practice championed by a particular teacher.

The Iyengar family and community have developed a system for protecting the integrity of Mr. Iyengar's teaching through a certification process. This process is the most rigorous of its kind and is the only one that ensures the competence of its yoga teachers through an ongoing competence assessment. The system ensures that teachers continue to progress in their studies so long as they remain certified. To learn more about this process, visit this link.

About David Nelson

David started practicing yoga to seek relief from chronic back pain and found that yoga was a powerful and dynamic medium to explore the meaning of life. David began teaching in 1998, after receiving certification from the White Lotus Foundation. He has studied Bikram, Ashtanga, and Iyengar yoga, and has been a student of Dharma Mitra, Edward Clark, and Judith Lasater. In 1998 he founded Castro Yoga, which later moved and became Yoga Garden of San Francisco From 2001 to 2006 David studied with Advanced Senior Iyengar Instructor Manouso Manos, and apprenticed weekly with him from 2002 through 2006. He has also studied scoliosis with Elise Miller, and has recently practiced under the instruction of Lois Steinberg. He studied with the Iyengars in 2004 and with Geeta Iyengar at the 2007 National Conference.

November 2008, Photo by Anne Hamersky

David and Dharma Mitra in Parivrtta Janusirsana, Sausalito, 2001

David received certification from the Iyengar National Association of the U. S. (IYNAUS) in 2005. He received a BA and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. With his wife, Marisa Toriggino, he owns and operates Yoga Garden of San Francisco (California).

David's Public Yoga Instruction

David teaches public yoga classes at Yoga Garden of San Francisco. His classes are physically challenging but they are safe and accessible to everyone. From the instruction of a physical practice, he encourages students to develop a higher awareness, or consciousness, about how we live our lives and how to achieve our own potential. Students should verify the class level published in the schedule to ensure that they are in the appropriate class for their abilities.Yoga Garden of San Francisco is a well-equipped Iyengar yoga school. . You can view Yoga Garden of San Francisco's schedule from the menu bar and you can specify specific instructors from the schedule page.

David assisting Marisa with Salamba Sarvangasana 2

Private and Semiprivate Instruction

David teaches individual students in his private studio in San Francisco's Haight Street district. Private instruction is appropriate for people wishing to start a yoga practice and for more experienced students who are ready to make advances in their practice. The personal nature of yoga practice makes the close relationship between student and teacher rewarding. The rate for private instruction is $95 per hour, or $120 for 90 minutes.

Semiprivate instruction is for groups organized by David or by others to complete a series of classes as a cohort and who advance through a curriculum together. Rates for these programs are arranged individually. Any programs scheduled by David with vacancies are listed below.