| | Published July 17th, 2024
| Yoga studio Yoga Village opens in Lafayette
| | | By Elaine Borden Chandler |  | | Valorie Moore holds her new sign in her Lafayette yoga studio Yoga Village. Photo Elaine Borden Chandler |
This April, a new yoga studio opened its doors in Lafayette. Yoga Village is located in two tidy, white walled rooms with the occasional hanging vine and accents of teal and pale pink. Upon entering, its founder Valorie Moore, a friendly woman with alert eyes, welcomes visitors and gently answers their questions. "I really wanted to create something here that is for our community, that is about connection, because that's what I was craving in the last ten years," she said sincerely as she gave a tour of the studio. "Lamorinda is a great place for young families and we need more support for that."
Moore started her career in the notoriously grueling profession of dance in New York City, performing modern dance and ballet. When she stopped after giving her last performance while five months pregnant with her first child, yoga was the only way she found that let her heal physically and emotionally. Inspired, she soon became a trained instructor, teaching in New York and then in New Mexico. However, when she moved with her family to Orinda in May 2020, Covid forced her to pause her teaching.
This time off proved motivational for Moore. She had previous experience with how isolating motherhood could be and how hard it was to create a community. "That's when I really started thinking, `Why doesn't this exist? And can I make it exist?'" Moore said as she nimbly balanced on a chair to turn on the AC unit.
She started planning how to make her dream reality. Her first step was to establish herself by teaching yoga at the elementary schools in Orinda and Lafayette. She designed her classes to act as a bridge between PE and psychological wellness, with emphasis on the latter. "Yoga is healing physically but the root of it is mental health," Moore said firmly. Moore's next step was to start looking for a place where she could teach adults and eventually make into a community space. She wanted to find somewhere in Lafayette due to its cute downtown with local stores and central location within Lamorinda. She looked for a year and a half without finding anything that met her needs when she saw an article on the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce website. It was about Holistika, a newly opened conscious social club in Lafayette. Intrigued, she reached out to the owner Ash Lew and, upon finding a common interest in creating healing communities, they agreed to share the same space. Less than two months later on April 2, Yoga Village opened.
Moore felt that it was important to choose teachers that she would want to learn from. "I've collected these amazing people that really know their stuff. That kind of hunger for learning is what I love about yoga - there's so much to learn," she said before enthusiastically describing all of her teachers and their specialties. One teacher is no doubt familiar to many, "Coach" Chris Walsh who was formerly a PE teacher and the track coach at Campolindo. He teaches an Absolute Beginner class as well as Viniyoga -- a gentle, slow yoga with a strong breathwork. Another more unusual class is Yin yoga, where poses are held for three to five minutes, taught by Cyndi Lezcano. Dave Larot teaches the Gentle / Slow Flow class and Michelle White teaches Flow and Restore.
Moore teaches several different levels of Vinyasa yoga, a popular variety that emphasizes flow, and the more uncommon Buti yoga, which blends yoga, high intensity interval training, plyometrics, cardio, and tribal dance. "It's really fun," said Moore, before demonstrating several athletic, rhythmic moves to help reduce tension and release energy, before standing up beaming. "When we blast the music, it is not a relaxing class at all."
Moore has been enjoying these first couple of months getting to know her new regulars and first members, but she isn't done yet. She is already looking to the future to evolve Yoga Village even further. In the short term, there is going to be a Saturday morning all ages class for families. In the long term, she wants to create a community for mindful families where both parents and kids can learn. "For a long time I've thought, 'Wouldn't it be magical if I could go and take a class from a really good teacher and at the same time my kids nearby were also doing yoga or something mindful?'" After saying this, she looked around the studio with hope and determination before turning back. "That's what we're striving toward. And we're starting here."
Yoga Studio is located at 3416 Mount Diablo Blvd Suite B and classes can be found at https://yogavillagecafe.com. |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA