4308 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94609
Tuesday 6:00 to 7:30 pm level 2/3
Wednesday 7:15 to 8:45 pm
Sunday 9:15-10:45 am
3215 Lakeshore Ave.
Oakland, CA 94610
Monday 9:15 to 11:00 am
Monday 7:30 to 9:10 pm
Saturday 9:00 to 10:40 am
campYoga
is a style of yoga, a type of community, and a way of approaching life. The style is vinyasa yoga linked with conscious breath & blended with dance technique, traditional acrobatics, and core stabilization methods. The community is warm, inviting, playful, and vivid. The way of life is present, open, authentic, and focused on feeling the moment by moment experience that evokes boundless love for self and others. The format is fast paced ashtanga-based vinyasa set to music. Class begins with a few gentle partner body balance stretches, moves to the traditional Ashtanga Chant (vande gurunam) and a focus on Ujaii breath, and progresses into a series of sun salutations, with modifications, combined with stabilization and strengthening exercises. After the warmup, we move through a standing sequence, a seated sequence, and end with finishing poses, pranayama, and savasana. The work is based on elements from classical Ashtanga, alignment principles from the Iyengar style, Pilates core work, acrobatic strength training, contemporary dance sequencing and technique, and acrobatic-style arm balancing and partner work. The spiritual emphasis is broad, with a grounding in mindfulness practice, Vipassana meditation, and the cultivation of self and other love through self-reflection. Everything in the class is optional (except breathing!) and students are invited to modify any pose as needed. You can do 500 extra pushups or watch the whole spectacle from child’s pose if you’d like! It gets hot & sweaty, so bring a towel and some water.
laura camp
I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Lived there for a few months. Moved to College Station, Texas. My first memory is watching the show Love American Style from a tiny red rocking chair, and wailing when the show was preempted by the first lunar landing. I lived for a while in Chicago, moved back to Texas, had a stint in Singapore, then back to Houston for the larger part of my growing up.
I moved to the Bay Area in 2000.
As a kid, I read, danced and rode horses. I saw the world as a wonderful music video set to an array of cheesy 70’s pop songs. My sister Julie was my favorite ABBA lip synching companion. For a few years in elementary school, I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and I spent some time in a wheelchair learning to manipulate adults into giving poor little wheelchair girl gifts and milkshakes.
Happily, my arthritis went into remission when I was 11. At 13, I entered the second half of 7th grade as a new kid in a big suburban Texas junior high wearing a granny wig that looked like ragged Louisiana roadkill. I had recently lost my hair from an autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata. My lord. Junior high sucks when you look like a mini Stepford wife! My parents bought me a horse, which provided escape. I spent most of my time trying to jump picnic tables and knock my friends off their horses with big sticks.
Thrillingly, my hair came back for high school. Horses gave way to drill team, and I was the quintessential Texas girl, eventually winning the title of Miss Drill Team Texas of 1986.
After high school, I went to Rice University and earned a BA in English Literature. I was also a jazz dancer with the Delia Stewart Dance Company, Dance Ad Deum, and the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company.
In my early 20’s, my hair fell out again, and this time I lost my eyebrows and eyelashes too. I was devastated. I felt ugly, unfeminine, and lost. I was married at the time and my husband tried to convince me of my so-called “inner beauty,” but I wasn’t buying it.
In my mid-20’s, I competed in local and state fitness events. I pushed myself to achieve a traditional style of beauty, which in the fitness world looks ripped to the bone, tanned to the extreme, and wrapped in a fake smile as big as Texas.
And then, I was exhausted.
I was on stage at the Kennedy Center with my dance company, made a fast turn, dropped a heel and my right calf muscle exploded.
Yoga found me as I searched for a healthier way.
I studied with Robert Boustany, a yoga magician in Houston. He had 35 years of yoga experience, and he infused his classes with arts from the world of physics, tai chi, and beyond. I was hooked.
Since moving to the Bay Area, I’ve studied with many wonderful local yoga instructors. I also study static trapeze and beyond. I love working on handbalancing (a love suffused with pain!).
I live with sparkling Aaron and 2 boston terriers (Beaudry & Grendel).
I love my parents.
I’m happy.
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