Remembering YogaWorks Walnut Creek

In 2009, I ended a seven-year relationship, moved back to Walnut Creek, and joined the hottest yoga studio in town—YogaWorks.

Built brand new, YogaWorks was nestled in the heart of downtown Walnut Creek, a block from Broadway Plaza on the second floor of the corner open parking garage across from Ross Dress for Less, where the historic Simon Home Center and City of Shoes once survived.

The studio was spacious and stylish, with a San Francisco cityesque vibe, wrapped in great glass-paned windows donating generous light to the reception area and practice rooms.

Bolsters, blocks, blankets, and straps crowded the cabinet walls. Jade, Manduka, and Gaiam yoga mats spread out in a patchwork of paint on the bamboo flooring, sewing individual fabric pieces into a collective design, fashioning a unique and unified piece of art.

It was the perfect combination of comfort at home and the convenience of your local yoga studio, with stunning amenities and a spectacular view of Mount Diablo.

YogaWorks was a lungful of renewed air—a place where everyone knew your name, a place to pause, connect, and exhale.

It had everything you needed at your fingertips and more—budding friendships, a smile, movement, casual conversation in the corridor, mindfulness, breakthroughs, a chic boutique, and hugs.

Tears of sweat, sorrow, and laughter pulsated in the halls. Hearts beat to the drum within the walls of the practice rooms as bodies rolled, rejoiced, and rose to the feel of the tune and the teacher's tone and rested in the quiet stillness of breath.

I practiced with some of the best teachers and flowed alongside incredible students. I met amazing people and created soul-full connections—relationships I continue to carry with me and nurturing friendships that remain and flourish.

It laid the groundwork for a lifelong devoted yogini, igniting the flames of fascination to understand who I am on the deepest level and my hunger for knowledge.

It was where I learned to make mates with my angst by building a bond with my breath. I learned to safely embrace discomfort and vulnerability, open my guarded heart, release stress and tension, lengthen my capacity, strengthen my body, foster flexibility, and flip my perspective upside down.

As I spread and stretched, so did my intention and craving for practice and asana, morphing into something expansive and profound, something I never imagined.

Starting with a wish for weight loss and a solution for anxiety and sleep, from level 2-3 Vinyasa flow, heat, sweat, and moody music to moving methodically with my breath and uncovering my longing for slowness through Viniyoga and my will to be with the once sharp silence and stillness to now a softness and coming home to my body, breath, and mind with more awareness, balance, and grace.

I became a certified Yoga teacher and studied how alignment and sequence translate into a swell of stability and a current of calm. There, I found my courage to stand up in front of others, co-create, and be playful with my voice, laying the material for my aspiration to be of service.

It was where my eagerness and dedication to Philosophy Fridays (now Wisdom Wednesdays on Zoom) held with my teacher, Mynx, blossomed, learning to practically apply the tradition of Yoga, wake up from an automatic to a conscious way of living, paving the path to becoming a more skilled being navigating this human experience.

What has become a decade-long, steady, and strong Sangha continues to walk alongside me on this unique and universal path.

YogaWorks was a place that steadily held me accountable for showing up to my practice, body, breath, and inner evolution, becoming a lighthouse on my darkest days. To a place where doubt no longer grips firm footing and trust in the unknown is the faith I can learn to rely on.

In 2020, YogaWorks closed its doors. Like many, during the first few months of the pandemic, I hoped it would reopen and we would return.

I walked into the studio one woman and walked out another.

I am forever fond of and grateful for the memories and teachings. The threads of connection and community continue to ripple and weave seamlessly into my life.

It was the foundation for imagining a life separate from my thoughts and the place that reunited me with the Self who embodies the wisdom of practice, unlocking the clarity and confidence of a natural leader and ever-evolving curious student.

With every ending, there is a beginning. What I thought I would never appreciate; I now adore practicing asana and meditation in the intimacy of my home.

The tools, wisdom, aspirations, and practices I acquired and continue to learn act as life rafts in the sea of constant change and uncertainty and clear the lens through which I see life.

It is my connection to the one within and the universal oneness within us all. It is how I learned to be generous and compassionate to my suffering and that of another. It continues to impress and expand my limits in witnessing life's exquisite beauty, miracles, and emotional richness.

The teachings of Yoga are a blessing, and finding the tradition and a teacher who can carry on the custom of this precious path is a gift.

My loyalty to my teacher and the tradition of Yoga has a deep and lasting impression. It endures and supports many irritations of self in ways never predicted, forever in honor of and appreciative to.

Though our once-beloved studio is gone, we are never without practice. As my teacher Mynx says, "Life is the practice room."

Dina is a Walnut Creek resident. In her newsletter, Through the Lens, she writes about Yoga, mindfulness, love, loss, and the human experience.

Explore Dina’s life coaching services, yoga retreats, and intuitive and grief writing classes at https://www.dinavarellas.com.