Yoga For All Beings is a yoga studio located in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Yoga For All Beings offers a variety of classes including: vinyasa, vin-yin, beginners yoga, restorative yoga and yoga nidra. Our studio occupies a large, open loft space on the 3rd floor at 508 N Hoyne Ave, across the street from the vegan cafe, Upton’s Breakroom. With numerous windows providing natural light and exposed brick walls, Yoga For All Beings is often called a “hidden gem” by students. It’s not just about our look, but about what we do inside of the yoga walls that really matters. All YFAB teachers are not just well- trained and certified instructors, but they’re wonderful human beings who are eager to create the best experience possible for their students. We understand that not all beings are built the same and that every individual body is different, requiring different adaptations for certain poses. We’ve got tons of props at the studio, including bolsters, blocks, blankets, straps and sandbags. At Yoga For All Beings, we believe that anyone can practice yoga. With infinite possibilities there’s so much that you can do on a yoga mat, whether you’re wanting to take things up a notch or down a notch. Child’s pose is always there for you, no matter what anyone on the mat next to you might be doing. Yoga For All Beings is a judgment-free zone… we welcome you with open arms, happy hearts and smiling faces. For new students, please take advantage of our intro special: $20/1 week of unlimited yoga.
George’s passion for yoga finds root in inspiring others and making people feel good within their comfort levels. One must do a combination of things to be happy in life, and he believes yoga is one of them.
George’s class is a body and mind practice, which consists of asana (physical practice), pranayama (breath-work) and meditation. In every class, modifications will be offered to suit each student’s level and to ensure that everyone leaves practice feeling light and refreshed.
George has been studying yoga since 2005, and in 2011 he completed Moksha’s Teacher Training under the guidance of Daren Friesen. George continues his study of yoga through personal practice in addition to regularly attending workshops and trainings throughout Chicago. George is inspired by the teachings of Jim Bennitt, Saul David Raye, Richard Freeman, Gary Kraftsow and many others.
It was in Belgrade, Serbia, Gordanas home country, where she took her first yoga class. It was 1996 when she went to a dance studio to take yoga class wondering what yoga was. The book inspired her to search for the meaning of the word yoga and, her curiosity led to a three-year journey of Hatha Yoga. After this sequence of her life, she lost practice and for many years she had no thoughts of yoga. One day the circumstances of her life led her to move to the US. Desire for yoga was awakening again and, Moksha Yoga Center became her home. She practiced with different teachers there and, one of them, Jim Bennitt inspired her to continue deeper exploration of yoga through Teacher Training. In 2010, she completed Teacher Training program under the guidance of Daren Friesen. After taking workshops with master teachers like Tias Little, Aadil Palkivala, Rod Stryker, she was led to Ashtanga practice Mysore style one morning. In the silence of self-practice and Todds patient guidance, Gordana found her true practice. Daily practice was teaching her how to synchronize mind and body, overcome habits, relax within discipline, learn how to be open and fearless and find sacredness in everyday life. She discovered something that was always available, inexhaustible and impossible to posses.
In 2011 meeting Richard Freeman and reading his book The Morror of Yoga was the reaffirming moment when she decided to work towards teaching Ashtanga practice.
Gordana has been teaching since 2010 and, she feels she is just beginning. She has practiced Ashtanga for three years and, in 2013 she traveled to Thailand, India and Nepal drawn to search for the roots of yoga, meditation and Buddhism. She spent 7 weeks practicing with R. Sharath Jois in Mysore India, which helped her to reach a deeper integration of the practice. In Nepal she studied Tibetan Buddhist Meditation and Buddhist philosophy.
Gordana continues her daily practice with Todd Boman who teaches her courage, dedication, discipline and trust every day with his own example. As a teacher she aspires to inspire and guide students to go deeper within and search for more balance and depth in both yoga and life. She is interested in reaching harmony in body and enabling energy to flow freely through all channels, joints, muscles and organs. She is interested in reaching levels of oneself that otherwise one could never reach and feel who/what we are instead of who/what we think we should be. With practice, Gordana challenges both herself and her students to rethink what asana is about and potentially work on marrying asana and meditation to reach a deeper practice where it could be possible to meet stillness in movement and experience flow in stillness.