Donation-based yoga studio in Nevada City aims to build community

Donation-based yoga studio in Nevada City aims to build community

Kelly Golden wants everyone to feel comfortable at the Golden Mandala Collective. No fancy yoga pants necessary; no need to worry about having practiced yoga for years or being a master at the basic poses.

It’s a message she especially wants to communicate to the people she calls “basement yogis.”

“They’re really interested and curious about what yoga can offer them, but are intimidated to go into a class,” Golden said. “We want to break down that wall. We want to blow it up completely.”

Golden opened the Golden Mandala Collective, at 417 Broad St. No. B in Nevada City, in early October.

The yoga and movement studio offers a variety of general and specialized yoga classes Monday-Thursday; all classes are donation-based. The studio offers a free yoga class Sunday morning, taught by a rotating group of teachers.

The space will also host yoga teacher trainings and workshops, and is open for event booking.

Golden has been practicing yoga for 22 years, and teaching it for 16 years. She had been using the Broad Street space as a private studio where she was operating Vira Bhava Yoga, which offered 200- and 300-hour yoga teacher trainings.

The successful training programs helped spark her desire to expand the space’s offerings to the community.

“We had all these teachers, so we decided to give them a place to teach,” Golden said.

One of her priorities at the Golden Mandala Collective is making sure it’s a place that teachers can feel comfortable and supported while furthering their practice.

The space will offer workshops that will provide continuing education for registered yoga teachers; Golden will also offer a 200-hour basic-level teacher training starting in January.

The studio is an invaluable resource for those who already teach yoga, but want to advance on that path, said Rachel Tuck, who teaches at the studio.

“For those who do teach yoga, we want the next level,” Tuck said.

And it’s rewarding to be able to pass that knowledge along to others.

She recalled a student who recently came in to the studio. She asked Tuck several questions about yoga, and the student ended up practicing for about two hours that day.

When she left, Tuck said, “she was like, I can come back and I can do yoga.”

Golden and the other 13 teachers at the studio are aiming to make anyone who takes a class at the Golden Mandala Collective feel that confident.

“We’re more than just yoga teachers or practitioners, we’re people who are trying to live yoga as our lives,” Golden said. “Finding other people who are doing that, who are living like that is so important. We want to build a community.”

For more information about the Golden Mandala Collective, visit www.goldenmandala.com or call 530-430-9108.

To contact Staff Writer Emily Lavin, email elavin@theunion.com or call 530-477-4230.