A Yoga studio offers an anchor in a community or neighborhood, and City Yoga in West Hollywood, at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax has been holding a powerful space in the community since 1999. Opened as Southern California’s first Anusara studio, the now independent Yoga space has been operated by husband and wife owners Anthony and Rebecca Benenati since their marriage in 2003. The duo have been practicing Yoga collectively for nearly 40 years and they’re now bringing their expertise to a second location in March, 2012, in Studio City—the region of LA their family calls home.
The Benenatis are active members of the Studio City community—serving on their children’s school PTA, volunteering to teach Yoga to the staff, and serving on the board of and coaching at Toluca Baseball. “It just made sense that we have a studio where we spend most of our life,” says Anthony.
City Yoga in Studio City will offer the same great classes as their WeHo location including a variety of their beloved mixed level Vinyasa classes with specialty classes in Yoga therapy and prenatal Yoga. In addition to the regular classes, City Yoga offers 11th Step Yoga, a 12-step recovery style meeting that incorporates basic Yoga and meditation, an initiative that stemmed from graduates of City Yoga’s teacher training program. City Yoga also hosts “HIV+,” a yoga practice tailored specifically for HIV positive men and women. These individuals are invited to discover yoga’s healing powers for the immune system and the heart, while celebrating life through this unique practice.
“Our children are building their memories in Studio City, and we look forward to building a community with friends, old and new,” says Rebecca and Anthony.
City Yoga Studio City, 12265 Ventura Boulevard (corner of Laurelgrove): cityyoga.com.
Melissa Chua is an LA-based writer who enjoys inversions and playing around with arm balancing poses. m.chua13@gmail.com