Pacific Ashtanga Yoga

Pacific Ashtanga Yoga "Practice and all is coming" -Sri K. Pattabhi Jois
Our "Ocean Shala" located in Capistrano Beach, down the street from Dana Point, CA.

Sacred Pause — A One-Day New Year RetreatPacific Ashtanga Yoga ShalaSunday, January 18 • 10:30am–5:30pm “Almost everythi...
12/22/2025

Sacred Pause — A One-Day New Year Retreat
Pacific Ashtanga Yoga Shala
Sunday, January 18 • 10:30am–5:30pm

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you.”
— Anne Lamott

As we step into a new year, you’re invited to unplug from the pace of daily life and reconnect with yourself. Sacred Pause is a full day of breath, reflection, and renewal — a reset designed to help you pause, sense where you are, and shape the direction you’re headed on your path in the new year.
This retreat offers an invitation to slow down, listen inward, and reconnect with what matters most.

The day includes:
• Yin Yoga with Dr. May Yacoob
• Breath Practice, Meditation & Sound Bath to calm the nervous system
• Svādhyāya (Self-Study) & Journaling to support clarity and intention
• New Year Visualization to sense the direction that wants to emerge
• A letting-go ritual to make space for what’s next
• Community sharing & reflection to feel supported and inspired
• Sunset Meditation & Sound Healing to close the day with gratitude and ease

Give yourself the gift of a day devoted to your own health and renewal.
$210
Includes vegetarian lunch & a retreat notebook

Please register before January 8th.

Gratefully,
Diana
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Holiday Schedule 🎄 ✨Christmas Eve - Shala OpenChristmas Day – Shala Closed Your Golden JourneySaturday, December 27th11:...
12/22/2025

Holiday Schedule 🎄 ✨

Christmas Eve - Shala Open

Christmas Day – Shala Closed

Your Golden Journey
Saturday, December 27th
11:30 am – 1:00 pm
$40

Happy Holiday week!!

Happy Winter Solstice from •
12/21/2025

Happy Winter Solstice from
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Join us Sunday, December 21st at 8:30 am for Dharma talk and led primary with our Intern teacher Derek Voien ✨•
12/19/2025

Join us Sunday, December 21st at 8:30 am for Dharma talk and led primary with our Intern teacher
Derek Voien ✨
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Thank you for your amazing and beautiful generosity! We raised over $11k for the library project for the Tibetan Childre...
12/18/2025

Thank you for your amazing and beautiful generosity! We raised over $11k for the library project for the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation. The money will buy books and replace the shelving in the school library for Tibetan refugee children living and going to school in Clement Town, India.

We are beyond grateful for your love and support!

Blessings,
Karma, Sarsh & Diana
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We have a full week of classes this week apart from a New moon on Friday the 19th. Have a great week!
12/15/2025

We have a full week of classes this week apart from a New moon on Friday the 19th.

Have a great week!

How to practice Aparigraha: 1. Remind ourselves that accumulating material possessions is an easy — but not effective o...
12/12/2025

How to practice Aparigraha:
1. Remind ourselves that accumulating material possessions is an easy — but not effective or lasting — substitute for addressing challenges that we are facing.
2. When we are tempted to buy something new, explore what we already have and express gratitude for it. Or ask, Why do I really want this?
3. Substitute our impulse to buy or control with an action that directs our energy more inward.
4. Have faith that we are strong enough to handle any outcome in life. Find a meaningful quote about this and memorize it or keep it with you.
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Dharma Talk - AparigrahaYoga intern Jen Grzeskowiak was the guest teacher for the Dharma talk. She discussed the fifth y...
12/11/2025

Dharma Talk - Aparigraha

Yoga intern Jen Grzeskowiak was the guest teacher for the Dharma talk. She discussed the fifth yama, aparigraha - non-attachment or non-possessiveness.

“[Excess] leads to the bo***ge of sensuality and a desire through possession to expand the ego. It is me, me, me by means of my, my, my. If that is your attitude, the Inward Journey is reduced to farce from the outset.”
~ B.K.S. Iyenar, Light on Life

“The less time we spend on our material possessions, the more we have to spend on investigating all that we call yoga.”
~ T.K.V. Desikachar, The Heart of Yoga

“Duty uncontaminated by desire leads to inner peacefulness and increased effectiveness. Do your work in this world with your heart fixed on the divine instead of on outcomes.”
~ The Bhagavad Gita

Aparigrapha can refer to material things, but also our attachment to outcomes in situations and our relationships. Focusing on wanting, buying, maintaining, replacing and controlling misdirects our energy from connecting to the divine within our selves. Also, as Iyengar points out, we can only cultivate peace in our lives by not constantly reacting to every disturbance and frustration that arises. Our desires and pursuit of them ultimately harm us and others, even if this damage isn’t intentional.

More to come on how to practice Aparigraha.
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FRIDAYS Ashtanga Prep 9:00-10:30pm with .joyce.tu Yin Yogaevery Friday with Dr. May YacoobYin is a quiet practice that s...
12/04/2025

FRIDAYS

Ashtanga Prep 9:00-10:30pm with .joyce.tu

Yin Yoga
every Friday with Dr. May Yacoob
Yin is a quiet practice that specifically addresses the fascia and connective tissue.
A beautiful complement to the Ashtanga practice.
4:00-5:30pm
Fee: Donations to pediatric clinic for uninsured children

Zen Meditation Circle
Zazen Silent Meditation with Gina
1/2 hour seated, 1/2 Discussion
Friday 5th and 19th
6-7 pm
Fee: Donations

Chanting Meditation
Repetition of mantra sitting in a meditative circle supporting each
other as we learn, chant & meditate
with Timea
Friday’s 12th
6 – 7 pm
Fee: Donations
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Semester study 📚 The Niyamas and Yamas of YogaDharma talk - BrahmacharyaYama 4: Brahmachra - an invitation for us to mo...
12/04/2025

Semester study 📚
The Niyamas and Yamas of Yoga

Dharma talk - Brahmacharya

Yama 4: Brahmachra - an invitation for us to move through the world with reverence and respect, and the right use of energy.

“What drains your spirit drains your body. What fuels your spirit fuels your body.”
~ Caroline Myss

Recommended reading:
Anatomy of the Spirit, Caroline Myss, chapters on energy.

Practices of Brahmacharya:
Set healthy boundaries.
Choose nourishment over depletion.
Align your choice with what matters.
Saying ‘No’ from a place of truth.
Reset before collapse.
Be aware of energy leaks in your life.
Be aware when moving too fast.

This week’s invitation:
Think in terms of energy, every word, action and feeling is an expression of relationship to ones self.
Where are you out of harmony?
Think of yourself as an energy steward.

Gratefully,
Diana
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12/03/2025

Full moon 12/4 - take rest 🌝
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Address

34700 Pacific Coast Highway Suite 205
Dana Point, CA
92624

Telephone

+19492467315

Website

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One Precious Life - The Heart of Ashtanga

One Precious Life by Janie Surico We all face interruptions in life flow but I’ve witnessed the grace with which Diana’s handled the heartbreak thrown in her path.

I met Diana Christinson at the grand opening of her yoga studio, Pacific Ashtanga, and have always been impressed by her kindness and generosity. She’s had an adventurous life, studying Eastern Philosophy in Asia, earning a Master’s in Psychology and over 8 trips to Mysore India to Study at the Ashtanga Yoga Institute with Ashtanga Yoga Founder, Pattabhi Jois. You can read more on her website.

But she faced her most difficult journey last year when her fiancée was diagnosed with cancer and just forty-eight short days later he died. Something that would have knocked most people to their knees brought out Diana’s strength and gratitude. She used that fortitude to develop One Precious Life, a workshop that teaches us to respect impermanence through gratitude for all that is precious in this world.

Diana has been teaching gratitude for years but walking Richard through his final days inspired her to delve much deeper. It is all about setting intentions on how you choose to show up for what are the limited moments and days of your precious life. You will never be here, right now, again. Richard was young, healthy and expected to live a long life. His passing reminds us that every day is a gift and we must treat it so.