In celebration of Yoga Tree’s 15 year anniversary this month, we sat down with Tim Dale and Tara Dale, owners of Yoga Tree in the Bay Area.
Tara’s vision for Yoga Tree was born out of a personal hunger to understand and practice all the facets of yoga. Rather than start a studio devoted to one style of yoga, Tara envisioned an inclusive home where the best teachers from every branch of yoga could come together. As a mother, Tara began to take a longer, generational view of yoga. Tara’s passion for the diversity of yoga inspired Yoga Tree’s teacher training program designed to educate and inspire the next generation of yoga teachers ensuring that yoga continues to grow and flourish and meet the ever changing needs of the rapidly growing yoga community.
Wanderlust: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Tara Dale: A Veterinarian.
WL: Favorite yoga pose?
TD: Eka pada rajakapotasana – resting pigeon pose. It feels so great!
WL: Least favorite pose?
TD: Virabadrasana III (warrior III)
WL: What do you love about what you do?
TD: I love inspiring people to practice yoga and pranayama. I love continuing education and inspiring teachers to keep going with their education. I believe the best teachers keep learning.
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Twenty years ago, Tim took a sabbatical from the restaurant and nightclub business, and took up yoga. Shortly after discovering the benefits of the practice, he noticed the rise in popularity of the classes he was regularly attending and a noticeable gap in the market for a yoga studio that would be a space for great teachers to be able to teach their passion. With this vision in mind, he opened the first Yoga Tree in October of 1999. Today Yoga Tree has nine yoga studios across the Bay Area. Tim loves the community, and can often be found taking drives around the city in his 1963 Dodge Dart GT Convertible with his two children.
WL: What challenges you about what you do?
TD: I wish I could just give it away for free, but I need to balance the books and pay the bills.
WL: What do you love about what you do?
TD: I get to heal and inspire others through the work I do.
Join the Yoga Tree community this Sunday, October 12th in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for a celebration with yoga, live music, entertainment, giveaways, body treatments and much more! Learn more at yogatreesf.com.