Yoga workshops and events in Bucktown, ChicagoUpcoming events & yoga workshops

In these fun and informative classes, you’ll build a strong foundation of knowledge, including: common yoga poses, how to practice safely with the right anatomical alignment, and more about yoga’s rich, fascinating traditions.

No flexibility or prior experience required. Come feel grounded, and at home in your body.

Thursdays, October 8–29 5:30–6:30 PM $98 for the full series Drop-ins welcome

This workshop brings together dharma discourse and therapeutic asana, exploring the benefits and discrepancies of our increasingly virtual lives—and insisting on the importance of direct, embodied experience.

Talk: Yoga & Virtual Reality in the Digital Age

Yoga is based upon direct experience. And of course, you might say that using the computer and the cell phone is a direct experience, of sorts. But virtual reality is not a replacement or substitute for the real thing.

With the inclusion of AI into the mix, the information and images we see online can confuse us, distort our perceptions, and create realities that in fact don’t exist. Too much trolling online lets us incessantly peep into rabbit holes that, once we go down, we often can’t get out of.

Since the pandemic, yoga studios have added online classes as a way to maintain continuity of practice as in-person attendance dropped drastically. To that extent, the internet has served to fill an important gap in the transmission of yoga.

Yet the tradition of the student-teacher relationship is an incontrovertible fact. However valuable an online class may be for people who cannot be there in person, being in the presence of one’s teacher and joining together with your satsang—your community—has for millennia provided the ambience in which to learn and thrive.

Gabriel’s dharma discourse will explore the benefits and discrepancies of virtual reality and the many ways yoga practitioners can use technology, while insisting upon the hands-on experience necessary to embody and substantiate the claims of Yoga.

Twists: Yoga’s Spiral Energy

In addition to flexion and extension—forward and backward bending—the spine can also rotate around its own axis. This workshop will explore a variety of poses that demonstrate the versatility of twists.

Whether done supine, prone, seated, standing, or inverted, twists offer an opportunity to work throughout the spine and its relationship to the neck, shoulders, lower back, hips, and knees.

As the trunk turns, yoga traditionally teaches that the inner organs are activated and nourished, supporting digestion and helping to remove sluggishness. Through thoughtful practice and alignment, we’ll explore how rotational movement can help the spine become suppler and the joints move with greater ease and freedom.

Saturday, October 10 · 1–4 PM $65

Throughout this slow, deep yoga practice, Eden will offer restorative touch and energy healing to participants, utilizing a combination of reiki and gentle massage techniques. You will feel held as the nurturing touch invites you even deeper into a state of deep rest, unwinding your nervous system. Combined with sound healing, this is sure to bring you back to your best self, and the present moment.

Length: 2 hours

Price: $65

Come celebrate a decade of practice, community, movement, and good times with us.

We’re turning down the lights and turning up the records for Vinyasa Glow — a special glow-in-the-dark yoga class with Rich, set to vinyl spinning live on the turntable. Expect UV lights, glowing bodies, great music, and a playful practice.

And because October 20 also happens to be Rich’s birthday, we have even more reason to celebrate. 🎂

Stick around after class for refreshments, music, and an anniversary hang as we toast 10 years of Chi Yoga Shack and the community that made it possible.

Tuesday, October 20 · 6:00 PM Vinyasa Glow + 10-Year Anniversary Celebration Refreshments & celebration after class

Learn Ashtanga step by step in a supportive small-group setting.

Ashtanga Foundations is designed for complete beginners, newer yoga students, and anyone who wants to better understand the fundamentals of this traditional practice. Over four weeks, Rich will break the practice down into approachable pieces, giving you time to learn, ask questions, experiment, and build confidence.

Rather than simply following along, you’ll learn how and why the practice works—developing the breath, postures, transitions, and body awareness that create a strong and sustainable foundation.

Week 1 – Posture Control & Sun Salutation A Healing through movement, foundational alignment, and an introduction to pranayama and breath control.

Week 2 – Transitions Explore how we move between postures, including the foundations of jumping and ways to adapt transitions for your body.

Week 3 – Sun Salutation B & Standing Poses Build strength and stability while exploring what really matters in a pose—and what doesn’t.

Week 4 – Hips, Spine & Breath Control Explore mobility, stability, spinal movement, and deeper breath work while bringing the pieces of the practice together.

Rich Gonshak is a longtime Ashtanga practitioner and current apprentice of master teacher David Garrigues, with more than a decade of experience helping students develop strength, flexibility, focus, and confidence through traditional yoga practice.

You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of Ashtanga, greater confidence in your own practice, and a foundation you can continue building on.

Personalized attention • Strong foundations • Space to explore & play

4 Saturdays | 12:30–2:30 PM October 24, October 31, November 7 & November 14 $120 | Chi Yoga Shack