About

Barefoot Movement is located in the heart of Downtown Oakland. Our sunny, third-floor studios have huge windows, 15 foot ceilings and the original douglas fir floors, refinished. This down-to-earth, community-oriented studio offers a friendly, personal approach to practice and in-depth study of both yoga and bodywork.

The studio offers a full daily schedule (50 classes per week!) of affordable classes in vinyasa flow yoga at various levels, prenatal yoga, postnatal yoga, meditation, restorative yoga and bodywork. Childcare and bilingual instruction are available for some classes.

Workshops and Teacher Trainings are offered throughout the year. Our programs are both rich in experience and affordable in price! Monthly payment options and early registration discounts are available.

The Flow Yoga Teacher Training programs (FYTT) are registered with Yoga Alliance at the 200 hr & 500 hr levels. The programs provide structure that motivates and encourages all levels of students, with additional opportunities for those who are ready for more.

The bodywork styles offered at the studio are floor-based and clothes-on, such as Barefoot Bodywork, Ashiatsu and Thai Massage. These are all styles that are efficient to practice and gratifying to receive. Receive a private, low-cost session in a community setting, or, receive and learn how to give bodywork with your feet and whole body by taking our classes and workshops.

We are located at:
Barefoot Movement
1635 Broadway, 3rd Floor
Oakland, CA 94612

We are on Broadway at the corner of 17th Street in Downtown Oakland.
We are across the street from the south entrance of the 19th Street BART Station and an AC Transit stop.

Leah Gillman is the founder and director of Barefoot Movement. She began using the name, ‘Barefoot Movement’ in 2004 to encompass her yoga teaching as well as her Barefoot Bodywork practice. In 2010, Leah opened the original one-room Barefoot Movement studio and expanded in 2013.

Flow Yoga Teacher Training I (FYTT I)

FYTT I was established in 2008. It is a 200-hour program registered with Yoga Alliance. Over 80 students have completed FYTT I, over 40 of those graduates have taught at the Barefoot Movement studio, and 6 have become instructors of the FYTT I program. FYTT I provides a comprehensive overview of yoga with a focus on developing the skills needed to instruct a Flow Yoga class, including an understanding of how to work with students of all levels. FYTT I is a 9-month program, allowing time for the content to become embodied. Read more about the FYTT I program here.

Flow Yoga Teacher Training II (FYTT II)

FYTT II was established in 2011. It is a 300-hour program, registered with Yoga Alliance. The Level II program runs on an ongoing basis and offers the greatest level of depth of all of the Barefoot Movement programs. Students choose the level of intensity for their program by overlapping the different components, completing them successively or even taking breaks between. Prerequisites for this program: successful completion of FYTT I, OR, a 200-hour teacher training program from any school.Registration is always open. Read more about the FYTT II program here.

Barefoot Bodywork & Ashiatsu

Barefoot Bodywork and Ashiatsu provide a back-to-basics method of massage that allow therapists to practice without expending their physical health. Although massage therapy is a popular vocation to pursue, the attrition rate is high due to repetitive stress injuries and exhaustion. Eastern cultures have been working with their feet for centuries, though it is seen as unique in America. A sustainable modality for the practitioner, various methods of barefoot massage are considerably less tiring than other styles and present little-to-no risk of injury. The quality of pressure is beneficial and pleasurable for the recipient because of the natural and direct way in which the pressure is delivered. The practitioner works as an agent of gravity, their falling body weight creates a deep, broad pressure that the receiver instinctively accepts. Read more about the bodywork styles offered here.

Workshops

To focus in on a particular topic, workshops offer more depth than a regular class can offer, while being less of a commitment than a full program. Workshops are offered in both yoga and massage, and some things between.

Yoga Classes

Approximately 50 affordable yoga classes are offered every week at the Barefoot Movement, enabling folks with most any sort of schedule and/or financial restriction options for great classes. Attentive, creative instructors, most of whom are graduates of the FYTT program, are ready to work with students who are brand new to yoga as well as seasoned practitioners.