May 15, 2017

Meet Christine LaMonica of Prema Yoga in San Fernando Valley

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine LaMonica.

Christine, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started doing yoga in 2000. A friend sort of dragged me to a yoga class – I was an unwilling participant! But it challenged me in ways that I hadn’t been challenged before and I was hooked. That was a Bryan Kest donation class in Calabasas. But that was too far from where I lived for it to be something that I did all the time so I started looking for something closer to home. I was living then, as I am now, in Granada Hills in the north/west part of the San Fernando Valley. The closest yoga I could find was in Studio City so I started my practice at what was then Angel City Yoga. I followed different teachers and practiced at different places in the east valley over the years until I found my way to Annie Carpenter through my mentor teacher after my first teacher training in 2008.

Annie was a revelation. I had never practiced this way before, long holds (long!!) and no music! My practice transformed and so did my view of yoga. I did my second teacher training with Annie and have my 500-hour certification through her and SmartFlow. During this time of teacher trainings and yoga discovery I decided to go back to graduate school and get my master’s degree in kinesiology – which I began in 2009 and completed in 2012. I did my graduate thesis work on the strengthening benefits of a vinyasa yoga practice and presented the results of my research at an international yoga conference in India in January of 2013.

I had been teaching yoga at various places all over LA, but in 2013 went out on my own and began Prema Yoga subleasing from a karate studio in Granada Hills because there was still no yoga studio anywhere around! Someone had to do it and I decided it was me. About a year later I made another decision that the north valley needed more yoga than just the strong vinyasa type classes that I taught. We needed a full-fledged yoga studio. So, the quest for money and a location began. My amazing parents surprised me by being my biggest financial backers, we found a great spot on Chatsworth Street and Prema Yoga became a full schedule studio with flow, therapeutics, restorative and more. I’m thrilled with my group of truly amazing teachers, friendly and awesome desk staff and best of all, welcoming and open students. I love that the studio is a bit of a community meeting place where people see old friends as well as making new ones.

Has it been a smooth road?
It was definitely a financial struggle in the beginning. I used to have a day job in an office managing budgets and stuff like that. In February of 2009, just as I was going back to graduate school and had barely finished my first yoga teacher training, I got laid off. I took it as a sign to focus on teaching and school but I was going through a divorce and have three kids so it was definitely a dicey financial choice. I taught wherever I could, drove all over LA. Towards the end of grad school I started some student teaching at CSUN and that really helped and things started to get a bit more consistent. Once I opened the studio in October 2014, it was more hoping and praying and doing whatever we could to get the word out about the studio and attract some students. I remember so many days waiting in the studio and hoping someone would come for class! I had a decent email list but I was just one teacher. Suddenly I have a full schedule of classes and teachers that need students! But slowly and surely the students came and the word got out. I am so grateful for the group of teachers we have at the studio. We would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for their skill, dedication and love of yoga. Now we’re 2.5 years in and going strong. I’m actually looking for more room!

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I opened the studio so we could offer classes for everybody interested in doing yoga. We have classes for every level from gentle and therapeutics to level 2 vinyasa flow, yin and restoratives, kundalini and breath work classes. We have such amazing students. I’m very proud of their welcoming and nonjudgmental attitudes – we strive to foster a noncompetitive environment so every person that comes to class can feel comfortable with their expression of their practice, and our students really embody that message.

On a more personal note, my practice is strong – I love teaching inversions and arm balances but I also love exploring all the possibilities the practice offers. The asana practice is beautiful on its own but it’s also a perfect foundation to explore and innovate and expand on movement possibilities in the body. I have a very diverse movement background; combine that with my education and teaching in kinesiology and the result is that I’m always exploring asana expression in different ways. Using varied approaches, but always using asana as the foundation, I strive to help my students bring awareness to what’s happening in their bodies and all the glorious movement and possibility there.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I love Granada Hills. I’ve lived here since 1998 and it’s only gotten better since I moved here. The valley has been my home my entire life and you can find pretty much anything here – including lots of great, high quality yoga.

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