Valentine’s Specials
Discounts on massages or facials for couples/friends
• Two 1 hr. sessions for $120 • Regularly $150
• Two 1.5 hr. sessions for $160 • Regularly $200
• One 1 hr. session for $65 • Regularly $75
• One 1.5 hr. session for $85 • Regularly $100
Available to purchase until Feb 16th. Please book at YKBK reception or call us at (510) 486-0264.
Please check out our 20% off sale on all our Prema Organic Skincare products at YKBK.
Massage Services at YogaKula
Treat yourself or friends to a massage with one of our senior certified massage practitioners. Gift certificates are available. Each of our skilled practitioners incorporates modalities such as those listed below. Please refer to their bios to learn more about them.
• Swedish: incorporates a variety of strokes to increase circulation, cleanse the lymph system and relax the nervous system.
• Deep Tissue: goes beyond the soft tissue to release built up tightness deep in the muscles.
• Shiatsu: a Japanese system of massage that uses deep pressure on the meridians in order to balance the chi (vital energy) of the entire body.
• Acupressure: an ancient healing art developed over 5000 years ago which uses the fingers to press key points on the surface of the skin to stimulate the body’s natural self-healing abilities.
• Cranio-Sacral Therapy: This special treatment frees up the movement of the cranial bones and the sacrum and allows for a smoother flow of the cerebro-spinal fluid.
• Trager: is a very gentle but penetrating soft tissue modality using gentle rocking movements, compression and elongation designed to release physical tension in order to relax and free the mind.
• Pre/post natal massage: special nurturing attention to the needs and well being of mothers to be and new mothers, includes lower back and relief for weight bearing joints.
Massage Fees:
• 1 hour massage $75
• 1.5 hour massage $100
Massage Packages:
• Four 1-hour sessions for $280
• Four 1.5-hour sessions for $380
• Ten 1-hour sessions for $650
• Ten 1.5-hour sessions for $900
Casondra Sobieralski holds a BA in Art History from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Conceptual and Information Arts from San Francisco State University. She obtained massage certification from Diamond Light School of Massage and Healing in 1995–shortly after moving to California–because everyone she met instantly identified her as an East Coaster.
Casondra has had additional massage and somatics training at the Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, the San Francisco School of Massage, McKinnon Institute, Heartwood Institute, the Bodiwork Institute, and Moving on Center. She worked extensively with Dr. Christopher Ross of Golden Gate Chiropractic over seven years; therefore, she has much experience working with a vast array of injuries and with pregnant women. In terms of form, Casondra specializes in deep Swedish massage, but she incorporates philosophical elements of Breema and Thai. Energy work, as a fundamental part of her experience growing up, is a given in her bodywork. (“Mom gave us “aura fluffs” after school with our snack.”) Casondra is a marathon runner and a mountain biker, so if you engage in those sports, be assured that she can empathize especially well with your muscles’ needs.
Both Casondra’s multimedia art and her bodywork are influenced by her passion for exploring the often fuzzy and subjective line between myth and buried history, particularly the rich history of women healers/priestesses/shamans in the Western Hermetic tradition. Casondra is elated be on the Advisory Board of the Lunafest film festival, which is co-sponsored by Clif Bar and the Breast Cancer Fund, and seeks to promote women’s health, wellness, and voices.
Damiana Carpizo I call my bodywork artful massage because it is a creative, perceptive and educated response to the needs of every person. Like all art forms, massage requires refined sensitivity; it is a natural talent as well as a developed skill. Drawing from the bodywork-forms I have studied, every massage becomes an integrated collage of techniques, energy flows and intuitive responses. In the process of listening with my hands and my heart, a beautiful, nurturing solution of touch reveals itself.
I completed the Hollistic Health Certification Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz while doing my undergraduate degree in Language and South Asian Studies. The massage training I received focused on Swedish, deep tissue, acupressure and neuromuscular release techniques. I have also learned much from my father, who is a gifted massage therapist. Through my continued work, ongoing workshops and self-study I strive to deepen my skills and knowledge and pass this growth on to my clients.
My fascination with the body as the abode of spirit and as an instrument of the mind has defined my exploration and keen interest in bodywork, art, meditation and yoga (which I have been studying and practicing for the past 10 years). Currently I am enrolled in the Anusara Yoga Teachers Training program.
I like to celebrate the gift of embodiment through creativity and movement, singing, friendship, good food, discipline and fun! Through my work, which I truly love, I see a chance to share an offering of kindness and healing with anyone who needs it.
“Our hands imbibe like roots
So I place them on what is beautiful in this world,
And I fold them in prayer
And they draw from the heavens light.”
- St. Francis of Assisi
Jessica Turken brings over 18 years of experience integrating a range of bodywork and somatic techniques in a unique approach that relieves stress, unwinds tension, and promotes deep relaxation, self awareness and healing.
Jessica began dance training at the age of eight and became a professional ballet and modern dancer working with various companies and groups around the country. She then began to teach Pilates, Gyrotonics and yoga after using those approaches to help heal chronic injuries sustained from her dance career and also trained with Carol Thaler in Richard Heckler’s Lomi Bodywork, another integrative approach incorporating Deep Tissue, energy balancing, and breathwork. She later became a certified Trager practitioner and has also been trained in Ohashiatsu, Acupressure, Body Mind Centering, Authentic Movement, DreamBody Process Work, and has a liberal arts degree centered in Somatic Education and Dance Therapy from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
While living in New York City, Jessica worked primarily with professional artists of all kinds and created Emotional Process Work for Actors while on the faculty of the Caymichael Patten School. She then moved to the Bay Area after meeting her life partner Deane Juhan and together they created a series of transformational workshops called Balancing Self and Society: Joining the Healer and the Artist Within which they taught in the US and Europe.
Jessica now sustains a private practice in the Bay Area and immensely enjoys being on the YogaKula faculty working individually with all ages and backgrounds.
Christina Conrad, LE, CMT, is a Licensed Esthetician, Acupressurist, Swedish/Esalen Massage Therapist, Reiki Master Teacher and Life Coach with over 20 years experience in the natural health and healing industry. After a series of minor car accidents and injuries in her youth, her life changed when she started receiving massage on a regular basis; she learned that she could feel good in her body again.
In 1988, she received her certification from the Acupressure Institute in Berkeley, and then her certificate in Swedish/Esalen massage directly from the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California the same year. As a Reiki Master Level Practitioner, she invites the natural life force energy within and around the client to balance and heal as needed. She also integrates techniques of cranio-sacral therapy as needed, which frees up the flow of the cerebro-spinal fluid and allows the bones of the cranium and the sacrum to move freely and synchronisticly. She has enjoyed combining the modalities of East and West into her practice.
