About

Swami Nirmalananda (Rama Birch) is the originator of Svaroopa® yoga and the founder and spiritual director of Master Yoga Foundation.

Svaroopa® yoga specializes in releasing tension in the muscles connected to your spine and in the deeper layers of your body. Poses are choreographed to decompress your spine from tail to top, allowing muscles to release and lengthen without forcing or straining, improving flexibility and ease in movement, while building strength, stamina, and vitality. Each pose targets a specific part of your spine to unravel tight areas and create space between your vertebrae as well as your internal organs.

Svaroopa® Yoga provides safe and reliable changes in your body in the first session. This style of yoga supports your body where it is using blankets, blocks, and chairs for gentle release of internal tension on all levels.

It is suitable for beginners, those with limited flexibility, experiencing pain, recovering from injury, and benefits the body before and after athletic activities.

Quiet your mind. Cultivate an inner state of peace, and experience your Self at a deeper level.

Body Bliss Yoga was established by Joanne Wolf  in 2005. Joanne was  certified  teacher and  a yoga therapist.  She focused on teaching only Svaroopa® Yoga because she found it to be the most effective in relieving pain and releasing tension in both body and mind.  She believed yoga can be modified to benefit everybody, regardless of age, size or level of flexibility and appreciated it facilitating going deep within the self.

In 2011 when she was facing a terminal illness she chose Robyn, one of her dedicated students, to continue with the practice she established in Charlottesville, Virgina.  In 2013, after she passed, Robyn continued providing instruction and is now the current owner of Body Bliss Yoga.