With over 30 years of success in the restaurant and nightclub business, San Francisco entrepreneur
Tim Dale brings experience and know-how to yoga studios.
Tim Dale
Written by Beth Rifkin (in the voice of Tim Dale)
There are yogi’s that have developed a new discipline or maybe their own version of conventional disciplines, but at the Yoga Tree studio’s in San Francisco we created a whole new way of offering yoga to the public. When we opened our doors ten years ago we were bringing yoga in a new direction; hip, cool, we put in great sound systems, aesthetically pleasing studios with finished floors, beautiful curtains and nice lighting but yet with highly trained and very dedicated people teaching a range of styles and methods. We combined the traditional disciplines with something that’s dynamic, modern and fun to do – for everyone. Yoga is for everybody – and every body.
I started doing yoga 15 years ago; I’m in the restaurant and nightclub business and was looking for a balance. I’ve always been very physical; my father was a famous gymnast, tap dancer and entertainer and gave me a thirst for exploration and adventure. He had me standing on my head when I was 5 years-old, taught me how to dive off cliffs at a young age and there was always a lot of gymnastics around the house. I also enjoyed backpacking and cycling, among other activities, but as I was approaching my mid 30’s I was looking for ways to be active but yet a little nicer to my body, so I found yoga. A short time later while taking a sabbatical from the restaurant business I committed to a 6 day a week yoga practice. Within 3 months I really started to understand what it’s all about and was amazed at how it calmed my mind, reduced stress, and strengthened and revitalized my body.
Yoga is a low impact but high value form of physical activity. It can help alleviate muscle pain and stiffness. People find that it heals old injuries that they’ve been dealing with for many years or physical ailments they’ve been struggling with in their lives.
I began to notice that I wasn’t the only one experiencing these benefits from a regular practice. The little yoga studio that I had been going to for five years that started with just a small group of regulars was becoming more and more crowded with people. Things took a serendipitous turn; I’ve had great success in the restaurant and nightclub business, so at the time I was looking for another restaurant location when I found a great space that was available on Stanyan Street in the Cole Valley area of San Francisco, near the Haight. The owner didn’t want the noise and garbage of a restaurant so on a whim I said, “what do you think about putting a yoga studio in there”? He loved it. I took a leap of faith and signed the lease.
At that point I started doing research and talked to different yogi’s and teachers about what it would take to open a yoga studio. I met with about a dozen different people or so – including a woman who would later become my wife, Tara, who herself has been a Hatha yoga instructor for 14 years.
I became really informed about what I wanted to do. A lot of what makes people really good in the restaurant business is freedom and I knew it was the same with yoga. My desire was to open a studio where there were a variety of disciplines and the teachers could teach what they wanted, whatever their passion was, what they were taught. There are a lot of incredibly trained and experienced yoga instructors out there – some had been teaching for 30 or 35 years; I didn’t think I’d get the best quality instructors if I told someone what to teach with just my five years of experience practicing.
And it worked. After Stanyan Street had been opened for about a year our classes were so full that we had to turn people away. I started looking for a second location; one night I was driving home really late from a friend’s house and saw a “For Lease” sign on an old church on Valencia Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. Tara and I were on our way to Costa Rica to get married but we quickly signed the lease before we left. The owner was also a general contractor and loved the idea of a yoga studio – and that we were getting married – when we came back a month later the place was transformed! It was exactly what we wanted and it was beautiful, we call it our wedding present! And it was busy from the day we opened the doors.
Our next location opened on Hayes street, near the Civic Center area and then our fourth and largest studio, in the Castro district, which is a welcoming wide open space with natural lighting and holds about 120 students. Tara was pregnant at the time so we call that studio our baby gift.
With four locations we are able to offer all of the different types of yoga, multiple times throughout the day – Hatha, Vinyasa, Anusara, Iyengar and Restorative. We also have classes in prenatal, Acroyoga, Shadow Yoga, Jivamukti and yoga for kids. Some styles like Vinyasa are fast paced and vigorous, while Gentle Hatha and Restorative allow for a slow-moving, meditative and calm practice. Hatha and Anusara fall somewhere in between, so there’s something for everyone, regardless of age, experience or ability. Our instructors enjoy working with beginners and welcome people who may be in class for the first time and they also know how to challenge the more advanced students. Many of them have extensive experience with therapeutics, injuries, and massage therapy, and they also have the skills to work with people of special needs.
There’s a great misconception that to do yoga you have to be young, in great shape, really physically strong or very flexible. The truth is that to benefit from yoga, all you have to do is show up, even if all you do is sit on your mat and breathe or if you modify every pose – you are still doing yoga and gaining from the practice. Any class and any pose can be modified – there’s one way to do a pose if you are a 20 year-old tri-athlete and another if you are 60 going into your first yoga class. It’s about just doing the particular practice that feels good and resonates with your body. You don’t have to push, push every day or be in hyper-drive. There’s no need to break new ground every time, the point is to just do what feels good for your body. I don’t think that yoga is about being an overachiever – it’s about showing up and doing your practice, breathing and being mindful of your body.
All of the disciplines and different levels have the same multiple benefits, possibly the largest of which is relaxing. Yoga helps people just let go, clearing away emotional stress and worries. I think that people also gravitate to our studios because of the sense of community that is created in the classes. Our students of all ages, physical condition and ability levels feel nurtured and supported and they are able to meet lots of other people who share the same interests and experiences.
You are never too old to start benefiting from yoga. Hope to see you in class!
Namaste
Prior to opening Yoga Tree with his wife Tara, Tim Dale owned and operated many of San Francisco's most popular restaurants and nightclubs. These include: Eleven, Fumé, Undici, Eddie Jack's, the DNA Lounge, the Tap Room Bar, and the Up & Down Club. His career began in 1978, opening Wolfdale's in Lake Tahoe with his brother and sister The Dale’s now have four yoga centers, two children, and a growing community of yogis to share it all with.
Written Yoga Tree SF Yoga Studios
