Mindful Yoga at Saint James

A path to a quiet mind

Welcome to the Mindful Yoga Studio
located on the lower level at
119 N. Duke Street in
downtown Lancaster.

Weekly Offerings

Mondays, 9:00 AM | Gentle Yoga Onsite & via Zoom  
Mondays, 6:00 PM  | Gentle Yoga Onsite & via Zoom
Tuesdays, 10:00 AM | Chair Yoga
Wednesdays, 9:00 AM | Gentle Yoga Onsite & via Zoom
Thursdays, 11:00 AM | Chair Yoga 
Fridays, 9:00 AM | Gentle Yoga Onsite & via Zoom

Session Cost:

Your first session is free!

$15/session
$60/six sessions
$80/month with the unlimited payment plan.

Bundles can be used at your convenience and for any type of session; they do not expire.
Pay online or at the door, by check or cash (exact change only, please).

If you'd like to take advantage of our unlimited yoga practice plan, click here to learn more.

Have questions? Click here to email Kate Brossman.

There are no yoga classes on national holidays or when church offices are closed. 

Gift certificates available
Click here to order yours!

Click here to purchase yoga sessions

What is Mindful Yoga?

All of our yoga classes employ mindfulness. What is Mindful Yoga? Put simply, it is slowing down to be in the moment. Mindfulness is employing all our senses to engage fully in that experience without distraction. So, the practice of Mindful Yoga is a practice of coming back again and again and again to our experience on the mat. Experiencing our body in its glory of strength, flexibility, aches and pains; experiencing breath as it moves throughout our body and nourishes it; and experiencing our mind as it focuses on each posture and sequence without distractions, self-criticism or other unproductive thoughts. Sometimes in life and a yoga practice, we aren’t as mindful as we’d like to be and aren’t firmly embodied in that experience and miss out on its richness. Mindful Yoga, when practiced regularly, can help to build our mindfulness muscles. Join us in one or more of our weekly classes.

Class Descriptions

All our instructors have at least a 200-hour yoga certification and have completed or are earning their 300-hour advanced certification, sometimes several times over. They also have additional specific areas of training from chair yoga, meditation, pilates, enneagram and others.

All classes are 60 minutes long. Postures and sequences are practiced standing, sitting or lying down depending upon the class. Props are available as needed.

Gentle Yoga
As the name says, this yoga is gentle in its approach and is a form of hatha yoga.  The yoga is performed more slowly than you would find elsewhere with mindful attention in the postures, and generally includes time for meditation, yogic breath and relaxation. Gentle Yoga is suitable for a wide range of body types and modifications are offered to address individual needs by our well-trained instructors.  Our teachers will vary in how they approach the ideas of yoga through different tools so students can develop more skills and abilities to nurture their practice.

Embodied Spirituality
A gentle yoga that engages our body, heart and mind.  Drawing inspiration from authors such as Richard Rohr, this yoga helps us connect to the Divine within us.  Classes will often focus on an uplifting spiritual theme. Taught by Jennifer Lancaster, PhD in Religion and 200 RYT certified yoga instructor.

Chair Yoga
Chair yoga is an adaptable and accessible yoga practice that anyone can enjoy, regardless of age, flexibility or fitness level, and those whose work life is spent seated.  Chair yoga is perfect for experiencing the benefits of yoga while using a chair for support and having fun.

Urban Well Mindful Yoga Instructors

Sandra Orndorff

Sandra Orndorff, a Yoga and Meditation Instructor, PA Certified Family Recovery Coach and Enneagram Certified Life Coach has 20 years of Yoga and Pilates as well as her experience of embodiment coaching. She understands the connection between the body and the soul and how important moving the body is to our vitality.

As a graduate of Evolution Power Yoga she has a grounded education in the connection to physical body not just as poses but also from the mechanics of the body. Sandra leads each session with an intention, a grounding, and a short Shavasana.

Jen Burnett

Jen Burnett has been teaching yoga since her graduation from the Evolution Power Yoga Learning Institute, where she completed the 250HR Access training program.  Her intention in becoming a yoga teacher was to make yoga accessible to seniors.  She established several chair yoga offerings, including a weekly AIM class at the Senior Center at the Lancaster Rec, and a weekly Virtual Senior Center class with the Lancaster County Office of Aging.

She is active on the board at AIM to Empower, which is a non-profit focused on changing lives through yoga.  Jen guides her classes with a focus on gentle movement, inquiry, and meditation.   Her classes place an emphasis on breath, the link between the physical body and the mind:  healthy breathing makes the mind relaxed, fresh, and vibrant.

Roberta Strickler

Roberta has been teaching yoga as therapy, mindfulness meditation, and Ayurveda in central Pennsylvania since 1995. That same year, she earned her first certificate as a yoga teacher from the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, MA. For the next 12 years, she continued her yoga studies to include Anusara Yoga, a Iyengar-based style of yoga known for its elegant language and therapeutic principles of alignment. She has also studied mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Roberta sees the goal of modern yoga to be the relaxation of the body, so the mind can be stilled for the practice of meditation. She has taught yoga for mindfulness-based stress reduction and yoga for breast cancer survivors, other cancers and cardiac events.

Her approach to yoga and meditation integration along side of Ayurveda, balance, physical rehabilitation, and well being, have dominated her private teaching throughout the past ten years.

Kate Brossman

As a 20+ year practitioner of yoga, Kate decided to pursue  her teaching certification in order to deepen her understanding of her own practice and approach to life.  She attained her 250-hour yoga teaching certification through Evolution Power Yoga 10 years ago and followed that with trainings in meditation, body mechanics, chair yoga and life coaching.  She’s currently enrolled in an advanced 300-hour certification program in Adaptations.  Kate loves how yoga can help with physical strength and flexibility as well as bringing grounding and centering on and off the mat. She believes the practice of yoga, mindfulness and meditation are something each of us can bring into our daily living no matter our age, health, or current physical abilities.

The Urban Well is a registered trademark of Saint James Episcopal Church.
Executive Director, Kate Brossman

Amanda Lyda

Amanda Lyda, our passionate yoga instructor who completed the ACCESS 250-hour teacher training at Evolution Power Yoga in 2022, began teaching that same year. Driven by the belief that yoga is for everyone, specializing in Vinyasa and Restorative yoga, Amanda fosters a nurturing environment for students of all levels, emphasizing inclusivity and relaxation. Committed to ongoing growth, she's currently enrolled in the ADAPTATION 300-hour training at Evolution Lancaster Yoga.

Jennifer Lancaster

Jennifer completed her 200-hour yoga teaching certification through Soma Yoga Institute. She also holds a PhD in Religion and approaches yoga as a way for building both physical strength and spiritual connection. Understanding yoga as a tool for spiritual formation helps her to embrace a welcoming posture toward yoga practice.

In teaching, Jennifer invites students to enter into a space where they are attentive to the physical, emotional, and spiritual qualities of yoga. She seeks to integrate these qualities to find a sense of wholeness and connection through yoga practice.

First Friday Restorative Yoga: An evening of restoration for your mind, body and soul
Held on the first Friday of every month, this unique session of restorative yoga begins at 7:30 PM in the yoga studio with  restorative yoga, a gentle style of yoga that uses props—such as blankets, bolsters, and blocks—to support the body in a series of gentle and passive poses. Restorative yoga can help reduce stress and promote deep relaxation, which can aid in improving physical, emotional and mental well-being. Spiritual restoration continues in the main Sanctuary at 9:00 PM with Compline: Ancient Music and Prayers for the Modern Soul includes ancient Gregorian chant sung a capella by candlelight in the main sanctuary. The service of Compline {pronounced cóm-plin} is based on the closing time of prayer in the Daily Office, or monastic cycle of prayer. It is said in monasteries around 9:00 PM when darkness has fallen and bedtime is near. Thank you to your yoga teacher suggested donation $5 - 10.

Cost:

First session is complimentary. Bundles can be used at your convenience and for any type of session; they do not expire. Pay online or at the door, by check or cash (exact change only please).

$15/session
$60/six sessions
$80/month with the unlimited payment plan.

If you'd like to take advantage of our unlimited yoga practice plan, click here to learn more.

Have questions? Click here to email Kate Brossman.

*For most national holidays, Monday yoga moves to Wednesdays. Check with your instructor for exact time and location when a national holiday falls on a Monday.