Local Sacred Spaces
For a list of sacred spaces near Yale’s campus, visit the Chaplain’s Office webpage below, which includes a map of all locations.
For a list of sacred spaces near Yale’s campus, visit the Chaplain’s Office webpage below, which includes a map of all locations.
The Shambhala Meditation Center “is part of an international community of urban meditation and rural retreat centers” that offers practices derived from Shambhala Buddhism. The Center offers free meditation instruction on Sundays and Mondays, in addition to recurring programs and groups including “Queer Dharma” and “The Heart of Recovery” meditation and recovery group. The Center also offers a course of study on Shambhala Buddhism and meditation along with weekend workshops.
Elm City Wellness is an independent health spa with a “focus on wellness, not beauty.” Services include a variety of massages, acupuncture and community acupuncture, reiki, and facials. Elm City Wellness practitioners will customize treatments to your need, and offer services specifically tailored for athletes, musicians, and students.
True Bikram Yoga’s New Haven branch, located at the corner of Elm and Orange, offers yoga in the bikram style: twenty-six postures and two breathing exercises practiced in a heated room. True Bikram Yoga “combine[s] the motivation of the personal training experience, the social experience of the gym and the stress relief and mental clarity that takes it from a fitness regime to a lifestyle of health and wellness.” Student rates are available with a valid student ID.
Located on Whalley Avenue, Balanced Yoga is a hot yoga studio offering a variety of yoga and meditation classes for the individual as well as the family.
Breathing Room, located in downtown New Haven, offers a variety of classes ranging in level and focus, including candle-lit yoga, lotus flow vinyasa, form and flow, yin yoga, urban zen restorative yoga, max meditation, happy power hour +, and much more. Breathing Room also offers private yoga and reiki sessions. Special classes and workshops, such as Chocolate Chakra Yoga for Valentine’s Day, conscious breathing workshops, and meditation workshops, occur every month. Student drop-in and class card rates are available.
With two locations in Erector Square and Ninth Square, Fresh Yoga offers a variety of drop-in and series classes for all levels. The studio also offers an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction series, in addition to national workshops with renowned guest instructors, in-depth workshops taught by Fresh Yoga Staff, and teacher training programs. Live-stream classes are also available for those wishing to participate in the comfort of their own space. Fresh Yoga offers special rates for students, including a class card student discount and a student drop-in rate.
Yale New Haven T’ai Chi Study Group offers class once a week and practice sessions twice a week at Dwight Hall. Classes are open to the public, and beginners are welcome, especially during September. A monthly membership fee of $40 is charged starting in October, though classes are free for undergraduates.
New Haven Zen Center, located on Mansfield Street, offers Zen meditation instruction to the public. Meditation sessions are free, but a donation to support the Center is appreciated. The Center also offers one-day retreats, residential practice, and kong-an teaching.
New Haven Insight is “a meditation community dedicated to the practice of mindful awareness and compassion, with the goal of decreasing (and ending) stress and suffering for all beings.” Open to students, faculty, and New Haven community members of all levels and experiences, the group practices meditation and offers Dharma Talks and Group Reflections. New Haven Insight meets on Monday and Thursday evenings in Dwight Chapel on Old Campus and also hosts occasional meditation retreats.