Donna Farhi: A Guide to Donna Farhi’s Yoga Career

Donna Farhi is a yoga teacher, dancer, and author with over four decades of experience teaching and practicing yoga. She began practicing yoga as a child to cope with moving from her native Southern California to New Zealand. At 23, she began practicing with Judith Lasater, the legendary Bay Area instructor and founder of Yoga Journal magazine.
She trained in San Francisco, then became certified as an instructor in the Iyengar yoga method.

Today, Donna is one of the most celebrated figures in the yoga world. She lives on a 30-acre farm in Christchurch, New Zealand, but travels the globe leading intensives and instructor-training programs and has authored four books, as well as a seminal curricular text for teaching ethics. She draws from this deep well of yoga experience and translates it to easy-to-understand cues for students and teachers alike.

As a yoga instructor, Donna’s focus is empowering others, giving them the skills needed to practice self-care, developing a unique approach of guiding rather than enforcing. In her eyes, the foundational aspects of yoga are the most important for a healthy mind, body, and practice.

In her MasterClass, Donna aims to distill these elements down to their most essential principles. These principles include setting up for basic standing-pose work; traditional movements, including those from sun salutation; making inroads to meditation; and committing yourself to the practice of relaxation.

Donna’s methods are a refreshing approach to the yoga practice. They offer a different way of growing and developing the body and spirit while also giving students the tools to build their own authentic yoga practice.

Donna has written many contemporary classics about the practice and importance of yoga, including:

1. 1. The Breathing Book: Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work (1996): In this book, Donna details the many ways to hone your breathing techniques and use breath control as a way to benefit your mind, body, and spirit. Donna explores how people with debilitating conditions like chronic pain, insomnia, and asthma use breathing practices to manage their symptoms.
2. 2. Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness (2000): This book is full of photographs and illustrations detailing various poses and postures (also known as asanas). Suitable for different levels of experience, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit outlines the seven basic movement principles and how to use these foundations to center yourself and find inner peace.
3. 3. Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living (2005): This book teaches readers about the importance of yoga as an everyday life practice rather than a weekly exercise class. Donna offers spiritual guidance for integrating yoga into your life to optimize your mental and physical health.
4. 4. Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship (2006): Donna establishes the guidelines and principles that every aspiring yoga teacher should follow in this book. Learned through her decades of experience, Donna discusses establishing healthy boundaries between teacher and student, creating a comfortable environment while also creating a business out of a gentle healing practice.
5. 5. Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain, and Moving with Ease (2017): Donna co-authored this book with yoga expert Leila Stuart. This guide focuses on centering your body and finding your optimal alignment through yoga. They take readers through the methods of moving your body pain-free and how to balance your body structure.

Unroll your mat, get a MasterClass Annual Membership, and get your om on with Donna Farhi, one of the most celebrated figures in the world of yoga. Follow along as she teaches you the importance of breathing and finding your center as well as how to build a strong foundational practice that will restore your body and mind.