Built around the light
Sunhouse is a small yoga studio in Ojai, founded in 2019 by Leila Amari. Five teachers, nine classes, one room facing west.
Leila
Our founder
Leila Amari
Leila found yoga at nineteen in a community hall in Lisbon and has practised every day since. She trained in hatha in Mysore, in Kriya in Rishikesh and in kundalini in New Mexico, and taught for ten years in Los Angeles before moving north.
She opened Sunhouse in a former citrus-packing office because of the light. The studio is built around the rhythm of the day: a salutation at sunrise, a candlelit class at night, and a full reset every Sunday.
The Chakra Series is her favourite thing she has made: six classes, six teachers’ styles, one thread from root to crown.
“I wanted a room where you can feel the time of day. The practice changes with it.”
Leila Amari, founder
What we believe
Three things
01
Every class has a shape.
Mantra, breath, asana, meditation. The same four parts every time, so you can stop wondering what comes next and just practise.
02
Small on purpose.
Eighteen mats, five teachers and a short schedule. Teachers learn your name and your knees.
03
Tradition, explained.
We chant, use mudras and talk about chakras, and we always say what something is and why we are doing it.
The teachers
Meet the instructorsFive people we trust
The room
27 Signal Street
Through the door is a round room lined in warm wood, with a skylight at its centre open to the pines. The sun moves across the floor through the day, from the garden windows in the morning to the skylight at noon. Floor cushions in a circle, a shelf of singing bowls and a gong named Agnes.
There is a small tea corner by the door. Stay after class.
Visit us
The round Sunhouse practice room: wood-lined wallsphoto