About Us

Barefoot Movement provides supportive yoga instruction for students to begin, grow, and develop their practice. Our approach enables individual learning in a diverse and welcoming community.

Barefoot Movement has been teaching Vinyasa yoga in Oakland since 2004. We are teacher-owned, and all our teachers received training here as part of their education. Our classes are tailored for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of yoga so that students at every stage receive appropriate support and challenges to help them progress. Although we share a background at this studio, each of our teachers offers something different, and we encourage students to attend classes from multiple teachers to benefit from their diverse approaches. We walk the walk—don’t be surprised if you see Barefoot teachers taking classes with you!

Barefoot Movement started as the nomadic teacher training of Leah Gillman operating in various locations around Oakland. We opened our brick-and-mortar location in the heart of downtown Oakland at 17th & Broadway in 2010 as a one-room schoolhouse and expanded in 2013 to open our second studio at the same location. In 2018 Leah sold the business to three of her students, Alek Trail, Kara Contreary, & Leonora Willis.  In 2020, due to the Coronavirus epidemic, Barefoot Movement moved from its original space to a completely virtual format.  Now, students from all over have been able to study with Barefoot Movement teachers in its new online format.  Though virtual, we’re still committed to authentic yoga instruction and connection to the local community and beyond—and especially the people who call Oakland home.