Virtual Yoga Asana

Dr. Rowena Mittal blends her passion for women’s health and her Indian & Chinese heritage with her deep understanding of human physiology and her experience building women’s health biotechnology to share the wisdom of yoga in tangible language. To Rowena, yoga is a life practice that changes our lives and the lives that we serve off the mat for the better.

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After multiple rounds of egg retrieval procedures and nowhere but home to continue her nurturing and safe yoga asana practice; Rowena's mission has been to create a space we can go before, during, and after treatment with shared experiences and needs. While she is grateful for support from her acupuncturist and therapist, she needed more weekly support during an isolating time -- and hears the same unmet need from her students, friends, and colleagues.

 

And thus, Yoga for Fertility Care was born. Rowena's goal is to share the powerful 8-limbed yoga practice that nurtures fertility while fostering the whole self, enabling continuity of yoga practice and community when we need it most, promoting mental and emotional wellness, and honoring safety.

 

Rowena has been teaching yoga since 2014 across San Francisco through public classes, workshops, private lessons, corporate wellness programs, and yoga teacher mentorships. While her first exposure to yoga was in the 1990s, Rowena’s regular yoga practice began in 2008 at the suggestion of her physicians and physical therapist amid a struggle with chronic back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, and systemic inflammation.

 

In 2014, Rowena enrolled in yoga teacher training with long-time teacher Rusty Wells at Urban Flow in San Francisco, CA to demystify the practice while honoring its eastern roots. At this training, she got to study with Jason Crandell, Wah!, Amanda Moran, and more. Rowena completed continuing education with Rusty Wells, Stephanie Snyder, Nichol Chase, Susannah Freedman, and Charisse Balance, DPT, as well as mentorship with Stephanie Snyder and Neil Wadhawan. 

 

In 2023, Rowena completed prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher training with renowned yoga teacher and former midwife, doula, and childbirth educator Jane Austin. Rowena’s training and experience includes bhakti flow, vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, hatha, yin, restorative, accessible, chair/seated, and prenatal/postnatal yoga asana; injury prevention, pranayama, meditation, ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, pelvic physical therapy, non-violent communication, and the art of physical assisting. Learn more about Rowena's yoga teachers and mentors here.

 

Rowena obtained her BS in Chemical Engineering from MIT with a minor in Biological/Biomedical Engineering and two humanities concentrations in Women & Gender Studies and French Language & Studies. She has her MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

 

At MIT, Rowena was a dancer and exec member of the performance group, MIT Dance Troupe. At CMU, she was part of a performance dance group, Dancer's Symposium, where she had the pleasure of dancing with and for professional dancer and choreographer Raymond Ejiofor. In addition to DS, she was a dancer, exec member, and choreographer of a competitive South Asian dance troupe, Tanah, fusing Bharatanatyam and other Indian dance genres with western dance styles.

 

Rowena's teachings seamlessly blend physical, meditative, and spiritual practices, delivered in English and Sanskrit, with a focus on pranayama (breath practice), alignment, meditation, bhakti (devotion), optional hands-on assists, sutra (philosophy) and a step-wise approach to balancing the body or building new asanas (physical pose practice). Students share that through her class structure, music, and voice, they leave her classes feeling stronger and energized, restored and at ease – empowered with knowledge that extends far beyond the four walls of the studio.