Maya Chen

Teaching philosophy

Maya believes that the mat is a mirror — a place where we meet ourselves honestly, without performance or pretense. Her teaching draws from 15 years of practice across Ashtanga, Yin, and Restorative traditions, woven together with a deep respect for stillness. She creates space for students to slow down, listen inward, and find what she calls “the intelligence of the body.”

Maya began practicing yoga at 22 during a period of burnout in her corporate career. What started as a stress-management tool became a complete reorientation of her life. She trained in Mysore, India under B.K.S. Iyengar's lineage, then spent two years studying Yin Yoga with Paul Grilley in California. She founded Sōl Studio in 2018 with the intention of creating a studio that felt like a sanctuary — unhurried, warm, and deeply human.