Welcome to Yoga House

The intentional community where I live is called Yoga House. Located in Venice, CA, there is a big yoga dome in the back yard. We’re still working on it. It could have been finished a long time ago, except we’ve built the thing almost entirely from reclaimed materials.

Construction of the yoga dome in Venice, CA

When I first moved into Yoga House, I was fascinated with all the construction projects going on, especially the yoga dome, which was just getting started at the time. I asked the property manager, Bobbyi Israel (pronounced “Bobby-eye”), to speak with me about how his fascination with reclaimed materials began.

“I got into using reclaimed materials years ago, when I was interested in making largescale art projects and I couldn’t afford the materials,” Bobbyi said. “I noticed back then that especially here in Hollywood, a lot of high-quality materials were being thrown away into dumpsters all the time. Lumber, construction materials, façades… We were building huge shade structures for a festival called Burning Man, to shade and shelter hundreds of people, and I started to look at all these high-quality materials being thrown in dumpsters, and it all kind of just evolved from there.”

The frame of the yoga dome is made of 40-foot bamboo splits, interwoven to form a dome. The bamboo splits are the only thing besides some nails and carpentry materials we had to purchase. I’m not 100% certain where the bamboo originated from. The floors are reclaimed hardwood from two gymnasiums that closed down. It took several months to figure out how to get the floors to piece together, as they’re both different sizes. I asked Bobbyi where the flooring materials came from. I mean, how does one go about reclaiming gymnasium floors?

Bobbyi said, “I saw an ad on Craigslist for a guy who had taken out a gymnasium floor in Long Beach, I went to see him, and ended up buying it at a really good price. I had to haul it from Long Beach back to Venice and figure out how to make it back into a floor. Later, I went to another wood salvage yard I heard about, and they had another gymnasium floor that was cut up. So, I bought that one for a really good price. Now we’ve created this floor here that’s about 24 feet in diameter, and when it’s finished it’s going to be a beautiful, functional floor.”

The dome goes up

It’s not easy using reclaimed materials. It’s much easier to buy new flooring and have it installed in a day. In our case, the gymnasiums that closed down weren’t planning on having anyone reuse their old floors, they just sawed them up in all different shapes. We had to cut each piece to size, and then get a special “tongue and groove” attachment for the saw in order to fit the sections together (one of the few items we had to purchase).

Another part of community life is that we do all the work with our own hands. All of the work being done on the yoga dome, as well as all the other projects around this house, and the other two houses comprising this vibrant and ecclectic community, is being done by community residents. And, at least until a couple weeks ago, none of us were carpenters or had any knowledge about building floors with reclaimed materials.

Bobbyi said, “I can’t afford to hire the real craftsmen at their rates, so I try and find skilled people in my community with whom I can trade rent, or get at a discounted or fair rate. I do this with auto mechanics as well, and bicycle mechanics and chefs… With this floor here, I found a guy who was experienced with flooring, he was driving through town, needed a place, we helped him out, put him up and he worked at a really great exchange rate, and we got our floor built in just a couple [of] days.”

I’ve been on yoga-teaching hiatus for a while, and one of the things that drew me to move here was having a yoga dome on the property. I’ve been wanting a home studio to practice yoga in every day, and to teach workshops and special classes, but I never imagined when I moved in that I would get such a quick education on how to build a structure like a yoga dome. We’ve had several work parties, including moving and setting the foundation, weaving the bamboo dome and protecting the floor from the rain.

Inside the yoga dome

We had a cover installed on the dome, also made from reclaimed materials — panels of different colored fabric, some breathable, some waterproof, which Bobbyi found in dumpsters outside a movie studio — only the cover wasn’t attached securely enough before storms hit Los Angeles. The resulting flood not only soaked the floors, but also damaged the bamboo splits when the fabric cover between each bamboo split filled with rainwater, creating weighted water bombs, and ultimately burst.

It’s now up to us to fix the damage and find a solution to complete the yoga dome project. We’re committed to using reclaimed materials, even when setbacks cause delays. We think we’ve come up with a solution for finishing and protecting the floors without the need for a yoga dome cover. We’re thinking of putting down some kind of design with copper and other metals, and then covering the floor with a protective coating, making it impervious to the elements. At the moment, since we’re stalled by seasonal rains, we’re taking this time to look into the most eco-friendly options.

The result will be worth the wait. It may not be as easy as buying things new to fit, and certain instances such as finishing the floors may require additional investments, but the completed yoga dome will enhance our community and neighborhood, and using reclaimed materials is our way of helping protect our planet. Our goal is to have the yoga dome up and running sometime in the spring, if the weather plays nice.