The word ‘Sanga’ comes from Sanskrit and means ‘community’. Sanga Yoga is where women come together. It’s a sanctuary for all women in all stages of life, as well as pregnant women, mothers and their babies, parents, and those trying to conceive. We offer weekly yoga classes, evening circles, and day retreats, as well as private classes and coaching in Oslo, Norway.
The Sanga is where we come home. Where we share and heal, and where we can just be. It’s where we find flow and balance, where we practice self-care in the broadest sense of the word, and where we are all one – no matter if you are a woman exploring her body and mind, if you are pregnant, if you have children or if you have a deep desire to become a mother.
We are Theresa and Claudia, founders of Sanga Yoga, Oslo-based mothers, yoga teachers, and community seekers. We found each other through social media and yoga, connected over coffee and cake while discovering we had almost too much in common, and realized there was actually no other option than working together on spreading our love for yoga and womanhood.
The idea for the Sanga was born out of our need for community and practicing yoga for own mama bodies and with our babies, and that search for self-care when our days were spent mothering. We decided to turn that need into beautiful classes, circles, and retreats that are all focused on nourishing body, mind, and soul. The Sanga is our safe haven and we can’t wait for you to join us.
Theresa Harmanen
She has practiced yoga for almost 20 years but her interest in energetics, movement and the spiritual realm has been with her since a young age, influenced by her father who was active in bodywork and massage. She has a strong creative side and a deep love and respect for Mother Nature and often draws inspiration from that in her yoga. Besides studio classes and corporate classes, Theresa is also available for private sessions.
Theresa is a certified yoga teacher (RYT 200 hours) in Samayoga – a holistic yoga form inspired by traditional hatha yoga with influences of Qigong, the chinese five elements, flow style postures, pranayama (breathing practice), mantra, ayurveda, Vedanta, and meditation. Theresa is also trained in Embodied style Yin/Yang Yoga (100 hrs continuing education CE) as well as Pre- and Postnatal yoga (50 hrs continuing education CE).
She consideres her yoga mat her sacred island and every time she steps on the mat she arrives back home. Her teaching is soft and layered but powerful. Topics she often returns to are moon cycles and life transitions, the innate female strength and intuition, gratitude practices, and how to easily take yoga off the mat and into your life.
When not on the yoga mat, Theresa loves spending time in nature with her husband and 2.5 yr old daughter. She also loves traveling, resetting by and in the water, learning (the forever student!) and reading about yoga, health and creativity, as well as diving deep into her design projects.
Claudia Menger
Claudia found yoga 13 years ago, in Amsterdam, and although that first time on the mat felt so different from everything she had done before, she fell in love and kept coming back to that small studio facing the canals. A one-year world trip gave her the opportunity to practice with teachers around the world, and when she moved to Oslo she knew it was time to start sharing her love for yoga and the lessons she had learned along the way, by teaching classes.
Claudia is educated in traditional Hatha Sivananda Yoga (200 hr), as well as Yin (50 hr), Vinyasa Flow (50 hr), Mother/Baby yoga (50 hr), Prenatal yoga (50 hr) and Restorative yoga + yoga Nidra (25 hr). Her teaching journey started with studio classes in hatha, yin and vinyasa yoga, as well as corporate yoga classes. Then came a long fertility journey, a difficult pregnancy and a traumatic birth experience, which all helped her find her path to teaching yoga to women of all ages.
Yoga gives her energy and stillness, and her mat is where she always comes home. Her personal practice follows the moon and her cycles, making every session on her mat different from the previous one.
Claudia loves spending time in nature with husband + 1.5-year old son, traveling, and reading, reading, reading. Claudia is also a holistic health coach and Reiki practitioner.