Since 2011, North Ray Yoga in Los Angeles, California, has been creating space for people to meet themselves exactly where they are. What began as Modo Yoga LA has evolved into an independent studio rooted in the belief that challenge, breath, and connection can help us find our way back to ourselves.
In 2025, founders Alice Toyonaga, Emily Morwen, and Caterina Scorsone stepped into a new chapter, reintroducing Modo Yoga LA as North Ray Yoga. Inspired by the light that has long filled their studios, the name combines a compass point with a guiding ray, reflecting the belief that even in challenging moments, there is always a way through.
Today, North Ray's Echo Park and La Brea studios welcome students into heated and unheated classes designed to explore the edges of intensity with curiosity, humility, and heart. We spoke with Alice and Emily about their journey, the evolution of North Ray, and what continues to inspire the community they've built over the last fifteen years.
What first brought you to yoga, and how did that journey eventually lead to North Ray?
Alice: For over 20 years, I've been exploring what it means to live in my body - first through an 80-pound weight loss, then endurance sports and lifting, and yoga. Yoga at first was to help me keep injuries at bay and get more mobility and stretching to complement running and triathlons. Over time, it cracked my heart open—I found presence, quiet, deep listening. When it became a way of life: breath as medicine, community as anchor, movement and stillness as pathways toward healing, it pulled me from Toronto to LA to co-found Modo Yoga LA Echo Park (now North Ray Yoga).
Emily: I'm a Toronto native too, and I first found yoga in 2000 while living in New York City and studying theater—at a time when slowing down felt like the last thing I wanted to do. I stumbled into a class almost by accident and was surprised to discover it wasn't just the hardest, sweatiest workout I'd ever done, but also gave me a rare sense of calm. That accidental first class turned into over 4,000 hours of training and more than two decades of teaching, and eventually co-founding North Ray Yoga La Brea, which has now held a leadership role in LA's yoga and wellness community for over 15 years.
North Ray Yoga entered a new chapter in 2025. What's the story behind the studio and the name?
We opened what's now North Ray Yoga in 2011 (as Modo Yoga LA), born out of both of our own transformations on the mat and a shared belief that a heated practice, with real community around it, could change how people live in their bodies.
We've always wanted to lead from a place of connection, curiosity and healing— creating a space where we come together to explore the edges of intensity: those moments where we want to fight, run, or disappear, and practice finding our way back to our bodies through our breath.
In 2025, we decided to go independent. As a small business, that decision was both vulnerable and so rewarding—giving us the freedom to be fully in our voice, have autonomy, and respond in real time to what's happening in our own communities, on the ground.
As for why "North Ray"? For us, it all comes back to the light. The skylights in our studios have quietly witnessed years of practice, breath, challenge and hope. In savasana, those beams of light have offered comfort, clarity and peace.
North is a compass point, a sense of direction. Ray is the light itself—the reminder that even in challenging moments, there's a way through. It's how the light gets in.
What do you hope people feel the moment they walk through your doors?
Grounded, warm, unpretentious with a side of humor. We want everybody, every body, to feel welcome and safe; to have a home away from home where breath is medicine and community is the anchor.
All of us (including our teachers) are students first. We come together as a community of humans from all walks of life, and find our way back to our bodies, our hearts and to each other.
We also have such skilled instructors—and we hope that what people feel when they enter the studio space is felt when they walk into the practice space; feeling skilled, humble guides who walk with you, not in front of you.
Fifteen years in, what have been the biggest moments of growth and transformation for North Ray?
I mean, we have a teenager and a tween right now, so there has been a lot of evolution—stemming from who WE are as students, teachers, and leaders; the beautiful community of teachers and students who have come through our doors; and the world evolving around us.
While we have witnessed the most beautiful highs and the most necessary lows over the years, a few key moments have shaped us: the COVID pandemic, which showed us what it means to adapt, to stay connected even when we couldn't physically be together, and to remember that yoga is so much bigger than a room or a mat; the closure of our Venice studio on the other side of the pandemic, which taught us about letting go; the 2025 wildfires, which showed us the POWER of showing up for one another, and asking, "What does our community need right now?" ; and most recently, going independent, which has been its own practice in trusting ourselves, our voice, and having the courage to evolve.
In a lot of ways, each chapter has asked something different of us: to adapt, to let go, to show up, and to trust—all different ways the practice reveals itself.
When someone leaves class, what do you hope stays with them?
Connection.
A sense of belonging.
Feeling safe, seen, heard and supported.
Having the power of breath, movement and the practice in their hands—never ours.
All while having a kick-ass, sweaty class that at the end, regulates the nervous system.
How would you describe your approach to teaching, and how does it shape the experience you create for students?
Alice's teaching centers around agency and discernment: empowering students to make choices that allow the practice to be their medicine, not their poison, whether that means knowing when to modify or rest, or when not to shy away from their own strength.
Emily's classes are known for a steady, rhythmic flow with cueing that meets beginners and advanced practitioners alike. She is a storyteller at heart, so her classes always feel like you are moving through an individual and collective journey that has a clear beginning, peak, and resolve.
Together, we want people to leave wrung out in the best way, and quietly at peace.
What's lighting you up right now, and what's next for North Ray?
The things that are lighting us up right now are getting to develop and lead (and host) teacher trainings (!!). We are also excited about exploring the digital realm - a virtual yoga space down the road.
Our dream is to keep having the most skilled, humble, and human teachers—to have a reputation in LA (and beyond) as THE PLACE teachers go to learn, grow, become even more kick-ass as teachers. We want our studios to be THE PLACE to go if you want to learn to be an exceptional teacher, or if you're a student looking for exceptionally high quality.
We also want to lean deeper into our local communities; for example, last year, we launched the North Ray Yoga Human Rights Scholarship to give back to the people doing front-line human rights work in LA, often quietly and behind the scenes without enough support.
What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you opened your first studio?
Well, what we would tell younger versions of ourselves would be that loving the practice and building a business around it are two very different things—and that both will ask more of you than you expect and be so rewarding.
We would remind ourselves to stay connected to our why, focus on our people and our community, and know that sometimes the practice is knowing when to hold on, and sometimes it's knowing when to let go.
Why has Manduka been part of North Ray from the beginning?
Durability, sustainability, and quality are always baselines for us, but beyond that, we've always been vision-led over anything else, and we want to align ourselves with companies that share that same ethos.
Inside North Ray
You'll often find a dog hanging out at the studio. Yoga becomes optional if you just want pet therapy for an hour.
Our La Brea studio is often referred to as the Canadian embassy—from our roots of starting in Canada and the people who come through our doors, eh?
Our Echo Park studio has a mascot, a skeleton named Hank that gets a wardrobe change every season.
Each of our studios has a cold plunge and sauna. If you haven't tried contrast therapy after class, absolute bliss.
Photo Credits: Gabriel Weiss (@mendozaweiss) and Catie Laffoon (@catielaffoon).
North Ray Playlist
Curated by Alice and Emily for Manduka's Los Angeles City Guide, this soundtrack is inspired by the city North Ray Yoga calls home.
Connect with North Ray Yoga
Website: www.northrayyoga.com
Instagram: @northrayyoga
North Ray Echo Park: 1755 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026
North Ray La Brea: 340 S La Brea Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
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