At first glance, there's nothing unusual about Nancy Yates' Thursday night yoga class, as she instructs her pupils to "feel the energy, feel the life force," while pacing the room barefoot. But this is no ordinary class. The 11 students sprawled out on colorful mats between the stacks of the San Francisco Public Library are all visually impaired.

The Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, on the second floor of the Main Library, has been offering the weekly class since April 2012. Yates, who began practicing yoga after a serious skiing injury more than 30 years ago, first introduced her special brand of yoga to the San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 1996.

"Visually impaired people have a different spatial relationship," said Yates, whose students have ranged from teenagers to 102-year-olds. "I've developed the movements to be slow. ... We have to be very clear about description, very precise."

Though Yates says the class is perfect for senior citizens, last week's session consisted mostly of young men. A group of students, some with developmental disabilities, from the California School for the Blind in Fremont has been attending classes every other week since September.

"They thought it was crazy, I thought it was crazy," said Patrick Weseman, a residential counselor at the school who chaperoned the students. "But I've been overjoyed, they love coming out here."

Dominic Montelongo, a chatty 20-year-old student, had to be shushed a few times by Weseman, but said he's enjoyed the experience.

"Yoga is really fun," he said. "It's good exercise, it helps calm our brains down a little bit," he said.

It was Josh Plump's first time coming to yoga. He said he was unsure about it at first, but Yates won him over.

"It was amazing," the 18-year-old said. "You can't think about anything but letting yourself focus and breathe."

The Library for the Blind and Print Disabled is part of a national network served by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which circulates audiobook players through postage-free mail.

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Visually impaired enjoy yoga in library