My bf and I have now been attending classes here once a week for about 5 weeks. I highly recommend, when buying your first 30-day pass here, to attend classes of different instructors to see how you like each one. We've been to 3 instructors and have found them each very different.
The first class we went to (described in my original post) was Yoga 1, which was supposed to be taught by Janini. But she was out that night and Travis substituted. Travis usually teaches Restorative Yoga (which I have yet to attend) and the free community yoga on Saturdays. I found him to be supremely relaxing and mellow, which I really liked. It was a great, soothing energy, especially for beginners. Very warm, inviting and unintimidating. And that isn't to say the class wasn't a challenge. There are always challenging yoga postures no matter what your experience level. My thighs ached the next day. His instructions were easy to follow, his pace was very relaxed. We loved Travis and wish he had a class that worked with our schedule.
Next we had Janini. Very different style than Travis. Janini clearly knows her yoga (Travis said he considered her his teacher). But I found her more intimidating in her general attitude, less laid back. Janini has these breathing exercises where you breathe really hard and loud and fast, like you're huffing.That sort of breathing is contrary to the controlled breathing I've always been taught through yoga so I thought that was interesting. There are also some quick flopping side to side and up and down body swinging she likes the class to do, another thing I'd never experienced in yoga before. While I personally didn't mesh with Janini's style, the classes we attended with her were always full, so I have no doubt her style speaks to a lot of other people.
Finally, there's Laura, who teaches Yoga 1 & 2. We were told by the woman at the counter on our first visit that Laura had a more rigorous program. That kind of scared me because I still consider myself a beginner and thought maybe her class would be too advanced. So we didn't consider attending her classes at first. But we decided to give it a try on the 3rd week and I'm so glad we did.
Laura's class is definitely more rigorous in the sense that it resembles more a gym workout. Not a hard-core workout with tons of sweating and cardio. But more so than the other instructors we attended. She does a lot of posture series, where you move from one posture to the next seamlessly over and over so you're constantly moving while doing that series. So it is a different kind of workout than staying in one posture and holding it there, though she also does that as well. If you're absolutely new to yoga, it may be a little more difficult to follow Laura's class the first few times because the pace tends to be faster. But my bf the newbie is doing it, so it can be done. I always leave Laura's class feeling like I got a nice workout.
There is 1 other instructor but her classes don't work into our schedule so we haven't attended any. With such a diverse group of teachers, I think each person is bound to find one that works best with their personal style.
Tip: if you're new, try to find a spot close to the middle of the room. That way, when you're facing different directions and can't see the instructor, you can watch the other students and see what the poses should look like. read more