Really not sure how to give stars for this studio since the good is very good and the bad is very concerning.
The Good: studio is very warm and inviting, with a lot of cubbies for belongings, two bathrooms, and a water bottle refilling station. They also have taken steps to minimize the use of paper - so it's earth friendly! They also have a variety of mats for rental if you're new and don't know what to buy. I've had mats I wasn't a huge fan of in the past, so I've tried several and think I have finally identified what to buy for myself.
More Good: Meaghan's Enfuse and Soulful classes (Monday and Saturday morning) and Han's Enfuse class (Tuesday morning) - Enfuse is directed by the instructor for a while and then students are given time to move through a series of poses suggested by the instructor at their own pace. Since I like to take poses more slowly, I take the time to do one rotation in the space many of my classmates would do two, and Meaghan and Hans are both fine with it. (If you're a beginner, they've said it's also fine to rest/restore during this and rejoin the group when direction picks up.) Soulful is fully guided, so the instructor walks the class through everything, and it's encouraged to keep eyes closed to savor the poses a little more. I highly recommend Hans' 6 am Tues class - the playlist and encouragement from him will get your day off on the right foot!
The Bad: instructors won't necessarily ask before touching you. That said, they don't typically "fix" or "correct" by touching, even when the class isn't very full, even when students say that they're new or haven't practiced before. Both Meaghan and Hans have rubbed my back a little while I was resting in child pose, which I appreciated, especially when I was first returning to yoga after 4 years away and was struggling. Also, the studio gets VERY full on weekends, to the point that it isn't always possible to fully extend limbs, and the instructors don't seem great about capping class size or directing people to move their mats. I wish they'd be more assertive on this. Between these two factors, if your personal space is important to you (OR if you like being physically corrected to help you sink into the pose), this studio won't be a good fit.
More Bad: logistics - the schedule and parking. My schedule is really erratic, and it's hard for me to get to yoga as much as I'd like. I'm hoping to see them add more sessions soon, since the studio opened relatively recently and I think they're figuring out when people will come. They need more weekend classes, and I'd like to see earlier classes on a lot of days. Parking can be tricky, but it's free on Sundays and before 10, so try the early or weekend classes if this is an issue.
The Concerning: the owner, Caren, brings a lot of negativity to her sessions, criticizing herself, past students, and other studios. I also noticed her projecting feelings onto students that we may or may not actually have (such as that we blame other people for things in our life that are our own fault, or that we hate doing core work) - a practice I'm more sensitized to because of situations I've been in previously, and something I'm turning to yoga to try to overcome, not to be sent on flashbacks. She talks throughout the entire practice, sometimes so loudly and with such deafening music that it creates a sensory overload or makes it difficult to focus on either the pose or on the calm and energy many of us practice yoga for. I went to two separate classes with Caren hoping the first time was anomalous, but the second time confirmed that this is simply her personality - and at one point in the second class she seemed to discourage the use of blocks to modify a pose, a practice that can be greatly helpful to students with restrictions when the instructor helps them to modify correctly (in fact, she yelled a lot about modifying poses without telling us how to do so). Caren seemed to do infomercials for Ensoul and her "Life and Teacher Training" program, even in a class that was already bursting at the seams and clearly didn't need recruitment, and her speeches and announcements lacked focus. I'm sure starting a new business is stressful and she wants to make sure that the studio stays and can pay its bills, but it's a yoga studio, and sales pitches right after corpse pose are disruptive to the goals. Edit: I tried a third class with Caren, the Friday morning Sweetest Thing, and it was much better for my yoga goals than her Soulful and Enfuse classes. I'm planning to continue attending.
Also a note: this studio isn't really for true beginners. There seems to be an expectation that students know most of the poses and how to get into and out of them. I'm really grateful that I practiced at a different studio years ago that helped me understand how poses should feel and how to distribute my weight safely. The Sweetest Thing class is the closest to a beginner class if that is what you're feeling. read more
