Grace Gravelle from Front Porch Yoga is an outstanding yoga instructor whose awesomeness starts before you even sit on the mat! Before EVERY class she was at the door greeting students with her big smile and her enthusiastic interest in how we were doing with our yoga practice, and with life in general. Grace is VERY genuine and easy going, and she quickly made me forget any feelings I had about not being very "good" at yoga.
The classes I took with Grace were in a style know as "Yin Yoga", and it was easy to tell she really loved teaching these classes. Yin is very meditative, and is unique in that we would hold many of the poses for 3-5 minutes. Grace was great at carefully explaining what we were doing and how we would feel before slowly bringing us in to the poses. I carry a lot of tension in my muscles, especially in my lower back, and these long poses allowed me to relax and get in to a good stretch.
Grace is very talented at putting people at ease about their bodies and abilities (or lack there of) and she kept a close eye on us to make sure we didn't overdo it and hurt ourselves. Due to a recent injury, I had one leg that was much less flexible than the other. Grace was very creative in adjusting the poses and using props to make sure that I could still benefit from the poses without worsening my injury. That said, the classes were still challenging, and I always felt like I had really accomplished something when they were over.
Grace also had a nice way of tying in the meditative/spiritual aspects of yoga. In her soothing voice she would get us to focus our attention on our breathing, intentions for the class (or night or lifetime!), and on listening to our bodies. Grace really offers the whole package in her classes, and the more I went, the more I "got it" and started incorporating her teaching in to my life off the yoga mat.
Needless to say, I would highly recommend Front Porch Yoga! Spending time with Grace really is like hanging out on the front porch, then leaving with your mind and body relaxed and invigorated all at once. read more