I've been going to Open Doors in Hingham for several years, and the one complaint I have is that…read morejust about all their regular yoga classes make me dizzy and exhausted, and my joints hurt a lot. So, then I just went to the Rest & Relaxation classes which are taught by different instructors but share a common problem: they tend to swing between completely chill poses and ones that require a lot of effort, so the title seems misleading.
So, why am I giving this place 5 stars? Because during the past few months, they've brought on an instructor named Jay Koh. This guy is amazing. As a female, I was nervous about taking a class from a male instructor because all the classes I've taken at this studio and other places were taught by females. But Jay completely erased those fears. His adjustments are fantastic, and he's super-considerate every time he adjusts me. You know sometimes how you get a creepy vibe from some guys? There is zero of this from him. He is there to help, and I also like the fact that he equally adjusts men and women, young and old.
Just for his adjustments alone, I'd give the place 5 stars. But his classes are unlike anything I or my friends have ever experienced. He's not a standard grind-students-to-exhaustion power yoga instructor which is kind of strange because of his intense yoga background. He sequences classes so now I don't feel crappy during and after yoga classes. And my friends and I agree that there are things he does in the class which no other instructor does, and they work. Honestly, I was skeptical about a lot of the stuff he was teaching because I had never done it before. But once I got over that resistance and just trusted his teaching, my whole yoga practice improved in a crazy good way.
He teaches a Sunday afternoon class that is off the chain great. For people who really want to understand not just large but also small and incredibly important details of poses, Jay is kind of like Buddha. He has this really fantastic encouraging way of educating people. The class is an all levels class so anyone - beginner or advanced - can go there, and somehow the advanced people walk out saying they got as many benefits as the beginners. Again, I'm not sure how he does it, but it works, and throughout the class I'm inspired to improve my yoga. Honestly, it's kind of like going to a master class workshop every Sunday without having to pay an additional 30 or 40 dollars.
He teaches a Tuesday 7pm class that is kind of similar to the Rest & Relaxation classes at this studio, but it's advertised as being a stretching class for athletic performance. The amazing thing is that all types of people go to that class, young and elderly, and regardless of how in shape or out of shape we are, everyone agrees that you leave the class feeling amazingly stretched out and like you really accomplished something significant. The first half of the class is definitely harder than the standard Rest & Relaxation classes, but it's a killer setup for the second half of class in which he chills out everyone.
I don't know where this guy has been my whole yoga career. He's exactly the type of male instructor that yoga needs. But more importantly, he's the type of human being that yoga needs. He's not just brilliant in what he teaches but he's also a really nice guy who genuinely cares about people. The only problem is that when people ask me to describe his classes, it's tough. There's so much going on in them. His classes are without a doubt the most informative and creative you'll find anywhere, and that opinion is shared by other students I've talked with who take his classes and have trained at yoga studios around the world. What he's teaching is where yoga needs to go.
There are a couple of other things about him that set him apart. First, I've never met a more personable and funny yoga instructor. No joke, if you take his class, you'll understand that this guy could easily be doing stand-up comedy. Second, I can't tell you the number of classes I've taken from other yoga instructors who just open up their Spotify app and click on some generic playlist. Jay carefully crafts each playlist to match what's going on in class. It's tough to explain why this works so well, but it's a bit magical.
If you like finding hidden gem restaurants, then his classes are definitely hidden gem yoga classes. I'm not sure why he only teaches at the Hingham Open Doors location, but I'm just glad he's there. Who knew that a small yoga studio in the South Shore would have such a star. Several of us have said that we want to keep his classes a secret because to have him in a small-class setting is just fantastic, but I have to give him a shout-out because eventually people are going to find out about him anyway, and I just can't stay silent.
