I hate to be the one downer review, but here goes. My review is based on two visits to the studio. My first time, I did a heated yoga with Michael, which I found to be very relaxing and slightly challenging. I appreciated that Michael came by to help deepen my stretches - I'm very flexible from training in circus arts and as an instructor at Pole Pressure down the street., which is not to say that I can't gain anything from yoga. There were certainly some challenging poses and my legs certainly could use some additional training and I can benefit from the meditative properties of yoga. I got a good sweat in, and liked the class just fine. I wasn't raring to go back, but I went back last Friday (with a six or so month hiatus in between) because I recently quit my gym (WSC) in favor of dropping into yoga now and then. Seemed cheaper since I wasn't going enough to justify the WSC cost.
Now I might just go back...I went to a Dharma flow level 4 class and was not at all challenged. I preface that by saying I'm sure that this is a challenging class, but from what we did, I wasn't getting much out of it. I broke a light sweat, and yes some of the poses were challenging, but overall, I don't feel like I was given enough variations to push me or enough time to try the things that challenged me. There would be some balances I couldn't do, but we moved on fairly quickly, which really only gave me one shot at trying it out. I found my mind wandering a lot, and that's my own fault, but I kept thinking, "GOD, this class is sooooo long, when is it over." I am not all about the singing/chanting, so my mind was wandering during that portion of the class too. Backbends and arm balances were fine, but I train in contortion too so I didn't find them all that challenging and I would have hoped to be pushed more.
The thing that really threw me over the edge was the fact that when we were finally done, I checked the time as I left since there are no clocks there, and the class went over by FIFTY MINUTES. My 1.5 hour class turned into a 2 hour and 20 minute class. HOLY FUCK!!!! What if students had other engagements to attend???? I guess it's up to you to keep time, but out of respect, I turned off my phone and stored it in my bag in the cubicle. I suppose its extremely generous of the instructor to give of his time so freely, and yes, my $10 certainly went a long way, but seriously???
Like all forms of fitness/activity/movement, each person will seek/take away something different from different classes and the instructors. I can't say that I'm enthralled with my experience at Yoga District yet and I'm a little adverse to using more time to figure it all out.
I certainly don't want to take away from the other reviewer's experience since yoga/fitness/sports/movement are extremely personal ways of spending our time. I haven't been to CorePower in years, but I loved it and would say that I'll check out the G-town studio when it opens end of March even though it's a super trek from Columbia Heights. I found their classes more athletic and more in my vibe, what with the use of popular music and keeping the chanting to a minimum. read more