Yoga with Elin | Venice, FL

I've been attempting to do yoga every day in July—ok, I actually was attempting to do it everyday in June. Then June became July... and it feels like July is quickly becoming August. Bleck! I've somehow slipped into this horrible habit where everything else is getting in the way of what I really want to be doing. So, I'm trying to break that habit with this one month challenge. I know I will keep trying, and small successes will just become the way of life again. But geesh... So! When I had the opportunity for some free yoga on the beach, you can bet your sandy bottom I was there.

LOCATION: I had to do a little more sleuthing (sometimes Facebook pages are more useful than websites) to get a specific address besides Venice Beach—type The Esplanade at Venice Beach into your GPS, and it will take you to a free parking lot just North of the corner of West Venice Ave + The Esplanade S.

STUDIO: Can you complain about the beach, a clear blue sky, and the gulf? Nope. But when you go to free community yoga classes like this or yoga in the park remember your mat/water/necessities for your yoga class, because there won't be any equipment or props. Since I was traveling and knew this was going to be on the beach, I just grabbed a beach towel. I would also recommend bug spray (hey, I can plug my mom's new business Poppy's—she's a distributor of a natural bug spray called No No-See-Um™), sun screen, and sunglasses.  

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Increase your energy and learn how to breathe as nature intended. Yoga classes with different levels to fit everyone’s abilities and needs—including beginners who have never practiced yoga before and students with disabilities. 

INSTRUCTOR: Elin, a certified yoga instructor who bring’s her unique style to Yoga with Elin – Venice Beach Florida, to share with all. Her goal is to provide an environment where people feel comfortable and safe to practice this amazing discipline.
CONTACT: Yoga with Elin | Facebook

This is a really nice set up for people curious about yoga. The first half hour is a really gentle yoga, then Elin breaks for a bit so people can pack up and leave if they choose to. The second half hour is a little bit more challenging, although still friendly to beginners. The moves, for the most part, were very basic with little instruction for adjustments. I say for the most part, because during the second half we did sun salutations that led into a balancing star pose (Extended Half Moon Pose or Utthita Ardha Chandrasana)... on the sand. Which takes balancing to a whole new level. I enjoyed the challenge (and giggle, for that matter), but would have been concerned about this pose with my grandmother (who I was trying to get to go to class with me, but opted to sleep in a bit longer). Overall, it was a nice way to start the day, as always! Namaste, Elin!

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Black Mountain Yoga | Black Mountain, NC

Finally! Finally am I reviewing a new studio again (or actually reviewing myself in a new studio)! Finally am I back on the mat! Finally am I on vacation! Finally!

LOCATION: Waze is my go to for GPS, and it worked like a charm even in the mountains. This location is in the super cute downtown area of Black Mountain, NC. Easy to find—especially with a group of people doing taiji in the front lawn on this beautiful day. Free parking.  

STUDIO: Small, clean, and organized. The studio entry has a front desk for check-in, some cubbies to leave your stuff, and a little wall of merch with nice yoga apparel on sale. Once you check in you can walk through the studio to change in the dressing room on the other side or use the bathroom on the opposite side also. Free props are provided on that same wall across the room. The practice space itself had nice natural lights from windows higher up (this is nice for those of us who are easily distracted by things happening outside). $12 drop-in, credit cards accepted.

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Yoga for Everyone | All Levels | 60 min: Yoga for Everyone is a class tailored to the students in the class with fun, challenging and non-harmful edges by offering personalized modifications. Each class opens with breath work and a flow practice followed by a series of consistently flowing poses designed to support the pinnacle pose of the day ending with a floor poses and a deep savasana. This class is open to ALL levels and beginners are welcome.

INSTRUCTOR: Heather Wallace received her 200-hr yoga training in Subtle Yoga®, which emphasizes breath and body. Heather, RYT, is a certified yoga teacher and Let Your Yoga Dance® instructor. Heather is committed to helping people fall in love—with their selves! Her driving goal in all endeavors is to help people realize how amazing and beautiful they are. Heather recognizes that movement is a powerful healing tool for the body, mind, and spirit—and therefore receives great pleasure in sharing her love of movement, through yoga and dance, with others. 

CONTACT: Black Mountain Yoga

I chose a lot of gentle classes this vacation for a couple of reasons. One, I would have my partner with me, so I was opting for beginner classes and also looking for ways for us to relax after a very stressful couple of months for us in our careers. Two, because I knew we'd be hiking a lot, and I wanted to balance that out with some calming poses for our bodies. But this morning we went ziplining at Wildwater—so some calming of the nerves was definitely needed for this girl!

We started on our backs with twists. Here we would actually start in the twist and roll out of it dynamically to open up the joints and then twist on the other side. This was a beautiful way to warm up the body. We moved into table top position where we did some balancing poses that worked the core, and then a few standing poses before getting back to seated and ending with savasana. Oh savasana—my partner has a tendency to fall asleep the second the eye pillow is placed. This class was no exception. As I relaxed into savasana I heard someone doing what I thought was cleansing breaths... until I realized it was Jafe. Uh oh. Normally I would take this as a challenge to focus beyond outside noises, and honestly, I tried that, but when he worked up into a full on snore that was so loud he woke himself up it took all my focus to not giggle. Once we were instructed to roll to our sides, Jafe and I happened to be facing one another. He looked at me and mouthed "was I snoring?" Oh how I wanted to giggle even more. No baby, I'm quite sure you were inhaling the entire building. We joked about it after class, but what was a great lesson here was watching him gracefully let it go. He felt bad for a second, but we were on vacation and there were other things to explore... fully rested.

There were no adjustments from Heather, only basic verbal queues. This class was pretty straight forward, so it didn't seem like adjustments were necessary. I'd highly recommend it for first timers of any age. Thank you Black Mountain Yoga and Heather, for a lovely introduction to the area's yoga!

Namaste

Check-in and Merch

Inside Studio Looking towards Check-in

Cubbies for Schtuff

Dressing Area in the Back

Studio Looking towards Instructor

Bathroom/Dressing Room through Curtains + Props

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Living Yoga Center | Urbana, IL

LOCATION: Living Yoga Center is in downtown Urbana, upstairs from Crane Alley. There are two entrances to the studio, but the more common-used one is off the upstairs level of the parking garage it's attached to... you do have to pay for parking in this area, but the parking garage is only 50¢ for the first two hours.
COST: You'll have to go to their website to see the drop-in fee. I signed on for the monthly fee of $65, which allows me to take as many classes I want, along with a few other benefits.
STUDIO: A beautiful space... with two bathrooms, a changing room, a kitchen, a lobby-like area with free tea, and the studio itself is always a breath of fresh air for me. The studio is painted a happy yellow, has a wall full of windows bringing in wonderful light (and privacy, since it's on the second floor).
CLASS DESCRIPTION: The classes I choose are based on when I can make it in the middle of the day... for a while now I've been taking mostly flow classes (with one Hatha in there on Monday mornings)—A stimulating and creative practice that focuses on integrating strength, flexibility, alignment, and awareness through a dynamic sequence of asanas linked by the breath.
INSTRUCTOR: My regular instructors are Hayli and Jenna, with a dose of Mary, Steve, Deb, and Kerry when schedules spoil me. All the instructors at LYC offer wonderful instruction, but I am definitely drawn to Hayli since she as my first instructor (it's like yogic imprinting or something, lol). For full bios on everyone, please visit the site, but i will highlight Hayli in my review. Hayli Peterson has been practicing yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2003. She has trained with Shiva Rea and teaches her flow classes in the Vinyasa style, a stimulating and invigorating practice that focuses on moving the body with the breath while allowing students to work at their own ability level. She also studied and is trained in traditional Ashtanga and Hatha yoga by Yoga Vidya Gurukul in Nasik, India. This is where she derives most of her gentle yoga technique from and teaches these classes with the emphasis on maintaining comfortable, relaxing, and steady postures. She is a certified Massage Therapist with her practice on the same floor as the Living Yoga Center. She also has her MBA through the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and works with her father at Financial Synergy, Inc doing tax accounting and financial planning. Most importantly she has three amazing children and a fabulous husband that are the center of her life.
CONTACT: Living Yoga Center

When I decided to switch from The Refinery to Living Yoga Center I knew I had made the right decision just walking into the studio. The space instantly felt like home to me. What surprised me, was it never occurred to me that Hayli and Steve also feel more comfortable at LYC too. They knew their students well here, and could help the class move along at different levels with ease. It was here I participated in my first oms, my first class longer than an hour, had beautiful passages read to me at the end of a savasana, and my first steps down a lifelong journey with yoga. It's so exciting, looking back on what is probably my year anniversary with LYC.

Each instructor has offered new ways for me to learn about my body and how it should play with the poses. Each class offers me a break in the middle of the stressful work day to breathe, find joy, relax, re-energize, and just be in my own special space on my mat every day. It is here that I have found patience in myself, excitement in my short-comings (knowing I found a starting point to chart my progress), amazement in my capabilities, confidence in my true self, beauty in the people I'm surrounded by, and constant wonderment in where yoga can take the mind, body, and soul.

Yoga's Reach

It is a wonder
how a simple stretch
deepens breath,
and an elegantly held pose
grows to touch the
whole of me.

Like sugar stirred into tea,
the potency
of yoga spreads
from body into mind
and heart, revealing
an ocean of energy
that heals and opens,

holds me close
and sets me free
all in the same moment.

—Danna Faulds

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