Lululemon at Keystone Crossing | Indianapolis, IN

Well this was a new experience. And yes, yoga in a mall before it opens is new. But what I didn't see coming was my lacking desire to do yoga today. Today was my first half-assed yoga class. So please take this review in stride, as I strangely didn't want to be there, and of course that will influence my perspective.

LOCATION: It was easy to get to the mall, but if you've never been here what door do you go to? The first one I tried was locked, the second one wasn't but was on the opposite side of the mall. Sigh. Park by the Cheese Cake Factory + Starbucks, using that same entrance. Parking is free!  

STUDIO: It's a Lululemon store—long narrow room with clothing racking of drool-worthy yoga clothing/gear pushed to the side. We faced the back of the store to avoid the distraction of mall-walking glory, I assume.

CLASS DESCRIPTION: I was under the assumption that these were beginning classes that would introduce you to instructors at different studios surrounding said Lululemon location. Similar to the places who have a Yoga in the Park program in place (which I love + you should take advantage of if you live near one). This class felt a bit more advanced.

INSTRUCTOR: James Jafari, after decades of practicing a variety of eastern arts found Yoga, during an extremely stressful period in his life. Yoga has provided him a way to find inner calm as well as blissful freedom from pain due to chronic injuries, received during years of participation in competitive athletics. James is a dedicated student of Yoga and in 2012, received his 200 hour certification from Cityoga under the instruction of Nikki Myers and Marsha Pappas. James brings his knowledge of the human body gained from his years (since 2000) as a full time, self employed, and Nationally Certified, Therapeutic Body Worker/Massage Therapist. James strives to serve students through an alignment based Yoga practice that is designed to deepen their body awareness, build strength, increase flexibility, strengthen focus and coordination, while maintaining poise and grace.
CONTACT: Lululemon's Facebook Page at this location

So yeah, I so didn't want to be at this class, but I shuffled in and set up in the back of the practice space. This was the first time "yoga voice" sorta bothered me. Have you ever had a friend who is a radio DJ and has his/her radio voice and then their regular voice? Yoga instructors do it too, but it's much more soothing, and less artificial... for the most part. Today, the voice was a bit too motivational speaker for me. It took some getting use to. See, judgmental smurf in attendance today, sorry.

James walked us through a really nice practice—it looks like he only teaches hot yoga at CityYoga, which I'm not a fan of, so that could be the third off-putting part of my morning (wait, what was the first? oh yeah, running all over a mall to find the store). It was a really great reminder of just staying open to the process of going to a new space with a new instructor. Also, a lesson on respecting your body's wishes. Half-assed at least gets me an hour of good breathing and focus on myself, so it's never wasted. But maybe I should have sought out a more meditative class.

He did encourage us to attempt a series of poses I couldn't (wouldn't?) do—but wanted to share as a wonderful goal for future practices. Marichyasana (there's great sequence photos here, starting with this photo—which is where we started):

But then we were encouraged to take it from sitting to balancing:

{photo source}

It was beautiful to see James execute it, but I was not up for the challenge today (oh really? who would have guessed that?!). So I observed, in awe of those trying.

James did do a great job of walking around the room adjusting all of us. Though there was rarely alternate poses for those at different levels, but his verbal instructions were articulate. I always appreciate new ways to hear instructions.

At the end of the day, the fact that Lululemon offers up free yoga classes in their communities is pretty great (even if it is a bit of a marketing ploy). And the opportunity to try new instructors in a neutral location for free is pretty appealing too. So, despite my Eyore attitude (ohhhhh dear), I would recommend trying these classes to learn more about your yoga community!

The entrance you want!

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Yoga on High | Columbus, OH

On our drive back from North Carolina we stopped about halfway in Columbus, OH to visit with a high school buddy of Jafe's. The next morning I decided to check out one more class before I accept that our vacation is over.

LOCATION: Waze navigated me to an adorable part of downtown Columbus, OH. Yoga on High is located in a decent size brick building on a corner with free parking.     

STUDIO: When you get to the front door, the person at check-in buzzes you in. The entry is huge with lots of merchandise, cubbies, and places to hang your coat. Most yoga props are in the practice space, but the mats are actually at the front desk where you check-in ($15, I paid cash, but they do accept credit cards). I was one of first to enter the space where I discovered it was a heated room. There is at least two practice spaces down the hallway, and beyond that is large bathrooms like you'd find in a public building. 

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Mysore Yoga | Mixed Level 1 + 2 | Ashtanga Drop-in: This class is open to all levels of ashtangis. Brand new beginners through experience students practice side by side at their own pace, each receiving individual instruction and hands-on adjustments. Use this class to memroize the sequence of poses in your series and to move toward an independent practice supported by the energy of the class. This class format is the traditional method of learning Ashtanga yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India.

INSTRUCTOR: Taylor Hunt has been a devoted student of Ashtanga yoga since 2006. He was first introduced to yoga by a persistent friend who encouraged him to attend a class. Although his first experience was met with resistance, he was inspired to come back again. While lying in savasana after his second class, he felt a sense of comfort and ease unlike anything he had experienced before. Since that day, Taylor has maintained a daily Ashtanga practice and committed himself to the study of classical yogic texts including the Sutras, Vedic chanting, Indian philosophy, and Sanskrit. In 2009, Taylor felt the calling to share his love of yoga with others and completed the 200 hour teacher training program through Yoga on High.

CONTACT: Yoga on High

I had no idea what I was getting into, but the class was scheduled for three hours and that alone intrigued me. When I walked into the practice space to discover a heated room, I wasn't too happy. I don't like hot yoga or Bikram yoga—it scares me a bit. Not because it's challenging, but more so because it warms up the body so much I'm worried I'll injure myself not realizing I've gone past my edge. But I was here and I was going to do my best to stay open to the experience.

Taylor introduced himself immediately and was very patient with me explaining the process. Basically it was an open class for yogis to practice the Mysore sequence without instruction to create a meditative state. But Taylor would give me a couple instructions, practice it with me once, and then walk off to let me do a set. The first two were Surya Namaskar A + Surya Namaskar B—five to eight times each with some serious Ujjayi breathers reminding me to activate my own. At some point all of us came together to chant, which I didn't know, so I om'd and listened. It was beautiful.

Once I was warmed up (aka sweating my ass off) Taylor and another instructor in the room taught me the first six standing poses. At this point the room is now packed, and the yoga that is happening is truly breathtaking. The woman next to be floated into her positions—and when I say floated, I don't mean she was graceful. If you're not familiar with this reference, take a moment to watch this:


OK, I did not do that, and that's alright—I did however enjoyed peaking over at my neighbor to watch her do some of this.

After I practiced my first six steps maybe three times my instructors had me go into savasana, both of them congratulating me on my first class and comforting me in saying they didn't want to overwork me so I'd be excited to come back next week. I wasn't really discouraged with my level of yoga—I was easily the "worst" practitioner in the room, but I know where I am in my practice and quite comfortable with it. But that doesn't mean I didn't appreciate the kindness given to encourage me to return.

I would definitely not recommend this to a newcomer. It says all levels welcome—but no way. I almost wondered if it was appropriate if I was there after a few years of practicing. In the end, I'm glad I did go, because you have to start somewhere and this was a lovely space to do just that. 

Thank you Yoga on High and Taylor! Namaste.

Quick snapshot inside the studio

Merch

I liked the painting behind the check-in desk

Lovely pictures in the hallway

Discovered these two adorable elephants on my drive home :)

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The Yoga Center | Indianapolis, IN

LOCATION: There are two Yoga Centers in Indianapolis, and this one is in Broad Ripple (an awesome area of Indy). Easy to find, easy to park, and this was all during a bicycle race going on one block away. We parked up front, but the sign on the door asked that we enter through the back door... where we discovered a huge parking lot. Both parking locations were free, so that's nice.
COST: Drop-in fee was $17

STUDIO: Quite small, but well designed. You walk in to the front section which is for dropping off your things in cubbies and to check in. If I remember correctly, the color scheme was mostly black with a gray-blue accent. Very clean. Very warm (see next description).
CLASS DESCRIPTION: Hot Vinyasa—Rock your body! Vinyasa yoga unites breath with movement to build internal heat, increase strength, and improve flexibility. A vigorous and challenging yoga experience infused with core conditioning and rockin' tunes. Energizes the mind, body, and soul."

INSTRUCTOR: Tiffany—very kind and appreciative of us trying out the studio. There was no bio about her on the website or her facebook page, so I'm sorry I can't share her background with you.

CONTACT: http://www.tycyoga.com

For starters, I've never been to a hot yoga class (which according to the interweb is the same as Bikram yoga or just similar too, depending on what google search option you're reading), so I wasn't too sure what I signed myself up for. We (I had a cohort this time, as I was visiting my fantastic gal pal in Indy) walked into the studio, and it was like walking into a sauna. A little hard to breathe, I already had visions of myself passing out before we finished our first sun salutation. Uh oh.

The person checking us in was very nice... first-time visits they set you up with a yoga mat and a towel for free (awesome!). He introduced us to our instructor, Tiffany, right away. Tiffany asked our yoga experience levels and whether or not we'd done hot yoga. She mentioned, "If you get lost, there are a lot of beautiful examples around the room, so just be easy on yourselves and follow one of them." She set up our spots for us while we filled out the normal waiver forms.

Entering the studio, the room was packed. The mats weren't staggered, so I was a little concerned about how we did yoga without bumping into one another. The lights were completely off, the wall of windows were curtained shut, and most everyone was laying in savasana. When in Rome... once everyone was settled in Tiffany spoke with an inspiring tone about our inner flame and asked that we have no expectations from this practice (I'm serious... the first place I officially review for this blog and she starts off with the title). This unknown reference to my blog title put a smile on my face and confirmed I was doing the right thing.

Somehow we got to standing after a few warm up stretches, and she walked us through our first sun salutation. I kid you not, I was pouring sweat before we went through one cycle... soaked! And then she blared the music... What? This was so jolting, as I'm use to the calming chant music subtly playing in the background while the instructor walks us through the poses. Nope. Not here... music pounding, we just kept doing our salutations until the song was over. I must say, for the first song it was quite a rush. Yoga never felt so bad ass!

Then the second song we switched up our salutation to something a little more complicated, I lost my place here and there, but would just peek to my neighbor or go with the flow of what I felt like doing. By the third song my stomach was so sick, I attempted a child's pose—which upset me more—so I resorted to hero pose for a while. Every once in a while I would attempt a few parts of a salutation, but all this detoxing sent me back to savasana for the rest of the ride. I wasn't too disappointed in myself, as four other people had already left the class completely. And many others around me, who were way more advanced and obviously regulars, took their moments of child's pose too. Honestly, I was just proud I made it through to the very end.

At the end Tiffany walked us through poses on our backs, a few stretches (I never knew my shins could sweat that much), and then everyone went into savasana to "cool down". An hour and fifteen minutes later, prune-y from all the sweat, and soaked through completely we were done. H'zah!

What I didn't like about this class... there was no instruction, and that just sounds like a recipe for injury to me. If you're new to yoga, I would try one of their other introductory classes first, assuming they walk you through it more. I also don't want to ever look at my neighbor's mat. The beauty of yoga, for me, is it puts me in my own little bubble where I try not to compare myself to others because I should be focusing on what my body needs to be doing. If you take this class enough times I think you could get to that point, but as a drop-in, it was nearly impossible.

For this girl, I think hot yoga would be great to revisit when I want to detox. Tiffany told me the room is usually around 105° and at 70% humidity when everyone is in there working. You're going to sweat out some bad mojo by the end of that class, for sure. That being said, I wouldn't do this weekly, but I can understand the addiction people have for hot yoga just from knowing what I accomplished when I was done.

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