Yoga for the People

So in good blogging fashion, I'm about 5 days behind on my first post. Better late than never, they say! So the first studio I went to on this Passport to Prana promo was Yoga for the People. Here are my impressions:

What: Yoga for the People

Where: #201-150 W Hastings Street, Vancouver BC, V6B 1G8

When: April 28, 2010, 4:00pm-5:30pm

Class: Hatha Flow

Teacher: Elle

Comments:

Space:
I love this space! I can't believe I never knew about this place. It's located just where the downtown east side begins on Hastings above a few run-down businesses. The studio was huge with beautiful dark hard wood floors and rustic brick walls. A great place for daily practice.

Atmosphere:

I really liked the inclusiveness and community atmosphere with this studio. My favourite aspect is that it is all donation based and their suggested donation is $10, which is by far the cheapest I've seen around town. There was a looseness and playfulness that you don't get at some other studios. It was very beginner friendly, as well. The class I went to was small - only about 7 people.

Teacher/Class:

Elle was a very quirky teacher. She wore a rainbow shirt, leg warmers and thick-rimmed glasses that kept sliding down her nose every time she went upside down. Her flow was very powerful and quite challenging. She guided us through a Taoist Flow and ran through some interesting vinyasas such as the Flying Dragon Vinyasa. It was an interesting mix of tai-chi-like movements and traditional hatha yoga asanas. Then we did hand stands. I still can't quite do one - even at the wall. I always get both a bit excited and nervous whenever the teacher tells us to practice hand stands. I enjoy learning how to teach them (and of course, do them myself), because I never really got that training in my teacher course. At the same time, I feel a little anxious because I am still clinging to some sort of belief that I should be able to do these poses since I'm a teacher. I know Shakti, the woman who trained me, would be shaking her head (she taught yoga beautifully even after falling out of a tree and nearly killing herself, not being able to do any of the poses to demo). Alas, I guess this is where yoga becomes a practice of patience.

Rating: 10/10 I would recommend this studio to anyone.