The Yoga Space

Yesterday I tried out Iyengar yoga for the first time. If you're not familiar with the Iyengar style, it was created by B.K.S. Iyengar and is mainly characterized by its use of props - lots of them! They use everything from ropes hanging on the wall to blocks, wedges, straps and much more. The style I was trained in was "anti-prop," so for a long time I avoided using them, but as I learn more about them, I am gradually starting to use them from time to time in my classes. Here's my review of Vancouver's largest Iyengar studio.

What: The Yoga Space

Where: 202-1715 Cook Street, Vancouver BC

When: June 24, 2010, 10:30am-12:00pm

Class: Iyengar Yoga Level 1

Teacher: Allison

Drop-In price per class: $13-$22

Types of classes offered: Gentle, Iyengar Levels 1, 2 and 3 and Yoga Kurunta/Ropes

Space:

Located in the bustling industrial area of Cambie/False Creek, this studio is the kind you would have to know about in advance or you would never find it. The studio itself was in a nice commercial building and was quite large. In addition to the main studio, it had a few extra rooms for storage, shoes, etc. The first thing you notice when you enter are the ropes hanging from the walls. This is a signature element of Iyengar studios. The floors and walls were lined with varnished plywood. They didn't have exactly and "elegant" feels, but were nice enough. In the corner of the room, there were some very interesting larger wooden props - ones that looked like gymnastics equipment almost. There were only to other people in my class, so we had plenty of space. The washrooms (aka changerooms) were located down the hall and were shared with other businesses in the building.

Atmosphere:

The lighting was nice here. The place had something like a playroom vibe with all the "toys" we had to play with. I noticed there was a nice stained glass "Om" mosaic over the front entrance that was a pleasant touch. I enjoyed practicing in this space. The only thing that was a bit distracting was the loud street noise coming through the windows. Lots of big trucks and loud motors passing by makes for a not-so-zen yoga class.

Teacher/Class:

Normally classes at this studio are by registration and are part of a set. I called in advance to see if I could drop in with the Passport to Prana card and they said it was good for any level 1 class. The teacher's name was Allison and she was clearly an experienced teacher. She paid particular attention to alignment and muscle engagement, much like an Anusara class. At the beginning, we did some work at the wall and then moved on to work on some warrior poses and some back bends. We didn't do a hell of a lot of poses in the 90 minutes. Some poses were more restorative in nature, which means we held them for a while. Others were just explained very thoroughly. I learned a lot - it was almost like an asana workshop. The hands-on corrections were quite nice too. One drawback to this style was that there ewas no real flow between the poses, which was something I missed about hatha or vinyasa styles. We didn't get to use the super cool ropes hanging from the walls either - I was hoping to do some crazy inversion whilst hanging from the ropes or something. Well - it WAS a level 1 class after all!

Rating: 7/10. Great studio and really great teaching. I really respect the Iyengar style, but the props kind of got in the way of the yoga for me. I am biased, but I really like to see what happens when you take a body and a yoga mat and just go with the flow.