Yogacara

A couple of days ago I checked out Yogacara studio, located at what I want to call the yoga studio intersection of Vancouver at Trafalgar and Broadway. Three yoga studios on three corners (Semperviva the other two), not to mention many other yoga studios along those couple blocks!

What: Yogacara

Where: 2460 Trafalgar Street, Vancouver BC

When: June 1, 2010, 9:30am-10:30am

Class: Hatha

Teacher: Tomas

Drop-In price per class: $16

Comments:

Space:

The yoga space was right there as soon as you entered. There was a small front desk with a nice big buddha statue to greet you in the entrance. The room was a bit of an odd shape - sort of T shape with the teacher at the top of the T. It was a fair size and could fit around 15-20 mats. The mats were laid out nicely with a cushion and blanket for each. There was a lovely tea room near the entrance. Also, the place had an infrared sauna and one bathroom. It seemed a bit odd that there was a sauna and no showers, but maybe it's not for those really sweaty types. Who knows! Either way, the space was set up nicely and had a lot of props available.

Atmosphere:

Great ambiance! I loved the touches of red throughout the space - red mats, cushions and asian-style wall lanterns with lots of woody features. The floor had a treatment that made it look like it was made of straw. There was a large mural with big abstract Buddha images that complimented the space nicely. One really cute thing I noticed was the use of little faux jewels stuck on the furniture (like the kind you used to stick on stuff as a kid). Even the wall Buddha's third eye had a jewel! I loved the tea room and the complimentary lady fingers to go along with a nice cup of tea after class.

Teacher/Class:

Tomas was a very soft spoken teacher. He had a very calming effect on the space, which was nice for me seeing as I had already taught a class at 6:30 earlier that morning. I needed to chill out and not do such a vigorous class, and that's exactly what I got! Well... we did do a TON of core work, which was interesting, because a lot of it had similarities to pilates and other more fitness oriented exercises. Nonetheless, the practice was grounded in yogic traditions, and we did some bandha work and pranayama. We didn't do a single down dog and it actually was kind of nice to go to a hatha class with a different flavour. I was really relaxed by the end - for sure slept through my savasana! There weren't too many participants, and most of them were older women. It was cool to chat with them after over tea.

Rating: 9/10. This was a lovely space and had a great atmosphere. No showers, but they weren't really necessary unless you sweated buckets in the infrared sauna. It was easy to get to and the class was a pleasure to attend.