Yoga. In (then out) with the new.

Mountain pose teaches us, literally, how to stand on our own two feet.... teaching us to root ourselves into the earth.... Our bodies become a connection between heaven and earth.

~Carol Krucoff Partner yoga with Lauren- One of my BFFs and favorite yoga buddies

I have been doing yoga for about 7 years now. It's been a constant in my life since I started college. I didn't realize though, how spoiled I was with the yoga studios in Colorado. I have always gone to Corepower Yoga. They had 2 studios in Boulder (with a 3rd opening recently) and 3 studios to choose from near my house in Denver. I had many different classes and times each day to choose from. I established a solid practice at corepower and tried every class they had. My favorite classes were C2 (hot power flow) and the sculpt classes. Both were in a very hot room, where you sweat for the entire time. I felt like I was sweating out all the toxins and releasing all the bad stuff from my body.

Beach yoga in Costa Rica

Until I moved to Orlando, I was doing yoga 4-5 times per week. This was part of my health routine, both for the mind and for the body. I came to Orlando hoping to continue my yoga practice and to grow as a yogi. I found Orlando Power Yoga the first week I was here, and started their 40 days for $40 package for new students. This was a different studio than I was used to, but I really liked it. It was a smaller studio, but still did the hot yoga flow. They even have an 80 min flow class.

Note: 80 minutes of hot yoga, especially when it's over 100* outside kicks your butt.

Anyway, this was a great studio. My roommate also bought the new student package, so we would motivate each other to go after work. This was her first real yoga (and hot yoga) experience ever and she loved it. Yay. I didn't go as much as I would have liked to, because of a busy work and social schedule. I was glad to have that studio so close to my house, and available in the evenings as a release.

During my first month here, there was a living social deal for $30 for one month of yoga at a different yoga studio. This studio was farther away from our house, but decently close to work. Liz and I decided to buy it and to use it for when our membership to Orlando Power Yoga ran out. Tonight was that night.

Let me just reiterate that I have been extremely spoiled with amazing yoga studios, teachers, facilities etc. I try to keep my expectations for new things low... but I have had great experiences in the past.

Liz and I pulled up after work to said yoga studio. It is in the corner unit of a small strip mall in a random neighborhood. We grab our mats and our clothes to change in to, since we were still in our work clothes, and we head into the studio. We walk in to silence.... an awkward lobby.... and nobody. A few seconds later someone comes out from behind a big wall partition... who was MAYBE 23. She checks us in, has us fill out a form... and just stands there. One other person walks in while we are filling out paperwork, and by the time class starts, there are 5 of us total.

This isn't quite a yoga specific studio. This is a room in a commercial center with the cement floor painted, and a folding wall put up. No mirrors, no art, no yoga anything. I'm not going to sit here and rant about every second of class, but here are the main things that bothered me.

• Her voice was extremely annoying and she didn't shut up for the entire class, until shavasana at the end.
• Because there were only 5 of us, there was no energy flowing through the room, so it didn't feel like a powerful yoga session, just 5 girls stretching together.
• The whole place was air conditioned. When I started to sweat, the teacher walked over and cranked the AC.
• She was saying the wrong names for a lot of the poses. Not the Sanskrit names... the English names. She even made one up: Charlie's Angles Asana. No. Just no.
• She informed us at the beginning that we would be doing a 'flow' class, and we could take downward dog or child's pose at any time if we needed to. We didn't do one flow. Not even one sun salutation. Hmm...
• She walked around with stinky incense during shavasana which distracted both Liz and me
  

Just to name a few. I tried to be very open minded for this class and a new studio. It was definitely a disappointing experience for me. (Liz felt the same way) My body felt good because I was moving and stretching for an hour, it just wasn't at all what I had wanted. Will I go back? Sure. I have a month membership. Will I buy a 10-pack at the hot, awesome, flow yoga studio by my house? Most likely.

It just makes me sad that some people think this is how yoga is and how yoga should be. I just wish there was a way to politely tell them to branch out and try other studios.

I'm not a negative person, and I don't mean to rant. This was just an awkward and not so fun experience.