Question 1

What class should I take?

Answer

We invite you to look over the description of our classes to help you decide. But we also encourage you to try a range of classes and styles. We all need different yoga practices at different times to promote health and healing. The more you familiarize yourself with a variety of classes and teachers, the more you will be empowered to select the class that helps bring you the balance you need on a particular day or week or at a particular season or period of your life.

Question 2

What should I wear?

Answer

You don’t need special clothes to practice yoga — comfort above all! Clothing that doesn’t constrain you for movement such as a t-shirt and sweatpants or leggings is both comfortable and safe. If you easily feel hot or cold, it can help to come in with an extra layer to remove or to add on as needed. In a more active class, consider wearing a shirt that won’t ride up when you bend over. For most classes, we invite you to go barefoot on the yoga mat so that you can get good traction and ground feel. ** Aerial Yoga** Please NO jewelry, zippers, hooks that may snag hammocks. Thank you

Question 3

What should I bring?

Answer

Mostly just yourself and openness to a new experience. If you bring your own mat, great. For $1.00, we also rent mats that we clean after each use. Shoes go in the cubbies, and we will lock your personal belongings in a side room during class. Ideally, you will be fully present to your experience and can leave your phone with your belongings, but we know how life happens, and if you need to bring a phone into the studio, please turn off the sound. We provide yoga straps, blocks, bolsters, eye pillows, Kleenex, mat cleaner and cloths, and a few other things. For most classes, a water bottle isn't necessary. If needed, we sell bottled water from the fridge for $.50.

Question 4

Anything helpful to know about eating before yoga?

Answer

People usually feel most comfortable practicing on an empty stomach. We suggest not eating for at least 1-2 hours before class.

Question 5

When should I arrive?

Answer

On your first visit, plan to arrive 15-20 minutes early to complete paperwork, meet the teacher, and familiarize yourself with the studio. Otherwise, arriving 5-10 minutes in advance gives you time to sign in, set up your mat, greet friends, and settle into a mindful space for practice.

Question 6

I’m not flexible. What does this mean for doing yoga?

Answer

A yoga practice with physical postures is designed to help anyone build strength, balance, and flexibility, starting right where they are. You are your own most important teacher! You alone experience what is going on inside. Teachers may give options for some poses because they understand that every body is different. We invite you to work with the expression of a posture that serves you best or to brainstorm with your teacher about what that expression might be. Yoga classes can also include breathing exercises and meditation. These demand a different kind of flexibility and openness, and just as with postures, they will take on new dimensions or feel easier with time.

Question 7

I have a trick knee (heart condition, child-on-the-way, back pain, etc.). Is it safe for me to do yoga?

Answer

Yoga is often used to support healing from injuries, reducing the impact of chronic conditions, and strengthening for new tasks like childbirth. But some postures may be counter-indicated for your condition. We have you fill out a form before you practice with us to help us understand how to create the safest environment for you. If we know that a posture is counter-indicated, we want to inform you and when possible, propose a safer alternative. We also count on you to be your own teacher. If something doesn’t feel right or if a medical professional has told you that something isn’t right for you, please back off or try something different. Only you inhabit your body, and we encourage you to trust your intuition. In fact, you may find that yoga helps you grow in that trust. If something in your health situation changes at any point, please let us know so that we can support you where you are now!

Question 8

I’m not comfortable with religious overtones or symbols or language. Will I have to deal with this? Or. . . Symbols of all kinds, chanting, and meditational words feel wonderfully spiritual to me!

Answer

Our teachers “teach from the heart.” That is, they share what is meaningful to them, and to do so, they draw on various traditions and writings, symbols, language, and even sounds. Because some styles of yoga developed out of specific philosophies and practices, teachers may integrate them and even refer to them in Sanskrit. You may be invited to chant “Om” or to participate in a meditation from a particular tradition. Not just ritual for its own sake, these practices have physical/mental components and health benefits. Just as with postures, we invite you to participate to the extent that you feel comfortable and to be mindful of where your own feelings toward a particular element may come from. Yoga itself is not a religion. And it is constantly evolving. We honor the fact that many yoga postures and types of breath work developed over the last 150 years in the framework of philosophies circulating in what is now India and that some philosophical and ethical aspects of yoga reflect strands of thought and understandings that emerged thousands of years ago in places far from there. We also recognize and respect the fact that new elements emerged in the US and around the worlds as teachers taught and improvised within a framework of Western bio-medicine and world views far removed from those of Southeast Asia. We neither play up the “mystique” that can come with unfamiliar symbols, chants, language, and even certain kinds of music, nor do we dismiss the power of sharing with you what we have come to find meaningful through our personal and collective practice and study of yoga. Above all, we honor that everyone has a unique way of exploring a connection to something bigger than themselves — God, a higher purpose, a spirit, an “ultimate reality.” We all journey to a destination unknown.

Question 9

I’d like to come to yoga, but it costs too much. Help!

Answer

We have all lived through financial challenges. Money struggles often contribute to negative stress, making yoga all the more important for your health and wellbeing. Our new student option allows you to explore an unlimited number of classes at a reduced cost for a whole month. After that, payment options include an automatic monthly renewal by credit card to give you unlimited classes and passes that allow you to purchase multiple classes at a reduced rate per class. But maybe you just don’t have the money to pay up front to get these savings. If money is the one thing holding you back, please speak with us. We may not be able to offer you an endless number of free classes, but there may be opportunities to trade classes for work in the studio, and we have a house account for our teachers to dip into to subsidize students. We trust that if your situation takes an upswing or you are able to shift resources so as to pay through our usual options, you will let us know so that others in need can get a little boost up to practice yoga.

Question 10

A few etiquette tips to help everyone feel safe and welcome

Answer

-We want you to feel part of our community and to get to know other students. A great place for doing a lot of talking is outside the practice room. It’s also fine talk in the room, but calm conversations in that space helps everyone settle in. -If you arrive late, please slip in with minimal disruption. -If you need to leave early, please inform the teacher in advance so that s/he doesn’t worry that you are sick or upset, or that something bad has happened. -Help us minimize dirt and germs by keeping shoes out of the practice rooms. -If there is something in the studio that you have questions about, that bothers you, or that just doesn’t feel right in some way, please let us know. We want to work together with you to foster a family-friendly, non-judgmental environment.

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