I've been doing yoga for about ten years now, off and on (and far more off lately than on...). After a SUPER unhealthy year I decided to get myself back in line during my current awesome but budgetarily-constrained hiatus from work. I'm trying out some of the different yoga studios in Jacksonville (particularly, the ones that offer free or reduced price classes to new students). Since I haven't been to a class in probably a year, I wanted to start out with a more basic class.
A side note -- I started with Iyengar yoga, which is a branch of Hatha yoga that uses props and moves pretty slowly, focusing primarily on doing the poses properly so as to avoid injury. (Most yoga classes are some type of Hatha yoga; they can just vary greatly in the teaching style. Good article in Yoga Journal on the different styles.) The idea is that, when done properly, the poses will stimulate or relax certain muscles, organs, and glands, and this cannot be acheived when the poses are not done correctly. With this type of background, I sometimes get frustrated at studios and gyms where yoga is more of fast workout.
The 10:30 am Gentle Yoga class at Mindful Motion Yoga was just what I needed. Terri, the instructor/owner was very a conscientious teacher who moved at a comfortable pace appropriate to a gentle class. This Hatha studio offers several different levels of yoga, starting with Restorative Yoga which Terri described as stretches on bolsters. It sounds like the perfect thing for someone with any sort of health issues or out of shape and just starting out. The next level is Gentle, followed by Basic and Power Yoga (the last two are in a heated room, but she said normally around 85-90 degrees). Terri said that the Basic class can be more intense, depending on your preference.
It wasn't overcrowded; there was plenty of space between mats so you aren't hitting your neighbors (or worse, have feet in your face). It was clean and actually smelled pleasantly like lemongrass. The Gentle Yoga level was super laid-back and relaxing, mostly stretching. It was a chill group of people, no competitive yoga-goers (the ones who flip into headstand while everyone else is on their backs).
They serve smoothies after the 10:30 class on Mondays and the 6pm class on Tuesdays (no fixed price - just donations to cover costs). They're prepared by Robin Maton-Bascara, a certified raw foods expert. They vary each time, but this one was made with orange, banana, apple, spirulina and collard greens and it was delicious. I'm always hungry right after yoga and have a bad tendency to stuff myself with the first thing I see (like a bag of kit-kats), so being handed an organic smoothie after class is ideal. In fact, I wish I could hire someone to follow me around and put healthy food into my hands every time I start wandering towards the kitchen.
The studio is located on St. John's Bluff, just south of Beach Blvd. Check their Facebook page for a map and up-to-date class schedule.
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