When I was in Austin, I went to a great studio called YOGAGROOVE [http://bikramyogaaustin.com/]. It was a really friendly studio—a bit of a mess due to some recent construction. More guys than I am used to back in Brooklyn in the class… a great down-home feel, friendly, even if in a strip mall. I was in Austin for a week and managed to get to YOGAGROOVE twice and another yoga that used to be Bikram, but is now merely “hot” (probably about 95 degrees and only an hour) run by rather fruity (am I allowed to use that word?) instructor—notably handsome, naturally inspiring, great guru material (“leave your troubles here,” he said as we did our hideously difficult sage poses)….
Tallahassee was a failure (but hey, that’s why they call it a “practice” right?)—no Bikram there, and it is hard to get around. The creative writing students also kept me busy drinking and yapping away. Seven days without pizza may make one weak, but three days without yoga makes one doughy…
In Vegas, I really got on it, though… Went two days in a row to Hot Yoga, by Patrice [http://www.hotyogabypatrice.com/]. I think she must have changed it to “hot yoga” because she diverged from the standard Bikram series (as far as I could tell this was by adding one ankle stretching posture—very mild—changing the order of the back strengthening poses, and doing some physical adjustments (these were great—she really fixed my standing bow pose and seated spinal twist)). The room was pretty hot, though my Brooklyn studio is hotter. Being in Vegas, the studio was awfully dry. Here is the studio from the outside:
The studio:
And Patrice:
At the end of the first class, Patrice reminded us all that “being in the past or in the future is like being dead”; at the end of the second, she reminded us that “you can ask everyone you know what a watermelon tastes like, go to all the best universities to study it, etc., but you will NEVER REALLY KNOW what a watermelon tastes like until you TASTE IT YOURSELF.”
The studio in Sacramento was great, but I didn’t have my camera with me, so no pictures. It was really hot, and, like Austin, super friendly. Oh how I love California! The teacher was pretty great and everyone was in a really jovial mood for a Friday night. [http://www.hotyogabypatrice.com/]
Yoga in San Francisco at Mission Yoga was just what the doctor ordered [http://www.missionyoga.com/]—the room wasn’t nearly hot enough (my sweat kept drying on me leaving me pretty cold), but the instructor was professional and enthusiastic. The studio offers naked men’s yoga in the sun room—I was a little concerned that my rental mat might have been used in that context, but what’s the difference, really… I mean it’s all kind of disgusting if you think about it. At the end of the class, I guzzled some water with an Emergen-C—I will become the repository of every germ currently extant in this country during the road trip (especially doing hot and sweaty yoga everywhere I go) so am trying to be, um, prophylactic about things. Here are some pics of the Mission Yoga studio:
Two days later, I took a class in Berkeley at Funky Door Yoga [http://www.funkydoor.com/]. This studio was in some ways really great and in some ways really awful. The studio itself is very large—Bikram seems to be awfully popular in Berkeley—but the class wasn’t very hot and the room was so big and full it was easy to call it in. It was also really brightly lit with terrible artwork on the walls (one was a cartoon of Bill Clinton doing standing bow pose and having some girl kiss his big toe—truly not the sort of thing I want to look at all sweaty during a yoga class).
I wasn’t able to get to yoga again until I got to Missoula [http://www.bikrammissoula.com/] where I did it twice.
The entrance:
Here is the woman who taught both of my classes. She was nice:
This studio was also not very hot and I kept getting cold while doing poses. It seemed like a nice community, though, and the walls weren’t festooned with disturbing or annoying images. All in all, a really welcoming place.
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