Oh goodness, where do I begin with this review. There were highs, there were lows, there were weird moments. So. Many. Feelings.
Ok let’s start at the beginning…
A friend and I were looking for something active on Saturday morning in Montauak and Love yoga studio was across the street from our hotel, seemed pretty perfect. We went to the 9:45am class taught by Heather Lilleston. The class cost $22 and then an additional $2 for a mat. The class was packed, there was only an inch between mats and probably 40 people in the room, I didn’t mind the crows. The room was full of attractive, fit beachy looking people wearing high-end yoga clothes, no surprise there. Heather is super cute; long flowy blonde hair, thin, fit, you know the type.
The class was 75 minutes. Heather started the class off with a little talk (I zoned out and couldn’t tell you one thing she said), then some “om-ing” as a group and then Heather began to sing. Yes…sing. She was chanting/singing words I didn’t know for a bit then she stopped. Then she started talking again. I’m used to yoga classes starting with a three minute intro about focusing and what you want to get out of your practice, but this was ridiculous. If I wasn’t wearing a watch I wouldn’t believe how much time had passed. I’m not exaggerating at all when I tell you that Heather told stories for TWENTY FIVE MINUTES. Her stories were about who knows what. She kept losing focus, I learned a lot about her life (she went through a bad break up once and cried for a year, she doesn’t like hot yoga, she lives in NYC, she had credit card fraud, she has a boyfriend who is bringing her green juice after class…and so on). We literally all just sat there cross legged for 25 minutes while she spoke to us. Then she started singing again and asked everyone to join in.
I kept wanting to give a little side-eye to the girl I went with but was scared Heather would see me giving looks so I just stared ahead smiling while thinking “what is happening!?” So FINALLY after 25 minutes we started doing yoga.
The yoga was actually great! The sequences were different than what I’m used to, I worked up a little sweat and really enjoyed the class. Heather is actually very funny, curses in class and has the group laughing. There was music playing throughout class which I like (although the last song played was an odd choice, a rap song with a lot of curse words I won’t repeat here). Heather did a good job of correcting form and giving attention to students. If you are totally new to yoga you probably would have been in the dark most of the class. The more standard poses were not clearly introduced or explained but it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing. Heather gave good direction for more complicated/less standard poses.
My review is very mixed. The actual yoga was fantastic and if we could erase the 25 minute soliloquy at the beginning of class I’d give it a really great rating but instead I don’t even know how to rate this class.
Was it worth the $24? I’m not sure. I wouldn’t rush out to this class but if I found myself back in Montauk in need of some yoga, I’d maybe give it another try.
