I’ve been giving ClassPass a try for the last month and on Saturday I checked out a local yoga studio, Naam Yoga on West 72nd Street. I signed up for the 12pm, 90 minute Vinyasa class with Kim. The studio is pretty tiny and might be an apartment that was turned into a yoga studio (I say this because the address lists it as “Apartment 1). There is a front desk area when you first walk in, a place to hang your coat, a tiny seating area and bathrooms, I believe that is it. It’s so tiny that actually you leave your shoes out in the hallway. The yoga studio is very bright with natural sunlight, love that. The room is a weird L shape and fits about 4 people in the front row then only three across the rest of the room. It’s a bit strange but I also like how it’s small and intimate. I shot this pic from my back row spot.
So I was seated in the last row and even though the doors were closed behind me I could hear every time the front desk phone rang and could hear the conversations that the receptionist was having, not so zen for me. Kim started class by welcoming us and saying thanks for coming since noon is a weird time to work out (on a Saturday not really..) and that let’s be real, it’s f*cking cold out. I don’t tend to hear the f-bomb dropped when welcoming a yoga class so it was half funny and half off-putting. We started the class then Kim interrupted to say "oh actually class today will end at 1:15 not 1:30 because there is a workshop scheduled.” I’m surprised this wasn’t announced online or at least when we walked in. I was actually happy to have a shorter class (bc spoiler, I didn’t love it) but this is the sort of thing that annoys me. If class will be shorter everyone should know in advance, especially for people who are paying per class.
So the actual yoga was fine. Not super challenging or super easy, just middle of the road. Kim seemed sweet but she giggled a lot throughout the class which just again, is not my style in a fitness class. It almost seemed like she was a new teacher but I have no idea if that’s the case. I couldn’t take anything she said seriously because she kept giggling.
Overall I liked the feel of the actual studio but not that I could hear everything happening at the front desk and the yoga didn’t do much for me. Basically what I’m saying is I liked that the yoga room had natural sunlight but that’s maybe the only thing I liked. I wish I could find a studio I loved near home but this wasn’t it for me. Just because I didn’t love Kim, I might enjoy other classes but the types of yoga they teach the majority of the time seems a bit out there. I’m a vinyasa kinda girl and they have things like “dynamic alignment”, “vocal power” and “naam sound meditation (with gong)”. Maybe I shouldn’t judge these things since I don’t know what they are but for me, I don’t think it’s going to work out.
