When I first tried Strala Yoga, I felt as though I had finally found a place from everyone, athletes, yogis, and just plain normal people. No incense, no chanting, no readings, just a yoga workout that anyone from a yogi to your average Jane looking for a good stretch can appreciate.
While this may seem simple, in my experience, it’s actually pretty rare. While there are a few studios I happily frequent (okay, frequent is a relative term in my yoga practice, but you know what I mean): Laughing Lotus, Pure Yoga–and when I need a quick, cheap yoga fix: Yoga to the People. I don’t venture out to much because I find that many studios are just too dogmatic for my taste or practice level. I don’t do yoga for spiritual reasons, or to connect with the universe, I do it for the wonderful full body stretch and relaxation it provides.
Fortunately, I recently tried Strala Yoga. Strala is a relaxed studio with a friendly vibe where yogis and occasional yoga practicers can co-exist happily. The studio is simple, just a very large, open rectangular room with soothing, clean white walls and hardwood floors. As I set up my mat, I noticed several water bottles on the floor. I was once told that real yogis don’t drink water because it cools the body, whereas yoga is meant to heat the body and allow it to cool itself naturally without water or brow wiping. Seeing water bottles next to my fellow classmate’s mats reassured me that I could enjoy a swig of water without exposing the fact that I am not truly a yogi. I was in good company.
While I loved feeling so comfortable at Strala, what really sold me was the workout. Founder Tara Stiles, author of Slim, Calm, Sexy Yoga, created a practice comprised of workouts that emphasize gentle breathing and create strong, long, lean bodies. The classes are simply titled strong, relax and basics. I found the strong classes to be uniquely challenging and each had a discrete style and format. Unlike most yoga classes I have taken, the classes I took at Strala didn’t follow a traditional flow or center on the sun salutation, but rather focused on a several series of poses that complemented one another, I never knew what was coming next.
The classes started out with a gentle stretch and warm up before moving into a challenging series of poses. In one class, I was challenged to hold variations of boat pose for what seemed like five minutes, I was already falling out of position in the first ten minutes of the class! Typically ab work is my favorite part of the workout, so I was surprised that a yoga class could push me past my limits so easily. That is one of my favorite things about Strala, it’s a challenging workout, but still provides stretch and stillness. The strong classes are almost athletic as they challenge you to use balance and strength to hold poses for several breaths. The instructors are wonderful about making slight corrections that make a big difference in how much you feel the stretch. As someone who doesn’t practice regularly, I am always worried that I am going to look silly when it comes times for inversions. But I was happy to find that inversions at Strala were always optional; they give those who want a challenge the chance to go into handstands, headstands and wheels, but an alternative were always offered–and I gladly accepted. Even if I didn’t partake in inversions, by the end of my classes, I was sweating and ready for savasannah. The hour and fifteen minutes was just enough to challenge me and give me the full body stretch I need to balance out my running workouts.
There was one thing about my Strala classes that was completely unexpected. The feeling of calmness I felt for several hours after class. It was wonderful to leave the studio, step into the madness of the city and still have a lingering sense of relaxation and serenity to guide me through my day. It’s not always easy for cardio fiend like myself to find a yoga workout that is both enjoyable and beneficial, but Strala’s slim, calm, sexy style of yoga is exactly what I need.
Strala Yoga is located at 632 Broadway. Classes are $15 and new member discounts and packages are available.
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I am super excited for Refine to head downtown, but since we have a few more days until the grand Union Square opening, I got myself out of bed and to the UES for a 9:30 class, so I could see my girl and get my workout in! OMG the class was killer! I think we did at least 200 squats throughout the class. I had planned to do some cardio at the gym, but the class turned out to be enough!
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