YOGA ETIQUETTE:
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Before Class:
- Arrive 5-10 minutes before class begins. (First time students arrive 10 minutes before class)
- Turn off cell phones and pagers and never bring them into the yoga room!
- Wearable fitness devices such as watches must be muted. No texting during class.
- Drink plenty of water throughout the day before coming to class. Hydration is very important.
- Sign in online before arrival.
- Have clean feet and be perfume free
- Ask questions either before or after class, but not during the class.
During Class:
- Refrain from talking in the yoga room. Many students use the time before class to quietly meditate and center themselves as they prepare for class.
- Do your very best to stay in the yoga room once class begins. If an emergency requires you to leave, please leave and return to the yoga room between postures (not during).
- You may bring bottled water into class with you and the teacher will indicate the points during class when everyone takes their water breaks.
- While you may use your hand towel to dry your hands to help with your grip, please refrain from wiping away your sweat throughout the class.
- Practice stillness between postures.
- Honor the silence of the room by moving quietly.
- Focus on only yourself in the mirror
- Do not talk during class
After Class:
- Observe silence after the final savasana. Leave the room quietly. Respect others.
- Place rented/borrowed mats inside laundry basket at the end of the hallway.
- Enjoy the peace and energy you're taking with you from class, and make up your mind to come back tomorrow!
She was probably half my age, young, beautiful, confident. Slightly out of the scripted monologue of the instructor, every now and then I would hear her gentle, soft voice: "you are stronger than you think you are".
"What that she knows", new to the practice, my mind wandered, frequently glancing at the huge mirror showing with little mercy our messed up, aching older bodies. Over the (many) years of hot yoga practice I have come to realize how right she was.
I never saw her again, but yet that little mantra stuck with me during challenging times inside and outside of the studio. And yes, yoga has made me stronger physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Hot yoga pushes you like no other exercise or practice to, for at least for 90 minutes, to be completely absorbed in the most basic humanness there is. While (trying) to breathe to be present with your body, paradoxically, freeing yourself from it. Such liberating experience does not come easily but it is what keeps us coming back.
We carry bodies that show a history; miracle marks, worries, trauma, heartbreaks, sickness, injuries, muscle pain, and yet there we are, we show up half naked, to be loved, observed and eventually freed by the most important one in the room; yourself.
With love and respect,
Marcela See another testimonial
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