I started to get an answer to at least one of my question as I saw person after person walking into the building with a yoga mat either under their arm or swung around their shoulder. When I walked in there was a line to sign into the class and my fears of a ginormous class with people mat-to-mat was grew even more. But I signed in, found out where to put my shoes, hang my coat and stow my purse and headed into the studio with my shoulders back and chest open.
The studio was a large room with lots of opaque windows and a high ceiling, giving off a vibe more like industrial zen rather than the comfy zen of my old studio, PranaYoga. While it didn't have a warm vibe, however, it was warm temperature-wise. Not warm like hot yoga warm but definitely warmer than I'm used to! So already I knew I was going to be sweating. A lot.
It wasn't as packed as I thought it was going to be, mainly because the studio itself is so large, although there were easily 50 people in the class. I selected a spot for myself near the front of the room and settled down, waiting for it to start. The teacher started off my introducing herself as Linda and then asking if there were any people new to yoga or new to West Hartford Yoga. I hesitantly raised my hand and said that I wasn't new to yoga but I was new to WHY having just moved from Indiana. She welcomed me, as did some of the other people around my mat, which was nice and helped to make me a little more comfortable.
The practice itself was fairly different than what I'm used to. It was an All-levels class so the format was pretty familiar but at the same time it was all completely foreign. There was a lot of focus on all inhaling and exhaling at the same time, which sort of messed up my flow as I'm used to following my own breath. But it was neat to be able to hear everyone breathing and really feel the energy being created in the room. There were some other subtle differences during the practice that distracted and disoriented me for a moment but I was always able to reestablish my balance and flow.
We spent quite a bit of time with standing poses (or maybe it just seemed that way to me!). We did a sequence (I can't remember the exact order) with warrior I, chair, goddess, warrior II and triangle. My legs were burning towards the end and at one point I just had to fold over into forward fold! And after that sequence downward facing dog did feel like a resting pose!
Overall, while I felt like it was a good practice, I also felt a little off balance mentally. The format was generally the same to the classes at PranaYoga, but it definitely felt different although not necessarily in ways I can put into words.
I'll probably go back to West Hartford Yoga but I'm going to look around to see if there is a smaller studio in the area. I really missed having that close connection with the other people in the class and with the teacher. It felt more we all happened to be in the same place doing the same thing as opposed to the feeling I get with smaller classes where we're all on the same journey together. But who knows, maybe that will get better as I start to get to know some of the other people in the class and the teachers. I guess I'll find out as I continue on my yoga journey.
