Yoga NW

NW Yoga is truly peace, calm and focus. I would highly recommend you stopping by a class. I have been in Becca, Micheal and Jacqueline’s classes. They teach to many levels and not only lead with their hearts but also instruct the small changes one may need to make in positions. The effects will ripple through your life in many ways.

I am commenting on the Forrest Yoga with Becca King as this is the only class I have attended. First of al the space is clean and relaxing. I have been to many yoga classes over the years, and Becca is one of the best instructors. She offers gentle corrections on form, and has a class where people of multiple levels can succeed. I am a runner and have found this practice has really helped me with flexibility and strength. The session is both relaxing and a good workout.

Wonderful instructors, great approach to yoga, nice space. Very friendly and knowledgeable, helpful and encouraging without being overbearing. The prices are reasonable — you can get $ 81/​month unlimited yoga, e.g., or a package that comes out to $ 12/​class, which I think is good. I think some reviewers expect really inexpensive yoga, and while that’s great — hey, in Albuquerque, some studios charge $ 5/​class — it’s not really reasonable for teachers trying to earn a decent wage for their work. I definitely like it the most of any yoga studio in this neighborhood

I purchased 3 months voucher from groupon and went to initiate my groupon. But it was the worst yoga studio experience for me. OK, I was a groupon customer that most of the vendors don’t want to deal with. I got it. However, I visited many yoga studios with my groupon and they never treated me like that.
When I signed up, the person at the front desk, who was one of the teachers, she signed. But the girl after me was paying a regular price and she got better treatment than I was.
The class was fine. After the class, she obviously knew I was still there or she didn’t care, but started saying «Groupon customers are worst, they are studio hoppers, I don’t want to deal with them, etc…» ok, I can hear everything she is saying. She could have waited a couple of minutes for me to leave, right?
I had 3 months membership and I had never gone back there. I ended up signing up with other yoga studio I had groupon before. I am sure they have good classes, I would not recommend any of my friends or yoga students to go there. I should feel good and content after yoga classes, not frustration or disappointment.

One man’s experience, yours may differ.
I found Yoga NW on the web and figured I’d give it a try. They had $ 5 classes all day on Wednesday and it was in a convenient location for me on that day.
I arrived and found that alas, the class was not $ 5, it was $ 15. The website did (and still does at this writing) advertise the lower rate. I was not the only student that expected the $ 5 rate.
In class, as we were to begin, the teacher stepped (swaggered?) on my mat nonchalantly. (Alarm bells ringing)
The class was not what I was looking for, and more appropriate for beginning students, which was my fault and not the teacher’s, although it was not advertised as a beginner’s class.
However, the teacher twice chastised me for not «staying with the class», almost shouting. I was in the same pose as the class, but with slight variations. I was aghast. The second time it happened, I almost left the class. I ended up staying as a lesson in patience and allowing.
I took a bind variation that is very challenging/​opening for my body at one point, and the instructor loudly proclaimed the evils of «showing off», and the benefits of staying with the class. It was clearly directed at me.
At another point, the instructor had the class doing a pose I have never seen, with the knees bent far below the ankles in a standing pose. This type of pose is extremely dangerous for the knees. I had a hard time believing that this instructor was telling people to, «stay with the pose» when it could result it injury.
In the middle of class, the instructor had us lie down supine for a «guided» meditation. After 10 minutes of this, she instructed us to get into pigeon pose… so we got all warmed up, then lay down for 10 minutes, then pigeon? It was totally ridiculous. The whole point is to build up to the more difficult poses and here she is having students cool down for 10 minutes before getting into a notoriously difficult pose.
I know this sounds like a rant, but it’s not my intention. This class was just that bad and by far the worst class I have ever taken. The instructor for this class has an ego the size of an SUV, but without the skills to match.
Some positives: the studio is nice and airy, with lots of light and a very neighborhoody, casual atmosphere. I feel that beginning students would feel more comfortable in this studio than some others. In fact, with a different instructor, I believe that this would be an optimal studio for those learning about yoga.
In the spirit of clarity and with the hope that prospective students can avoid this instructor, her name is Sheila.

This has become one of my favorite places for a mindful, low key practice. To date all of my practices have been with Aimee and her practice is a wonderful break from my normal power vinyasa practice. Yoga NW is a small, intimate space with «regular» people. Mike S. and I went to YTT together in 2011 so check out his class!

I heard that people really like the yoga class at Friendly House and it is taught by one of the Yoga NW instructors, Sheila. So I bought a Living Social deal for only $ 10, so I could check out the studio. I couldn’t find parking and was five minutes late, but the door was locked. So I went to the next class. I’ve done yoga for many years and usually study Iyengar, but thought the Vinyasa was worth trying. They have lots of different classes, so I plan on trying some of the other styles.
The teacher wove together lots of different standing poses with stretching poses and spent time on alignment, which was great. But not much feedback was given, even though there were several new students who had never done yoga. I think having classes at different levels might work better. And even though I mentioned I had been injured, so was taking it a little easy, she wasn’t very helpful, so I just didn’t do some of the exercises. Hopefully, I will heal and be able to do more yoga soon.
The teacher demonstrated the opposite of what we were doing. So while we were reaching toward the window, she would be reaching the other way… It made it a bit hard to follow and when I mentioned this made it a little confusing, she was abrupt and said she had been teaching this way for 20 years. Period. Very abrupt and made me think she didn’t care. I’ve never been in a class where the teacher was moving the opposite of what they wanted the students to do.
I longed for my other yoga teacher, but will try some other teachers there. The advantage of the studio is that you can do «drop in» classes. It’s a beautiful light room, very clean, so I hope to find another teacher who doesn’t demonstrate opposite what the class is doing and has a better attitude.

I purchased their special of 3 months unlimited and I’ve only attended 2 classes so far. The space is small but efficient. Make sure you get there on time because they lock the front door once class begins.
Update: Now I’ve attended 3 classes and my biggest pet peeve is that the classes run over their 1 hour time slot. Last night it ran 20 minutes late…

my first yoga experience, ever, and totally dug it. aimee seems to be a pretty amazing teacher, something i could gather not just from being able to visualize poses and moves from her vivid descriptions, eyes closed, but also from the appreciation of her from the other students in the class. definitely going back!

I just found this place and I am reluctant to add the business here, because I REALLY enjoyed my quiet, lovely $ 5 Wednesday class with Jennifer (and only 5 other women!). A smallish sized studio with just the right things — beautiful exposed brick walls and clean wood floor, and location on a corner with a big window overlooking a huge beautiful old tree (ahh, autumn!). Their signup process is painless and you don’t need to do anything special to sign in. They have blocks, blankets, straps, and mats to borrow if needed.
«Wonderful Wednesdays» is their $ 5 drop in class day, which I REALLY appreciate (6:30, 9, 12, 6) and they have classes on every day of the week (6:30am M/​W/​F and as late as 6pm M-​Th). Their classes currently listed: Insight Yoga, Integrated Vinyasa, One Breath Yoga, Vinyasa, and Yin.
And, every Saturday in October at 11 am, they have a donation-​based open yoga class. Pay what you want!
I think I might have fallen a little in love with them today!