The elbowroom

This review pertains to the café & acupuncture.
First of all, I am going to have a clear bias to the café, as it is vegetarian, as am I. I had a delicious selection of salads — which is my favourite. The coffee was ok. I also had a blueberry muffin and that was amazing.
I had pregnancy acupuncture with Kevin. I’ve never had acupuncture before so I had nothing to compare this experience to. All I can say is that Kevin was friendly and professional.
One thing I will say about the Elbow Room, is that they told me they will email me my receipt for the acupuncture on Tuesday (today is Friday) which I was slightly put out by.

I’ve done every sort of exercise class you can think of, from martial arts to dancing to aerobics and everything in between. As a result I’ve been in to many many studios over the years. The Elbowroom however is a very special one. I feel like this place genuinely cares about the people attending their classes, offering an introductory price, a discounted first year and offering to freeze your account if you wind up travelling or unable to attend for some reason — they are literally the only studio I’ve been in that allows me to freeze my monthly membership so that I can make the most of my class passes.
Their instructors are all extremely competent and very qualified. They all move around the room correcting technique and also offering alternatives to anyone that may have an injury or mobility issue in order to ensure that everyone gets great benefit from the classes.

I can’t believe it took me so long to try this place! I love it here! Oh the time and money I wasted in other places that didnt really know what they were doing.
The elbowroom is like a wellness hub in this beautiful old building in Stoneybatter/​Smithfield. They offer different types of yoga, pilates (both including a beginner’s course which always is a good sign), meditation, an acupuncture clinic and different workshops like stress management for example. Their on-​site café offers fresh juices and a whole bunch of healthy yummy stuff so you could hang out here in between classes and sip on a coffee or carrot/​apple/​kale juice. I don’t actually know whether they do that combination at all but I think they should.
I’ve attended a few different Yoga classes and different level Pilates classes with 4 different instructors, all of them were lovely and highly skilled. You know you are in good hands when the instructor walks around and corrects people’s posture!
The evening classes are very popular and you need to sign up online. When a class is fully booked, you can choose to get waitlisted so if a spot becomes free they will text you. Pretty nicely organised me thinks.
Bring your own mat or rent one for 1Euro, free water everywhere and facilities to get changed, they really thought of everything!

By far the best yoga venue, from the handful we have tried around town over the last month. Fantastic range of classes and there’s a € 59/​month unlimited offer for newbies to try out the different styles/​instructors!
There’s about 5 studios and a couple of them can accommodate 20+ people so not really suited for yogis who prefer a more intimate class with closer attention by the teachers.
Dedicated male and female changing rooms and showers with free lockers! Also a café with healthy nibbles, smoothies and the likes. Super friendly staff and all the other yogis always smile and say hi… so it does feel like a little community in the ‘Batter.
The spaces are beautifully restored and there’s always lovely incense and tealights lit so you already feel super zen and holistic before you even go into your first downward dog.

I’ve been a big fan of yoga for years now, so being new to the neighbourhood, finding a good studio was a priority. I stumbled upon the Elbow Room (ironically on my way to the pub) and decided to try it out. I’m glad I did — this is a great studio!
They have 3 rooms, and a very extensive list of classes and times, so it’s never a problem finding one to suit your schedule. Whilst they’re not exclusively a yoga studio per se, aside from the odd Pilates or Zumba class, most of their classes are different styles of yoga. All the instructors I’ve had have been great… my only slight complaint is that you have to pre-​book appointments for classes, and some days, all popular class times (ie. outside weekday office hours) are booked full days in advance so if you’re not able to predict your schedule a week ahead of time, you might not get a class in!
They have a first month special rate of € 59 and then it’s $ 79 thereafter, which is a little pricey, but I’ve compared a lot of prices for yoga around the city and it seems to be the going rate.

Excellent for all sorts of reasons.
* A real sense of community spirit abounds here, as the fab value lunchtime yoga classes that feature free food afterwards testify.
* Classes are especially good value if you sign up for the monthly rate which includes unlimited access — well worth it if you do two classes a week. And they do stuff like points that you don’t even know you’re collecting till someone brightens your miserable day just after you got your car clamped with the announcement of free money.
* Good website —
— that you can pre-​book and cancel on.
* Friendly, helpful staff.
* A range of holistic health services from homeopathy to massage, counselling, community acupuncture based on the Chinese model and offering great value, and lots of stuff for mums-​to-​be too.
* A huge range of classes, from various forms of yoga including hot, vinyasa flow, hatha and ashtanga; pilates; zumba.
* The studios are nice, especially studio 1. Studio 2 can be freezing especially in winter so come prepared.
All in all, first-​class and well worth a visit.

Ok so I’ve been looking for a yoga studio that I REALLY like in Dublin for quite some time. They’re always either too smelly or too regimented or too fake or have terrible schedules or not enough choice.
Enter the Elbow Room. It’s not quuiite five star (purely because the classes don’t fit exactly to my schedule, so I’d prefer if there were a few more to choose from), but it’s very nearly there.
Firstly, it’s in a very old building that’s been renovated nicely, in that bit of Dublin that’s kinda Smithfield, kinda Stoneybatter. There’s something about the approach to the building that instills a calm in me already — there’s nothing more off-​putting than trying to get your zen on in a community hall or office block.
The calm continues inside with nice homely décor, and an overriding sense of tranquility (candles and insence are great aren’t they!)
Then there is the range of classes available. Everything from Vinyasa Flow to Hatha, Ashtanga and Hot Yoga. As I said, it would be great if they had a choice of one of these per day — they are spread out over the week — so this won’t be the studio for you if you want to do only one type per day.
There is also a free vege lunch if you attend one of the day time classes.
The classes that I’ve been to so far have generally had about 15 people in them, so it’s never been too crowded. I’ve also not had a teacher that I haven’t rated highly.
This is all after just a few weeks in this spot, so come back for the re-​review in a few months time, but for now, I’m zenned up like a *&*%^!

I’m not gonna lie, I’m not really a «yoga» kind of person… I’m snarky and sarky and so un-​bendy I’d be likely to snap trying to touch my toes.
Having said this, the pounds were creeping up, they do drop-​in classes (no commitment) and this place was/​is really close to my place, sooooooo…
It was great! Not all «breathe in through your left nostril and out your right nostril imaging yourself on a wave of nothingness» stuff, but lots of bending and moving about and I really did break a sweat, plus a little meditation at the end, which was actually quite nice!
It was good craic and I’ll deffo try it again.
They also do pilates, zumba, massage and body conditioning classes.
The centre is really well run and the staff were nice and friendly.
They do a e55/​month unlimited yoga class offer, which I think is great value. Otherwise it’s approx e13 a drop-​in class, depending on what you do (check their site, they sometimes do special offers).
And if you go to a lunchtime class, they’ll even feed you for free! A bowl of soup or salad or whatever’s on that day, nice touch.
Namaste.

Thanks to the Elbow Room and their sweet deals, I am currently on week two of my month-​long yogathon. I’ve taken a nice mix of classes including hot yoga, hatha, meditation, ashtanga and plain old yoga 1 — and those are just the ones that are available after work! They do zumba and piloga (is that different from yogilates?!) and other courses as well.
This place is yogalicious.

Back in my salad days, when I was green in judgement, cold in blood, and living in San Francisco… yoga was de rigeur, and there were more varieties on offer — sweatboxes, hatha, ashtanga, power yoga, dog yoga — than you could shake a stick at.
Now that child bearing and rearing and office work are taking their toll, I’m stiff in all the wrong places, so off I go to a community /​drop in hatha yoga class at the Elbow Room.
What a great spot. pilates, yoga, massage all available here.
Owner/​operator Lisa Wilkinson has a couple of kids herself so the place is family friendly — pregnancy yoga, kids yoga, baby massage. The class I attended was taught by Joe Saflund and it was excellent — I’d forgotten how blissful yoga can be.
Maybe I should have gone into the ashram all those years ago, but it was the prospect of taking on a new name that scared me off, there’s always some unacceptable aspect of doctrine for me — like
proselytising as a born again Christian…
Should the autumnal self-​improvement bug bite, take yourself down to the Elbow room. For the unwaged, a drop in-​class is only € 6,
for other great deals, check out the special offers
Wherever you roam, there’s no place like ohm
shanti shanti shanti