Whether you want to build strength, relax or get in touch with your spiritual side, there is a yoga class tailored just for you — no matter your age, fitness level or shape. Here is a snapshot of different classes offered at Ottawa studios.
By Oona Woods
Mountaingoat Yoga
Location: Unit 5, 3350 Fallowfield Rd., Barrhaven
Contact: 613-823-3949, contact@mountaingoatyoga.com, mountaingoatyoga.com
Class taken: Yin
Drop-in fee: $16
Open since: 2003
Decor: Stained wood-click flooring, warm yellow walls, bountiful bolsters, faux candles flickering, lots of mats, blocks and straps.
Studios: A range of classes, including meditation, Pilates and Yin, along with a zero to 5K running/yoga combo class and teacher training.
Store: Small selection of clothes.
Best bit: Free hair bands in the bathroom.
Unbest bit: Located in a strip mall and startling thermostat that sounds like a sonic boom when it kicks in the first time. No one seemed alarmed so they must be used to it.
Clientele: Moms, athletes and yogis (man with ponytail and tattoos spotted in second row).
Attendance: Around 15 with space to spare.
Serious yogi scale: Mid-range. Teacher down to earth.
Overheard: “I’m on a cleanse. So is my whole family.”
“Did you know the name Jesus occurs in the Koran more than Mohammed?”
“This place is blessed.”
Bonus: Instructor puts an eye bag on you during savassana, which is a heart-warming gesture.
Instructor nuggets: “Drink lots of water. Feel grateful. You’re amazing.”
Blue Bamboo Yoga
Location: 11-B 6081 Hazeldean Rd., Stittsville.
Contact: 613-435-9447, bluebambooyoga.com
Class taken: Hip opener Hatha
Drop-in price: $21.18 — apparently cheaper if you pre-register online. Also website says $35 for introductory unlimited month of yoga (sadly not mentioned when I was filling out my first-timer form).
Open since: 2008
Decor: Nice, big, bright lobby with leather sofas for post-yoga milling. Slate floor and beige walls with Buddha statues and decorative touches in recesses. Studios are painted deep brown with sizable Om symbols, featuring industrial overheads lightened with the most beautiful, softly swaying large paper lanterns at varying heights.
Studios: Two spaces, one very long with a handful of spinning bikes stationed at one end; the other much smaller. Classes include Hatha, gentle yoga, flow along with the unlikely spin and yoga combo class.
Store: Yoga mats, towels, deluxe eye pillows, local artisan products.
Best bit: Hanging paper lanterns.
Unbest bit: In the smaller Sky Studio, 10 people in a square face one another, which means you may get up close and really personal with someone. Loud clunking sound of the heating system made me flinch when it goes off. Seems like I’ve experienced this again in another strip mall yoga class.
Clientele: Mature mommies, moms and babies, bearded men, active seniors.
Attendance: 10 people in small room put the class at capacity
Serious yogi scale: Quite high for a place with exercise bikes.
Overheard: “Bye, Margaret, see you next time.”
“Have you been to the Jazz Café? You have to go.”
“Oh, I remember when my kids used to do that. Now they hate the cold.”
Bonus: Free post-yoga apple spice herbal tea.
Instructor nuggets: “People say when you lean forward in Proud Warrior, you are concerned about the future. When you lean backward, it is because you are thinking about the past. Try to stay centred in the present.”
Spahara
Location: 150 Robertson Rd., Bells Corners
Contact: 613-726-6399, info@spahara.com, spahara.com/services/yoga/
Class taken: Hard Hatha (yes that’s a thing, when the instructor gets you doing headstands it’s a thing)
Drop-in price: $10
Open since: January 2014
Decor: While the charming spa is tastefully decorated, the yoga room is a basic, no frills space with yellow walls and a shelving unit.
Studios: Just one smaller room inside the spa.
Store: Yes, but for hair dryers, flat irons, hair accessories and Mariah Carey nail polish (see Spa).
Best bit: Price is right.
Unbest bit: There is nowhere to place your belongings unless you pile them about the studio or leave them out front.
Attendance: Four people, but room can hold at least 10.
Serious yogi scale: Modest
Clientele: Mostly female, locals and government workers.
Overheard: “I can’t do Tuesday and Thursday. That’s when I have boot camp.”
“No, I don’t have injuries. I’m just feeling really stiff.”
“This is a better deal than $60 a week for a chiropractor.”
Bonus: Instructor pushes your shoulders down and pulls neck gently in savasana.
Instructor nuggets: “Wherever you are is perfect. It’s where you are meant to be because that’s where you are. So that’s why it is perfect.”
“I’m not judging you, so don’t judge yourself.”
Pure Yoga
Location: 279 Richmond Rd., Westboro
Contact: 613-680-7873, pureyogaottawa.com
Class taken: Hot power
Drop-in price: $15. Currently, there is a one-month introductory offer of $40.
Open since: 2011
Decor: Trendy hip space meets functional basement baths. Walls surrounding reception area are painted a refreshing turquoise with darker hues in the hot room.
Studios: One oversized heated class with mirrors along one wall. Classes vary through the week, but focus is on hot yoga with different flavours and accompaniment. On Sundays, they have live music in studio.
Store: A nice selection of clothes, leggings and mats.
Best bit: Super sticky mats to rent for $2 that suction to your body and weld you into place.
Unbest bit: Gah! The mirrors! When you are in a room full of hot 20-somethings wearing not much and you are a rocking “hot mess” rather than “hot-ness,” you don’t want to have that image bounced into the assembled brains.
Attendance: Seemed like hundreds of people. Floor is stamped with Pure Yoga (TM) symbol so you know where to line your mat up.
Clientele: Young, fit, strong, muscly, bendy gorgeous people. 10:1 ratio of females to males. But website states all kinds of people are welcome.
Serious yogi scale: They know their clients and dominate social media (@pyo) with all the best bits of the practice, but serious yogis may question the missing yogic limbs. Tremendous fun.
Overheard: “Oh, that’s so cute.”
“Does she do gymnastics?”
“Yes, you will need water.”
Instructor nugget: “Lift your right arm toward the ceiling. I’m giving you all an air high five because THAT was awesome.”
Santosha
Location: 346 Richmond Rd., Westboro
Contact: 613-235-5378, info@santoshayoga.com, www2.santoshayoga.com/about/
Class taken: Hatha
Drop-in price: $17 ($12 for first-timers)
Open since: Billed as one of Ottawa’s original yoga studios, open since 1994.
Decor: Bright and airy sacred space on second floor across corridor from another yoga studio.
Studios: One huge mellow room, no mirrors apart from little circles on ethically-sourced ethnic scarves.
Store: Natural clothes, mats, books on theory.
Best bit: There is teacher training, so an assistant is on hand to help with postures and modifications throughout the class.
Unbest bit: Having a teacher in training can be distracting.
Clientele: Mostly female in their mid-20s and 30s.
Attendance: Seven people in a bright, spacious room surrounded by windows.
Serious yogi scale: Off the charts. Serene, thin women with big scarves, chanting Sanskrit at the start and end of class. Bells ding at the end of meditation time.
Overheard: “Do you have a student discount?”
Instructor nugget: “Allow your heart to broaden against your back.”
Pranashanti
Location: 52 Armstrong St., Hintonburg
Contact: 613-761-9642, info@PranaShanti.com, pranashanti.com
Class taken: Kundalini — the class most likely to have you rolling on the floor with legs near ears sucking breath in over your rolled-up tongue. Coincidentally also the class most likely to make you feel you may be on a candid camera show called Look What I Can Make People Do! Instructor and regulars wear all white. Poses are a mash-up of standard yoga with mantras combined with moves directly out of a dance sequence with all the men in Jane Russell’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes number. It always ends with a song about sunshine and happiness.
Drop-in price: $18 with option to pay additional $37 for a month of unlimited classes
Open since: 2008
Decor: Urban yoga oasis. There is an industrial edge with wooden warehouse doors and exposed ductwork blended in with woven baskets, dark floors and smooth comfy chairs.
Studios: There are four studios, including intimate Hatha room, heated hot yoga room upstairs and two large studios downstairs. There’s also an RMT massage room and personal sauna room. Studio hosts more than 80 classes in different styles a week, including mighty popular Hatha teacher Greg Kaps.
Store: Everything yogic, including books on anatomy and teacher training, meditation audio and sheepskin rugs.
Best bit: Sometimes the massage therapist Jesse gives five-minute chair massage samples after class.
Unbest bit: As with most studios, the classes start and finish at the same times, so there is a period of extended, albeit polite, jostling in the foyer.
Bonus: Pleasant and welcoming staff on front desk.
Clientele: In Kundalini class, everyone wears white, looks serene.
Serious yogi scale: Very, very high.
Instructor nugget: “Have you ever done Kundalini before? Because if you haven’t, I will explain things differently.”
Upward Dog
Location: 251 Dalhousie St.
Contact: 613-241-YOGA, Upwarddogyoga.ca
Class taken: Hot Power Core with Julie McCarthy, hot room and hot teacher doing Vinyasa flow with bonus Yin bits.
Drop-in price: $17 for 90-minute class ($12 for 60-minute class).
Open since: 2002
Decor: Large, second-floor studios in warm yoga yellow with standard issue industrial piping (website explains high ceilings allow space for body’s astral energy field).
Studios: Three large studios staging 50 classes per week in with Hot Power, Hatha and Yin classes. Also teaching training and personal development centre.
Store: Few yogic bits and bobs and ethically sourced clothing.
Best bit: Sun streaming in huge windows in second-floor studio.
Unbest bit: Parking can be tough at times.
Clientele: Highest ratio of men to women at 50:50. Most manly studio so far.
Attendance: 14 people fit into large upstairs studio if you don’t travel too far off your area, slight danger of accidentally brushing hands.
Serious yogi scale: Very, very high.
Overheard: “Yes, I recognize the irony in rushing to a yoga class.”
“What was that seven-minute ab sequence again?”
“I’ll meet you downstairs and we’ll go for coffee.”
Instructor nugget: “Don’t you dare focus on what your neighbour is doing.”
Astanga Yoga Ottawa
Location: 200 1/2 Bank St.
Contact: 613-722-6860, astangaottawa@yahoo.ca astangaottawa.com
Class taken: Drop-in lunchtime Astanga. Primary series-lite because no one can manage a whole primary series over lunch.
Drop-in price: $16
Open since: Owners started practising in the 1970s.
Decor: Boho shabby chic. Upstairs corridor with bells on the door and draped scarves leads to inner yoga sanctum. Studio is only open only for classes. No full-time receptionist.
Studios: One large, second-floor room with polished hardwood floors, warm beige walls and windows looking over Bank Street’s bustle.
Store: Not that I saw.
Best bit: Decadently doing yoga at lunch while people line up at food trucks, buses roll by and commerce continues without you.
Unbest bit: Checking the 15 urgent messages that came in on your smartphone while it was turned off for class.
Bonus: You remembered to turn off smartphone during class.
Clientele: This is a set sequence, so almost everyone in the class knew what they were doing. Varied group, including students, office workers and creative types but most with very high levels of fitness.
Serious yogi scale: High. They even skip practice on Moon Days.
Attendance: Eight for a one-hour lunch class.
Overheard: “I can’t find my card.”
Instructor nugget: “See if you can keep this sense of peace with you as you go about the rest of your day.”
Goodlife Queensview
Location: 2655 Queensview Dr.
Contact: 613-820-9531 http://www.goodlifefitness.com/locations/ontario/ottawa/050
Class taken: Yoga with Amber
Drop-in price: $15, day pass with privileges to all the club’s facilities.
Open since: 2002
Decor: Corporate gym, row of treadmills overlooking dance studio, mirrors and motivational slogans.
Studios: Huge room roughly the size of a football field.
Store: Power drinks, energy shots, headbands.
Best bit: Amber brings modified exercise balls that provide a twist on standard yoga.
Unbest bit: Squeaky shoes in nearby squash court and grunting males can be distracting.
Clientele: Most diverse yoga participants: seniors, athletes and beginners.
Attendance: Around 40 people
Serious yogi scale: Low
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