Who would have thought an inspirational yoga class would be so hard to find? I've been trying hard to dig up something equal to the transformational 90 minute classes I took with Mark Gerow at Great Barrington Yoga- to no avail. (So far!) Most of the yoga classes I have tried out are sterile and strict, and follow in the Iyengar tradition. Nothing wrong with Iyengar- but sometimes a girl wants to have a little fun on the mat, non?
I'll be posting reviews of the different centers and teachers I try out to help the yoga-hungry find some soul food in Paris.
First up, the Géraud Arnaud Studio, also referred to as La Féderation Francaise de Yoga. So far, I've tried out classes with Ivana and Masako. Ivana's class was intimate and amiable. The students were open-minded and friendly. The class itself was listed as a level two, but it was more of a beginner's class with little-to-no focus on breathing. The class began right away with chanting, which might be shocking to some people. In most of the classes I've taken in the States, the teacher usually tells the class what will happen next, especially if you are about to move into chanting or meditation. Both teachers at Géraud's studio simply took a without-further-ado attitude and hopped right into it. I find this off-putting, but maybe that's just me.
On the recommendation of one of Ivana's students, I took a class with Masako, who, according to this student, had a class that was very "tonique". (I.e, hard). Again, there was little focus on breathing, which really surprised me. Many of the students moved into the poses before the teacher announced them, which led me to imagine that her class must consist of the same asanas all the time. There was a nasty, competitive vibe in the class- not necessarily generated by Masako, but more by the women d'une certaine age in the class. It seemed that everyone was there to move their body parts and nothing else. The class itself was intermediate. But it wasn't very fun!
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