Centre de Yoga du Marais

Next up, I tried out the Centre de Yoga du Marais. From the bios on the website, it seemed that most of the teachers were American-trained and many in the Kripalu tradition. On Tuesday, I meandered through the hipper-than-thou streets of the third arrondissement with their nameless boutiques and restaurants to a small (really small!) studio on the street level. Despite the mammoth pole dividing the room in two, the studio was warm and welcoming, with candles and little shelves built into the walls, filled with inspirational photos and trinkets. There were soft blankets and quality mats available, along with blocks, belts and bolsters. The regular teacher and owner wasn't there, and her class was led by a lovely girl named Chantal. If the class itself had been a little harder, I would have been in heaven. Chantal was fantastic, hands on, non-judgemental, and better yet, funny. Now I know that yoga is what you make it, but I like to sweat. The class was 90 minutes long with some difficult asanas, but it was sloooooow- and not slow in a good way, slow in that we paused after every single asana.

I talked to Chantal for a while after class and she expressed some frustration with the level of the class. She said that although she was certain her students could go further physically, mentally, they showed no interest in doing so. The French are inherently lazy. I'm sorry, but it's true. They like to do just a little bit, never too much- if you push them too far, they start to complain. They are a very sensitive people! Just look at all the fuss they've kicked up over working on Sundays! As if Sundays weren't the most depressing day of the week. I'd be happy to work a Sunday for them. Call me, I need a job!

No yoga in Paris- Studio Géraud Arnaud

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!