Kitsilano

YYoga Expands to Kitsilano

YYoga Expands to Kitsilano

amyh / Events, News, Studios / , , , , , / 21 Comments

In mid-June, YYoga is set to open the doors of their new Kitsilano studio. In a controversial move, the new location on 4th ave and Cypress is just 3 blocks down from the neighbourhood’s longstanding and much loved Semperviva studio.

YYoga facilities will include:

This 8,000 sqft center will feature two yoga rooms, including a 1,600 sqft hot room and our largest infrared sauna. A spacious Nourish lounge will offer organic, fresh food and beverage options to support your healthy lifestyle; including a wide variety of Organic Lives.

Unique to this YYoga is our first outdoor patio lounge! This patio lounge will be for YYoga members to relax, catch up with friends and enjoy complimentary tea in a comfortable lounge setting with seasonal coverage for year round enjoyment. Fresh mint will grow on the adjacent patio which will be used in the complimentary teas.
This center also includes air and climate systems designed for optimal air quality and maximum energy efficiency.
Classes will include: Flow, Power, YHot, YHot Expand, Hatha, Yin, Core, Pilates, and Restorative.

With a formidable schedule of daily classes (20+ per day!) and boasting amazing facilities, Kitsilano yogis will have to stop and take notice.

Will YYoga drastically affect Semperviva’s teacher and student base? I would love to hear your thoughts. Are you looking forward to checking out YYoga’s new studio? Will you surrender your Semperviva pass in and head down the street? Comment below!

Meghan – Semperviva Kits Beach

Amanda / Studios, Teachers, Thoughts / , , / 0 Comment

It was my second time taking Meghan’s Monday noon class at Semperviva-Kits Beach location.  She teaches a kick your butt Vinyasa Power Flow.  I like that she is not afraid to try some of the more difficult postures.  She creates a lovely, fluid flow that seemlessly melts into one another as if you were doing a dance.

She starts the class with a small chat.  Today’s topic, how the people in your life reflect what you need to learn about yourself.  After the chanting of three OM’s she gets right down to business.  It is a non-stop Power Flow from then on.  The class is warmed up nicely, climaxes with some harder postures and is slowly brought down to Savasana.  You finish the class feeling that you really accomplished something.

This girl knows her yoga and obviously has a regular practice.  If you are looking for a more challenging Power Flow, this class is for you!

Lululemon Comes Home

Lululemon Comes Home

Taya / News / , , , , / 0 Comment

lululemon athletica has come full circle: it is now officially back home in its birthplace of Kitsilano.

Previously located on Clark Drive, the Vancouver yoga apparel company’s corporate headquarters now resides at the base of the Burrard Street Bridge, overlooking Kits Beach and the beautiful North Shore mountains. Its head office has been occupied by more than 300 lulu employees since late Fall 2010. lululemon announced that they expect to complete the purchase of the building, located at 1818 Cornwall Avenue, on or around March 1, 2011.

Founded in 1998, by Chip Wilson (who also started Westbeach Sports in 1979), lululemon’s first real store opened in the heart of Kitsilano, on West 4th Ave, in November of 2000.

Welcome home lululemon!

[lulumum]

‘Hi, I’m New In Town!’

Sophie Legrand / Yogis / , , , , / 5 Comments

I seem to have said this a lot recently. My boyfriend and I left our jobs, flat and friends in London and we moved to Vancouver a month ago to start a new life.

Downtown from Jericho Beach

I worked in publishing back in Europe but I’ve decided to make the most out of this change of continent and follow my yoga path further by taking the teacher training. I had heard that Vancouver is possibly the best place where I could train. Now, from first hand experience, I’m entirely convinced: it has so much to offer to yogis.

In less than 3 weeks, I have attended 12 classes, with 9 different teachers, in 5 styles. This has been incredibly exciting. Everyday I study class schedules and I’m often overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches.

In London, in my nearby leisure center, I had a limited choice of 3 fantastic teachers, one little studio and 4 classes a week. Suddenly here, I have plenty of marvellous teachers, different styles and big studios to choose from, and I feel like a spoilt child in a candy shop.

At Yyoga, I’ve opened my heart in Anila’s Anusara class, and rejuvenated fully with Mike’s restorative yoga. In Semperviva’s studios, I had a great Flow session with Alli, I found strength in a chilled atmosphere in Reno’s Power class, and practised deep awareness in Bernie’s wonderful Yin and Hatha classes.

So far, it has been a truly wonderful experience, and I’ve learnt more in three weeks than I would ever have dreamt, on yoga, on the mind, on my body and on myself.

Also, I’ve felt so warmly welcomed by teachers and students that somehow I feel a bit more at home here already.

Any other new yogis in town? I’d love to share first impressions!

Semperviva’s Sun Shines

Taya / Studios, Teachers / , , , , / 5 Comments

We braved the cold this morning to attend Cameron’s class at Semperviva in Kitsilano today. Despite the frigid temperature, the sun was shining and Semperviva’s Sun studio was warm and inviting.

I recently activated my Passport To Prana card online and used it for the first time this morning. Since I have a Semperiva swipe card, they made note of my attendance and I was promptly emailed a questionnaire to see how I enjoyed my experience. (If you’re attending a studio for the first time, you will need to sign a waiver before your first class).

Cameron has a way about him and an energy that makes everyone in the class feel calm and comfortable. Today, he created a space for us to tap into our own presence. He reminded us that each moment is unique and will never be experienced again.

There is a reason Cameron’s on all the Semperviva posters and is a Semperviva College teacher-trainer – he’s just so good at his job. He is an example of what happens when your passion aligns with your purpose. He has an exceptional way of articulating exactly how to position yourself in each pose, so those new to yoga can easily allign their bodies.  Dually, he instructs his class by suggesting modifications to challenge intense yogis.

Although freezing weather made it difficult to drag myself out bed today, I’m really glad we made it to Cameron’s class. I left Sun studio with a lightness in my body, as if every worry and concern had been lifted.

If you’ve never attended a yoga class by Cameron Gilley, check out Semperiva.com for his teaching schedule.

[photo source: sienawanlass]

Steve Nash Fitness World

Taya / Studios / , , , , , , , , , / 9 Comments

I recently joined Fitness World in Kitsilano to add some cardio into my usual yoga routine. It’s great because they also offer group classes like yoga, aerobics, spin, pilates, etc.  Watch out, however, because some ‘specialty classes’ are an additional fee on top of your monthly membership dues.

I had to sign on for 2 years and my membership works out to about $40/month. I live next door, so I have NO excuses not go to the gym!

Now called “Steve Nash Fitness World” because of their recent merger with the NBA star’s company, I can work out at any location around the city.  They offer different membership packages, and if you pay a bit extra you can also go the Steve Nash Sports Clubs in either downtown Vancouver, Surrey, or Richmond.

Watch out for high pressure sales consultants who will try and persuade you to sign up right there on the spot. Ask for a trial pass to check out the club before you make the plunge on a membership.  Remember, you’ll usually be locked in for 2 years, and will have to buy-out the membership if you want to cancel!

Open Door Yoga Vancouver

Taya / Studio Reviews, Studios / , , , , / 0 Comment

Tanisha and I have started to get back into yoga again, after a bit a of a hiatus.  She was in Hawaii for December and I was in Phoenix with my husband, visiting family.  I know, I know,  it’s already February, but we’ve been busy!  Plus, a great reason we started back into yoga (almost) daily is that we found an amazing deal from Open Door Yoga: $99 for 9 weeks of unlimited yoga at their 3 locations, to new members. Amazing deal right?!

Their 3 locations in Vancouver are on Main Street, Commercial Drive and the recently opened Arbutus/16th. Since I live fairly close, I’ve only practiced at the Arbutus location.  It’s a really great studio – smaller classes, so lots of room to stretch, great instructors – Brenna (has a great energy-really calming, encourages us to close our eyes to focus within,.  It has a really great vibe, no pretentiousness, just people there to practice yoga for themselves.

The studio itself is always nice and warm, which I love.  I find most studios around Vancouver (unless it’s hot yoga of course) are always quite cool.

Mats are provided free of charge, as well as tea, water and cookies! The studio is carpeted, which is great for extra cushioning.

The only drawback is there is only one stall toilet and a small change room.

What Yoga is REALLY about…

Tracy / Studios, Styles / , , , / 0 Comment

I have to agree with Devante. Brenna’s Saturday night yoga class at Open Door Yoga in Kitsilano is definitely one of my favorite yoga classes in the city.

I’m a bit worried about saying this now though… I don’t want so many people to start flocking to her classes that it changes them.  The thing about a Brenna yoga class is that it simply is what it is. I love that the classes are uncrowded and unpretentious. It’s not yoga, the trend. It’s yoga in its simplest, purest form. It’s about being in the moment, embracing the moment.

Basically, the best thing about Brenna’s class is what it is not. Brenna’s yoga class is not about trying too hard. It is not about trying to be perfect.

We’ve been to a lot of yoga classes in Vancouver and far too many where the instructor has been beyond obsessed with form. While most instructors say that yoga is an individual journey, and that yoga is for every body, few instructors truly embrace this concept. So many yoga instructors try to define your yoga practice for you. They say they are yogis or yoginis, but they are quite often simply athletes who merely practice yoga. Instead of embracing yoga, they seek to master it, focusing on its form and technique. They push. They correct. They are forever moving around the room, perfecting movements and postures. They tell you how to get the most out of your journey rather than to embrace it. “You need to stretch this way. Or do this. Or put your hand here.”

Is that really how to get the most out of my yoga experience? What about yoga being a personal journey? Don’t I know my body better than anyone else? So long as I am guided through the posture verbally by the teacher, with any safety considerations pointed out, I should be able to take my body to its personal sweet spot during that class. Whatever I can do and feel in that moment is what I can feel and do in that moment. Nothing more, nothing less. That is, after all, the beauty of yoga. It’s all about feeling the moment, seeing where I can go in that moment.

So excuse me if I don’t want to be taken out of my moment by someone else hovering over me, defining my moment for me, telling me how to feel it.  It throws me off focus, gosh dang it! Seriously. Unless there’s a safety concern in the way I’m doing my posture, please just leave me to my moment. And a good teacher knows this.

Besides,  while everyone is on an individual yoga journey, isn’t the idea of practicing yoga in a class about sharing in a yoga practice? So what does it say when the class teacher doesn’t share in the moment?

So, props to you Brenna Coupland for actually embracing the very essence of yoga. Your classes are what yoga is really all about…

P.S. — We did a bit of investigating and Brenna teaches a few weekly classes at Yogacara in Kitsilano as well. She also calls herself the Yoga Bee and has a blog and youtube channel…

(Stay tuned — next week we’ll blog about Vancouver’s best yoga  instructors. Besides Brenna, there are a few worthy of mention here).

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...