Hot Yoga Philadelphia — Local services in Philadelphia

I've been going to Hot Yoga Philadelphia (Bikram) for 7+ years. The time has come to share the meditations on the experience. In short: it is about the teachers. The facility is fine. But: you can get into a class with an amazing, dedicated, nice, and intelligent teacher. Or, you can be with an arrogant or knowledge-less human - not because they are bad, just because they don’t know. Elaboration; Infrastructure: the facility is clean, organized, and has all you need for an excellent hot yoga class. It’s hot, humidified, and cozy. There are showers. Schedule: sufficient amount of classes and well-diverse time frames. Class type: there is no diversity: the same postures over and over again. It would be nice if the (hot) facility would be used for deep stretching classes. Prices: it is expensive. It will be nice to make it more affordable. Teachers: there is a great diversity of teachers. They are very different from one another: Counting the breaths: 20% know very well how to count, and to me, those are the best teachers (usually, if the teacher is good at counting, he will be good in all the other details of a great yoga class). I love this place with the teachers that actually know what they do, and it starts with counting breaths. 80% of the teachers do not know how to count, not breaths or seconds. In general, the whole point of Yoga is balance and attention to the flawless effort to execute the posture. Breathing is the most important part of it. And it is a shame that most of the teachers suck at counting. Example: one leg, they do 4 breaths, the other 20 breaths. On one side, they do 18 breaths, the other 6. God knows how they come up with those counting. Another example is when there are Asanas that you do not want to overdo in length and others where you do want to stay more (like end-of-class deep stretching). But because they (80% of teachers) messed up the count in the. Beginning and middle of the class: there is no time for the balanced count at the end. Attention to students: there were times when they had excellent teachers (the elder ones usually and some others with good experience, the dedicated teachers). Nowadays, 80% are parrots-like, and 20% are amazing. The parrots talk and talk, sometimes about yoga and sometimes about themselves. The parrots who talk fast are the worst; because they disturb the focus and bring no meaningful insight to the class, and 10-40 students can not all do the same as they say, and in those cases, the teacher talks out of their mind and not of what they see. The worst teachers raise their voices, and the best one keeps it calm and to the level where the message is delivered with no disturbance. The best teachers talk slowly and to the point. They point out to each student what to improve, where to push, a where to relax. The best teachers see every part of a student’s body, every muscle and every breath: and correct the student to make him better. Attention to asanas: each Asan has an objective. The best teachers know the objectives because they lived through it and know how to come, for example, from trauma to full healing with yoga. The parrots know how to memorize and sing Bikram’s words. And that’s the defense: either you know what you do, either you think you know what you do. Usually, teachers’ bodies will show true knowledge. Either you practice with results, other not. Here it is more than 50%-50%: half know what they do, and half think they know what they do. If you go there a lot: you just do you. If you bring friends or you want to grow: attention is a must. Then pick your teacher with attention, and get the attention you need. Ego management: it is funny (when it is naive), and sad (when it is obsessive and messing up the class). For example; subjective personal non-related stories, like business, storied: do not help the class. Best teachers select suitable music for class, go with eh flow, and share the right story to help a specific observation in class. Verdict: I like & go there a...

If you have done Bikram- I wish that the instructors added more flare and gave more corrections. Some are great, but for the most part I felt that they didn't come around and give meaningful corrections. Or sometimes they'd talk so much during a balancing pose that I couldn't focus. However, since you've practiced before, this studio is centrally located, and there are many times (such a plus for people with busy schedules!)

If you are new to Bikram like I was- JUST BE ADVENTUROUS AND TRY IT. Your first class should be with Justin or Thayne! It's hippie-ish, strenuous, and you're sweating like a mofo, but your mind is so clear after. Unlike any other workout! It wasn't AS HOT as I thought it would be and the 90 minutes goes by really quickly. But be sure to couple yoga with other things like weight training, running, if you're trying to lose weight.

Clothing-most women wear yoga capris and sports bra. most guys wear bball shorts. I never felt conscious without a shirt on, people are just doing their thang which is nice. In general, I felt like it wasn't a competition like sometimes group classes can seem like. I would say the classes are 70/30 women/men and 50/50 for the instructors.

What to bring-Towel for your sweat and towel on top of your mat and a large cold water bottle. Mats are there, but I liked to bring my own.

What I didn't like-people in the dressing rooms were always naked! Yes, this sounds obvious, but there are hundreds of tricks to changing without being butt naked. Like cmonnnn I don't wanna see certain things. Again, I do wish that the instructors were more interactive so I would get better at the moves or not injure myself. As Laura G. pointed out, I would have stayed at home and watched a video.

I got the amazing deal online, and unfortunately, the pricing is just tooo expensive for me. I am considering the student 10 class pass for the times that I feel like I could use a mentally soothing and physically demanding day!

Also such a pet peeve that some of these instructors are trying to be all Hindu/Indian (I'm both) but they had an idol of God on top of the shoe rack which is very taboo and can't pronounce Namaste. It's num-as-tay not...

You swore you would never, ever go back there.

But ... your old ex really does deserve a second chance.

They might have greatly improved themselves just like the Hot Yoga Philadelphia studio on Sansom has done from several years ago!

Over the last week I have been astonished by how much friendlier and personable this studio has become from some visits I made several years ago.

I feel emotionally "seen", which I didn't feel in a lot of CorePower classes around the corner and at a YogaSix sample class, and at some classes long ago in this studio, especially when teachers would silently demo the poses up on the podium / dais.

Teachers now give a lot of helpful and insightful cues, learn students' names, and make gentle verbal corrections to them in class. In the last week I have really enjoyed my classes with Kaitlin McCoale, Mia Gitzes, and Chris Fluck. Gosh, I feel internally like I'm gushing. But I even telephoned my 81-year-old mom a couple of nights ago to let her know that I'm finally happy, something I rarely do. Over the years she is always like, "I hope you are happy!" but I would say, "No, I'm just content."

But I called her up out of the blue two nights ago to let her know that I'm happy, which made her very happy. And this studio over the last week made that happen.

And I had a wonderful interaction tonight after Chris Flick's class with Byron, who was very kind and unassuming - hmmm, an intern maybe? a work-study student? - and he turned out to be one of the new owners. It is that type of place, just like in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

The locker rooms have been remodeled, and you can leave your mat there so you don't have to lug it from...