Are you intimidated by College Hill Yoga?

Someone told my wife Sarah that they want to take class at College Hill Yoga but they feel intimidated. Sarah said they are worried they won’t know what to do in class. Of course, I think this is so silly! I think this is silly because I know that in Iyengar Yoga we teach the students what to do and how to do it. So, new students don’t have to know how to do anything before coming to class. New students are responsible for knowing what time class starts and how to get to the school. Once you are in the door I tell you where to put your coat, shoes and your mat. And once we are on the mat I explain how to do all the poses–even how to use the props to help with limitations.

I think that feeling intimated by yoga is fairly common these days. And I think this is unfortunately a by-product of the prevalence of yoga in the market-place. Yoga is EVERYWHERE in advertisements, across all industries. From these advertisements people form the wrong impression of what yoga is. They think they know what yoga is before even trying it themselves. (Here’s the link to a three part article called “What is Iyengar Yoga known for?”)

If you have never done yoga I am telling you that it’s not what you think it is. And Iyengar Yoga is definitely not what you think it is. In Iyengar Yoga new students start at the beginning and are taught how to get started. We assume you don’t know anything and need to be taught what to do.

Here’s a quick tour of the new school:

If you want to try out a class you can sign up for a free class pass.