When I travel, I generally just practice where I am staying. Since I am in Maine for July, I decided to try some local studios to get out and to see how classes are different.
I took a class up in Brunswick, Maine at a studio called Jai Yoga. It is a Kripalu based studio. The studio is in an old mill building at the end of town (the town itself if very nice and is sustained by Bowdoin College) and the floor was obviously as old as the building (wide pine planks). It was labeled as a Vinyasa flow class and the temperature was ambient (unheated) .
There was only one other person in the class (a college senior) which was very nice. I would rate the class itself "fair" as I thought we could have been a little more intense (I never really felt very warmed up) and we spent a long time on breathing and introducing ourselves. It was also the first class where I had to "om" and not once but three times.
One thing that I did note was contractions between what I have been taught in my home studio and what the instructor taught here. We practiced headstands and her finger placement suggestions were different than what I have been taught and her way of getting out of the headstand was to roll forward in a ball which in my opinion is a recipe for injury if you were not like her at 4 feet 11 inches and 90 pounds. I have been practicing bringing my legs back while moving my hips forward so I could gracefully place my feet back to its original position. There is no way in hell I would ever try what she suggested.
Single drop ins are not cheap and it cost me $16 to go to this class. I did get a couple of things out of it. She was good in showing us how we should align ourselves when in Mountain pose and where our backs should be as we work toward a forward bend. It is something that I will be cognizant of going forward.
So, tomorrow I try Freeport Yoga as today is the 4th of July and most studios are closed.
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