Seriously, I have fallen in love with Corepower Yoga classes.
After reading a billion reviews of people raving about this place, I had to check it out for myself.
Mission #1: Hot Power Fusion (Candlelight) at the Bucktown location.
Even though Corepower's website states that this is a All Levels class, I was a little wary. My only other experience with hot yoga was a certain Bikram studio (*cough* Andersonville) where the beginner's class felt more like bootcamp than for newbies.
I attempted to psych myself up before class by drinking like 4 bottles of water and not eating. By doing so, you are apparently less inclined to feel like passing out and throwing up during class. The studios at Corepower - Bucktown are new, clean and, most importantly, do not reek of sweat. I practically forced my friend to get to class 30 minutes before class started because I wanted to make sure to stake my claim in the waaaaay back of class. After laying in the nearly empty room for a couple minutes, the instructor came in and started strategically placing candles all over the room. Whoever came up with the idea to practice yoga in the dark is a complete genius. No need to be self-conscious that you're not doing the poses correctly if no one can see you, right?
Eventually, class started to fill up - but it was never overly crowded where you would be literally 3 inches away from your neighbor's mat (like the *ahem* other studio mentioned earlier). The instructor, Mara, was wonderful and had a completely soothing voice. She played a nice mix of music during class and it was never too loud to the point of distraction. I also liked that she would walk around the room and adjust people's poses, rather than just standing in the back of class and barking instructions.
This class is HOT (100 degrees), so be sure to have a towel over your mat AND a small towel to wipe yourself down between poses. I saw similarities between these poses and the poses in Bikram yoga, except these were only done once (rather than twice like in Bikram).
The poses themselves are very accessible for beginners and Mara was also very quick to give adjustments according to your skill level. The tricky part, though, is dealing with the heat through all of this. It's easy to get very light headed and dizzy after coming up from a downward dog or from any pose where your head is below your heart. I found that sitting out the next poses and catching my breathe made the dizziness go away. Small sips of water also alleviate the discomfort.
But, trust me, once you make it to the end of class, you'll feel so excited and proud of yourself. The heat really does help relax the muscles and sweat all those toxins out, so you'll feel amazing and rejuvenated, I promise.
After reading a billion reviews of people raving about this place, I had to check it out for myself.
Mission #1: Hot Power Fusion (Candlelight) at the Bucktown location.
Even though Corepower's website states that this is a All Levels class, I was a little wary. My only other experience with hot yoga was a certain Bikram studio (*cough* Andersonville) where the beginner's class felt more like bootcamp than for newbies.
I attempted to psych myself up before class by drinking like 4 bottles of water and not eating. By doing so, you are apparently less inclined to feel like passing out and throwing up during class. The studios at Corepower - Bucktown are new, clean and, most importantly, do not reek of sweat. I practically forced my friend to get to class 30 minutes before class started because I wanted to make sure to stake my claim in the waaaaay back of class. After laying in the nearly empty room for a couple minutes, the instructor came in and started strategically placing candles all over the room. Whoever came up with the idea to practice yoga in the dark is a complete genius. No need to be self-conscious that you're not doing the poses correctly if no one can see you, right?
Eventually, class started to fill up - but it was never overly crowded where you would be literally 3 inches away from your neighbor's mat (like the *ahem* other studio mentioned earlier). The instructor, Mara, was wonderful and had a completely soothing voice. She played a nice mix of music during class and it was never too loud to the point of distraction. I also liked that she would walk around the room and adjust people's poses, rather than just standing in the back of class and barking instructions.
This class is HOT (100 degrees), so be sure to have a towel over your mat AND a small towel to wipe yourself down between poses. I saw similarities between these poses and the poses in Bikram yoga, except these were only done once (rather than twice like in Bikram).
The poses themselves are very accessible for beginners and Mara was also very quick to give adjustments according to your skill level. The tricky part, though, is dealing with the heat through all of this. It's easy to get very light headed and dizzy after coming up from a downward dog or from any pose where your head is below your heart. I found that sitting out the next poses and catching my breathe made the dizziness go away. Small sips of water also alleviate the discomfort.
But, trust me, once you make it to the end of class, you'll feel so excited and proud of yourself. The heat really does help relax the muscles and sweat all those toxins out, so you'll feel amazing and rejuvenated, I promise.
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