Tara Stiles, owner of the popular Strala Yoga in NYC and teacher to yogis around the world, recently tweeted that she was capping her classes at 70 for “safety and best experience.” When does a big class go from wildly popular to mildly dangerous?
No doubt about it – yoga’s finest teachers in New York and LA can pack the house. Sometimes, your neighbor’s sweat falls into your space because they line up the mats mere inches from each other. Is this what comes with taking the best classes from the best teachers, or is this a safety concern? At alignyo, we have been lucky enough to experience classes with incredible teachers all across the country. However, when a fellow yogi begins to waver in a handstand next to us, We can’t help but feel concerned about the possibility of them falling onto us.
are packed yoga classes dangerous?
Most studios will only cap a class when they physically can’t get any more mats in the space. For popular studios this is frequent, but for smaller studios struggling to make ends meet, this may be an instance for rejoice. Yoga is a business, and if you’re packing your classes, you’re doing something right! But studios may want to cut class sizes if it is hindering the student’s experience. While we aren’t sure what prompted Tara to decide to cap her classes (maybe Hilaria Thomas Baldwin’s recent lawsuit). Some yogis may not feel like they have space for full expression of postures in a crowded room, and heated yoga studios packed to the brim can get extremely humid and stuffy. The last thing an acclaimed teacher wants is someone passing out in class.
What do you do when you show up to class and realize there is barely room for you to unroll your mat?Do you squeeze into a class in order to get instruction from your favorite teacher or do you prefer to skip the sardine-like experience and attend a class that is less full?
are packed yoga classes dangerous?