Casa Yoga - A neighborhood place to call home.

courtesy casa yoga

I do quite a bit of research looking for studios, teachers, and classes to try in Paris.  I follow Parisians' yoga blogs, have a google Alert, and chat with my classmates and fellow teachers all in an effort to find the best yoga for you, my dear readers!

There are many little and -little known- yoga studios in Paris, but for a reason that I can't recall, I decided to try Casa Yoga before the other smaller ones.  

I was welcomed by a lovely woman who knew my name upon arrival, asked me if I had any injuries (I didn't get a -formerly broken arm lecture!), and requested that I fill out their form.  You have to sign up for a trial class 'cours d'essai, so I guess I was the odd man out, the only one she didn't recognize, or maybe just the only one taking a trial course that night.  Actually, you have to sign up for any class you decide to take as it seems that walk-ins aren't encouraged.  They have an interesting system for class payment and scheduling.  You buy credits and use them depending on the length of the class.  The cours d'essai was only 15€, but it was also only an hour, and it felt like the shortest yoga class I had ever taken.  The minimum 'credit' you can purchase is 10hrs of classes for 160€.  When you think about it in 1hr classes, at 16€ a class, it's not so bad, but most studios offer classes of 1.5 hours, and when you add that up, it makes for a 24€ class, and that's a hefty price tag.    

It turns out, she had good reason to be kind because she was teaching the class that night, and you always want return students.  She welcomed us all kindly, shut the door, and started teaching a nice paced Vinyasa flow.  It was a level 2 class, so there were even some arm balances!  But just when I started to get a little sweaty, the cool down began.  One hour was too short!

The entrance is warm and peaceful, and there is free decaf tea (tisane) waiting for the students in a lovely sitting area.  The dressing room is a large curtained off area, and it's nicely lit and furnished, but there is only one, so prepare to share.  And the actual studio is one really long room where the teacher does her thing from the middle of a line of yogi's.  Not the best setup (in my opinion), but it's doable.  If you live in the hood, have the money, and want that neighborhood feel (reception was nice, but not necessarily the fellow students) it's a really peaceful studio to practice in.  I'm not sure if it was the surroundings, or the teacher, but I had one of the deepest savasanas (corpse pose - final resting pose) I've had in a while there, and that is (almost) priceless.   



Casa Yoga Paris 
4 rue de Paradis 
 75010 Paris 
06 17 81 64 91 
Metro:  Gare de l'Est (Lignes 4,5,7), Poissonniere (Ligne 7), Chateau d'Eau (Ligne 4) 

Price:  15€ for a cours d'essai (trial course) 16€ per hour with a minimum purchase of 10 hours
Yoga Styles:  Vinyasa, Restorative, Prenatal
Languages:  French
Changing Rooms:  yes co-ed
Secure Lockers:  no
Mats:  included
Toilets:  1
Showers:  nope
Water:  Free herbal tea (tisane).

SUMMARY:
Pros - Really nice warm relaxing comfortable lovely smelling neighborhood-y studio with good flowy classes. 
Cons - Expensive or short classes, no walk-ins -so no spontaneity, just a few teachers teach all the classes at the studio.  

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