By: CALI SKARET, Lake Voice I walked into Evolve yoga studio in Duluth, not really knowing what to expect. I was a first-timer and pretty nervous because the only yoga position I had ever heard of before this was downward dog.
I’m pretty sure my biggest dilemma throughout this whole experience was where to set up my mat. Everyone else already had his or her mat set up.
‘Oh god,’ I thought to myself. And that is when I started to really panic. ‘Do regulars have permanent spots? If I put my mat here am I going to get kicked out? Maybe I should leave--’ and that’s when the instructor walked in.
At that point I couldn’t have been more relieved.
“Wow, there are a ton of new faces in here, I love it,” Alisa Von Hagel, the yoga instructor, said. It relaxed me a little more.
Once she began teaching, I realized for the first time how truly difficult yoga is.
‘How the hell do people make this look so easy?’ Within five minutes we had done a couple stretches and two poses. I was already sweating. A lot.
In my defense, I was taking a hot yoga class so it was over 100 degrees in there.
Once we started to get going with a few more of the poses, things seemed to come a little more naturally. It was easier for me to get in different poses and my body began to feel more relaxed.
The weirdest thing about this experience was the fact that I honestly don’t think I had a single thought about school or work or really just the stress of life throughout that entire 90 minute class.
Alisa talked us through the poses, but it didn’t seem to interrupt my relaxation. She had such a soothing voice that actually helped me relax more. As the class moved along, my mind was completely blank and I was really just focusing on my breathing and the positions that my body was turning into -- ones I had no idea my body could endure.
To my disappointment, before I knew it the 90 minute class was over. I had no idea I could be that relaxed. And to have my mind be that clear for that amount of time, was something that I had never experienced before.
‘I could really use this as a stress reliever during finals week. Wow, I’m kind of an idiot, why did I just discover this my senior year of college?’
Why I didn’t think of using this as a stress reliever is beyond me, but I’m glad I finally got the nerve to go to a class. It is really intimidating to go to fitness classes that you have never been to before, but one thing to remember is the people in that room have all been in that same boat before.
There’s a first time for everything, right?
My first yoga session was really enjoyable, and even though I was extremely nervous at first, I think that’s something that everyone goes through. Evolve Duluth yoga studio on Superior Street (it’s right above Tycoons) made it easy for someone like me to want to come back and take another class.
Sammi Grob is a student at the College of St. Scholastica and has been going to Evolve for about a month now. She’s taken classes at other studios, but she noticed something different about Evolve right away.
“What I love about Evolve that I haven’t seen in many other studios that I’ve been to is that the instructors are so diverse,” Grob said. “They all have different certifications from different ‘schools’ of yoga and that makes each class very different, even if the classes are titled the same.”
No matter where you go, you can probably expect something a little different each time but hopefully you reach the kind of relaxation you’re looking for.
