So – about the studio. It is in a part of town called Midtown in a large building that contains other similarly alternative businesses (”Bodies by Pilates” was another occupant). When I entered the studio there was a little boy that reminded me of Quentin telling his father (I assumed) that the room was not hot enough. Sounds like a Q line. The mix of people was, as usual, very interesting. Little tiny 20 something women mixed in with super-hairy 50 something men. A motley crew to say the least. This was by the far the smallest room that I have ever taken in, making the 4:30 class that I chose to take seem especially large (though there were only about 20 of us). Despite my challenging session I really did enjoy the teacher (I’m pretty sure his name was Eric – which would make him one of the owners) – he was upbeat, informative, and had a nice pace. Though I left with a bit of empty feeling because of my lack of participation, I did enjoy the Minneapolis studio. If I find myself in the twin cities again I will certainly be back to improve on my past performance!

Class 1 – 6:30 PM: As soon as I walked in the room I broke a sweat.  This caused me to have a flashback to a Bikram experience that I had in Pasadena, CA where I’m pretty sure I almost died from the heat.  I did my best to adjust to the room, the heat, the people, and wound up having what I considered to be a pretty great class.  The heat is amazing – the hotter it gets – the more flexible you get.  If you can take it, you can get really deep into postures.  I took a rough count of the number of people in the class – more than 50 – with a broad mix of men, women, experienced students, first timers, etc.  A television camera was rolling for the first part of class – shooting something for the local news – so everyone was instructed to be on their best behavior.  A guy got up and left the room in the middle of the standing series – I really don’t think the instructor noticed (he later returned). The instructors name was Bron – she had a boom microphone that allowed here to wander through the class.  She was really good – great timing, enthusiastic, informative.  Overall it was a pretty busy scene, but I was so challenged by the heat that I wasn’t really distracted.  I didn’t really like the Breathe mat that I rented, but otherwise I thought the studio was great (tables for spraying off mats, hammocks for lounging, and posters for 31 day challengers to put up stickers marking their progress).

Class 2 – 6:00 AM:  It was early but Brie (that morning’s instructor) was there to cheerfully greet me.  The room wasn’t as hot as the night before, but it was still pretty warm.  The class was smaller (about 15 people), but everyone in there was really into what they were doing, so I enjoyed being a part of that type of a class.  The early classes are funny – I have only done 2 at that time – but it is a very businesslike environment.  Brie was great – she actually went through training with Brenda (Whitney’s mom) last year – so it was interesting to compare how each of them do their dialogue/run the class.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the Naperville studio – I will be back!

Next week – I’m hoping to go to the studio in Minneapolis – I’ll post an entry if I get a chance to go…