Before moving to San Francisco in June, I frequented The Yoga Room in Hong Kong on a regular basis for about six months and this will undoubtedly be where I will continue to practice whenever I’m back in town. Although I traveled in and out of Hong Kong over that six month period and visited other studios abroad, The Yoga Room was always where I found myself when it was time to practice at home. For anyone looking at yoga studios in Hong Kong, here are some things I would share about my experience at The Yoga Room and what I love about practicing there.
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1. Space and location
The Yoga Room is actually four individual studios on four different floors in a building in Sheung Wan. It is a hop and skip away from the MTR (subway) station so extremely convenient and easy to get to. The studios aren’t necessarily what I would call “spacious”, but that’s exactly what’s so great about it. What The Yoga Room does really well is managing the number of people in each class as well as the wait list: this means you never have to move your mat to let someone squeeze in, and the class size is always intimate and small enough that you have your personal space and feel like you’re getting personalized instruction/attention from the teacher.
I hate doing frog pose in a small room with 20 other people. You know what I mean. The mats are new and laid out before every class and then removed and cleaned after every class (no missing chunks of rubber or holes from people’s nails digging in). Each floor has at least one bathroom/shower and a changing room – the facilities were always clean and had shampoo/conditioner/q-tips and most importantly, hair ties.
2. Schedule and variety of classes
There are around 15 or more classes offered every day (even on the weekends!), throughout the day across different styles of yoga as well as TRX. This is one of the things that I liked the most about The Yoga Room – the flexibility of the schedule. On weekdays, there are several classes in the evening and the last class on weekends typically begin at 3 or 4 PM. This is so different from some of the other studios I’ve been to where you either go at 6 am, lunch time or 6 PM, or you don’t go at all.
The variety of classes also means that you can practice different styles depending on your mood – restorative, ashtanga, hatha or even hammock (aerial) yoga, and these classes mostly cater to all levels.
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3. Teachers and vibe
I’ve attended classes with most of the teachers at The Yoga Room and with the exception of one aerial yoga class that I really didn’t enjoy and made me feel like I had a permanent wedgie, every other class has been great. The teachers are very welcoming and don’t over-adjust, and most classes are lighthearted but still challenging – nobody takes themselves too seriously here (no yoga egos) and everyone I’ve practiced with has been extremely encouraging. I genuinely feel my practice has improved significantly, thanks to Nora, Laura, Tracy, Rachel and Karen.
4. Community and events
The Yoga Room has a great community of students and teachers, and they regularly host events like beach yoga and “silent disco” yoga to keep things interesting, as well as overseas yoga retreat trips to Bali and Thailand.
Photo credit: The Yoga Room
Last but not least, $$$. The Yoga Room offers an annual pass (to join an unlimited number of classes) for around HK$1000 (US$130 or so) per month. They also offer other packages for a set number of classes that works out to be between HK$160-180 (US$20-23) per class. Obviously, the more passes you buy in bulk, the cheaper.
Feature image photo credit: The Yoga Room
Check out the Yoga Studios Around the World series for more write-ups on other studios!
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