The Village Shala

I recently took a class here while visiting my family. The studio has been around for years and I wanted to visit & finally got around to it. Plenty of free, easy parking at the park. Paid for class after the end of class with cash. It was a challenging Ashtanga series and the teacher corrected my form on a few occasions. I was sore for at least two days, and I am a yoga regular. The studio is bright and airy, in an old building that really fits the vibe. The students tended to be a bit tight-​knit and it seemed like I was the only one who didn’t know everyone else, but I guess that is what you get for small-​town yoga. If I lived in town, I would practice here. The students were pretty much all fit, and this is not surprising based on the difficulty of the class and how I felt afterwards. However, because of the attention to form, I would say this is a good thing. The use of one of their mats was free. You are encouraged to not drink water during class, so come hydrated. This building has a «community center» feel — I believe it’s a bunch of different businesses in the old high school, and the history of the place is definitely alive. If you do take a class here, I highly recommend taking 20 and walking up & down Bristol’s Main Street or even walking down South Street to look at the river (at the downtown light — Main Street and South/​North Street intersect at the park). It is a beautiful town.

This was my first experience for yoga. And I LOVED IT! There was a very great vibe going on in the simple room, which in it’s previous life housed the elementary school. The woman in the class as well as the teacher were all very welcoming and supportive on my efforts to keep up. I was a great work out and I would love to join the class again.

Simply put, the best yoga studio — by far — i’ve ever practiced in.
Christine Hoar — and a few advanced students — offer ashtanga (led and mysore-​style) classes every day of the week (1 – 2 classes/​day).
What makes this studio superior is, basically, the teachers and the students. Christine is a natural teacher; patient, incisive, caring. And she knows her anatomy as well as any doctor; she’ll take a quick look at your posture, and then correctly guess that you took a 3-​mile hike up a steep grade two days ago. The she’ll suggest a subtle workaround for those tight calves.
And the students: they’re serious. Most of them are regulars, and the atmosphere once class begins is one of concentration (but not solemnity; there’s regular bouts of laughter, incited mostly by christine).
Throw in a lovely, light-​drenched studio with views of the green mountains, a few friendly dogs, and $ 110 for a 10-​class pass, and you’ve got the best yoga studio in the state.