Downtown Santa Monica’s Fauve Yoga Club offers their guests a cozy and inviting sanctuary to discover and deepen their passion for yoga in community.
Fauve Yoga Club Practice Space
Yogis may recognize the location, formerly occupied by Yogis Anonymous. Fauve Yoga Club has made the studio their own by creating separate spaces for group classes, for lounging in community, or for detoxifying in the infrared sauna. The studio entrance leads you down a warmly lit hallway lined with plants and lockers, stylish benches, and a water filling station. The hallway guides you to the check-in desk that is surrounded by a finely curated selection of retail items. The effect is both simple and elegant. To the left of check-in, you’ll find the entrance to the studio and access to restrooms, the sauna, and a changing room. The practice space maintains the overall chill feeling with soft light, soothing colors, beautiful hardwood floors, and an elevated platform that includes singing bowls and a glorious hanging gong.
Fauve Yoga Club Vision and Classes
Co-founder Effy Bongard shared her vision for the studio. “Creating a club, a space, where people with common interests gather to retreat from the outside world and its rules. Our wide variety of classes and workshops invite you back to your center, enhance your essence and nourish your soul.” Fauve Yoga Club was named after the artistic movement which embodies this symbolism. Simplifying form while enhancing color – intense and shadeless.
My visit began with a 45-minute infrared sauna session that left me feeling calm and relaxed. The quiet warmth of the infrared sauna, which emits heat that is directly absorbed by the skin so that it penetrates deep into the muscles and tissues, prepared me for the yoga class that followed. The 60-minute vinyasa flow class was skillfully led by Eddy Rimada. He set the space with his warm and welcoming presence. Eddy brought us into the practice with sama vritti pranayama, followed by a hip and shoulder opening sequence which included wonderfully executed hands-on assists.
In addition to traditional studio offerings, Fauve Yoga Club presents a broad spectrum of classes. These include the body sculpting of Yoga Sculpt, Power Barre, Power Yoga Dance, Fauve Flow, and Buti Yoga. The schedule also includes healing and relaxing of Yin Candlelight, Yang & Yin, and Yoga Nidra. Look for upcoming programs of varied intensity to challenge body and mind, individualized to meet students’ needs.
Ahmed Elaasar, Teacher, Writer, and Life Long Student helping people calm their mind and awaken their body through mindful living and functional movement. http://www.ahmedelaasaryoga.com