PopSugar Chicago

Pop 5: Best Yoga Studios in Chicago

Rebecca Taras — Tue, 17 May 2011 09:12:22 CDT

Welcome back to the Pop 5, featuring Chicago's best places to do anything and everything. Last week, we told you about the best workout classes to break a sweat. This week, I've compiled your favorite yoga studios, and might I add that Chicago gals really love to get down with their downward dog!

Bikram Yoga in the City (219 W. Chicago Ave., 6th Fl., 312-255-9642) is one of Chicago's hottest workouts, literally and figuratively. Classes take place in a 105 to 110 degree space and last 90 minutes, working at least 292 bodily systems. Whether you're trying to remedy a sore ankle or drop a few pounds, Bikram is designed to promote healing and therapy while being extremely rejuvenating in the process.
If you always thought you were too type A to take yoga, this one's for you. Indigo Studio (213 W. Institute Pl., Ste. 704, 312-612-9642) is the only studio in Chicago offering Yoga Booty Ballet, a fusion of yoga, sculpting, and cardio dance designed to work your abs, lift your booty, and burn calories and fat in one hour. Owner Jaclyn Jones discovered the high-energy class while living in LA and decided to bring it back to Chicago after seeing the awesome results.

Three more after the jump.

Bikram Yoga in the City

Kate Stahl — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:00:00 CST

The hottest workout in the city is also one of the most rejuvenating - for your mind, body, and spirit - and River North's Bikram Yoga in the City is the place to try it. Studio owner and instructor Mike Frayer calls the practice "life changing." "Most people start coming to the studio because they want to lose weight or fix their knee, but everything changes in there," Frayer says. "The class is designed to promote healing and therapy, so regardless of whatever problem you might have - mental or physical - you generally can fix it through the Bikram experience." Each of the studio's six to eight classes each day takes place in a 105 to 110 degree space and lasts 90 minutes, working at least 292 bodily systems. While Bikram classes have intense benefits, they're also surprisingly nonintimidating. "You don't have to be in shape," Frayer says. "Regardless of age, weight, health problems, we work with everybody." Bikram Yoga in the City's large studio space accommodates up to 65 students, pre-registration isn't required, and a locker room and showers are available. Namaste!

Winter Survival Guide: Warm Up With Hot Yoga

Kate Stahl — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:01:00 CST

I have professed my love for the 90-plus-degree vinyasa classes at CorePower Yoga, but here are five more spots where you can sweat it out until Winter's end. Believe me, nothing makes you forget that it's literally freezing outside like an hour or more spent stretching and posing in a sauna-like studio.

Bikram Yoga in the City (219 W. Chicago Ave., 6th Fl, 312-255-9642). At Chicago's original Bikram Yoga studio, the 40-plus classes per week are taught in a room heated from 105 to 110 degrees, helping with flexibility, preventing injury, and promoting detoxification. In 90 minutes, the people at Bikram Yoga say you'll work at least 292 systems in your body (I didn't realize the body even had that many) while sweating out all those nasty toxins.
TruHarmony Yoga (900 N. Franklin St., Suite 508, 312-643-8577). Determined to be the most calories burned in a yoga class by Time Out Chicago, TruHarmony Yoga heats all of their classes to 95 degrees. The River North studio overlooks the city and offers classes influenced by the Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga methodology, which includes a combination of vinyasa, pranayama, and modern yogic principles. Group classes are held seven days a week, and TruHarmony also offers private yoga instruction.
Bikram Yoga Chicago (1344 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-395-9150; 2736-A N. Clark St., 773-348-9642). All the instructors at Bikram Yoga Chicago complete more than 900 hours of Bikram study before they're allowed to take you through 26 asanas in 90 minutes in a 105-degree, 40-percent humidity filled room. The two locations offer four to eight Bikram classes per day, and the studio offers a $29 first-time students special - 31 days of practice for both studios. Daily attendance is recommended.
Chicago School of Hot Yoga (2442 N. Lincoln Ave., 2nd Fl., 773-868-9642). Not quite as hot as traditional Bikram, Chicago School of Hot Yoga's studios are heated to a minimum of 85 degrees for a wide selection of classes. I recommend Yoga Body, a practice that incorporate weights, bands, and plyometrics to increase strength, and Candlelight Vin/Yin Yoga, a gentle, rhythmic vinyasa class that also includes a lot of seated and reclining pose.
Om on the Range Yoga Studio (1834 W. North Ave., 2nd Fl., 773-772-9642; 3759 N. Ravenswood, Studio 125, 773-525-9642). Om on the Range is an equal-opportunity, noncompetitive yoga studio, open to students of all flexibility and fitness levels. Classes at both locations are all heated and vary in length from 60 to 90 minutes and include Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, an energetic flow class, a Basics class designed for newcomers, and Bikram, offered only at the Lakeview studio. On Sundays this month, stop by Lululemon Athletica (1627 N. Damen Ave., 773-227-1869) at 10 a.m. for Sunday Salutations with an Om on the Range instructor. The classes aren't heated, but they are free! Some things are worth braving the cold.

Source: Chicago School of Hot Yoga