Samara Yoga Studio in Davis Square: Perfectly Balanced

mtwadmin - Mon, November 29, 2010

Samara Instructor, Fez Aswat

Last spring Samara Yoga Studio opened right next to Massage Therapy Works.  I had been getting more and more into yoga, but I had a gym membership at the time that included yoga classes.  Paying for extra yoga classes on top of the already high fee of the club was totally prohibitive to me, so I just admired its cool signage from afar for months as I lugged my mat to the BSC across the street.

As time went on, I began to drop my other exercise routines and focus more on yoga classes.  Eventually I decided to take the plunge and quit my gym membership altogether.  My plan was to spend some time shopping around for yoga studios, then commit to the one that fit best.  Most studios offer “first-time client packages (usually something like $25 for two weeks of unlimited classes) and since there are about five gajillion yoga studios in the Camberville area, I figured this endeavor could easily span 6-months.

Long story short, it didn’t take that long at all.  I fell in love with Samara pretty much immediately.  Their instructors are all extremely informed, with an attention to detail and knack for description that improved my practice noticeably within the first week.

Yoga is supposed to be about balance, and Samara strikes perfect chords of balance again and again.  The instructors and clientele are serious about yoga practice, but not the point where they don’t have a sense of humor about it.  If you can’t fully realize a pose, no one will ever make you feel inadequate for it.  Even if you try something and literally fall on your face (not that I’ve ever done this…), there’s a general sense of camaraderie that ameliorates embarrassment and inspires risk-taking. 

At the same time, the classes are consistently challenging for students of every level.  The teachers are extremely gifted at intuiting individual students’ abilities, and offer a wide range of options so no one is either left behind or bored silly. 

Samara also manages to navigate the somewhat sticky realm of Western yogic spirituality relatively smoothly.  In most yoga classes at the gym, this aspect is understandably downplayed in favor of focusing on the physical benefits of the asanas.  Then on the flipside, some studios take it so far in the other direction that it can seem alienating or even cultish to the average cerebral, humanistic Bostonian. 

Classes I’ve taken at Samara neither deny the spiritual, emotional, and mental aspects of yoga, nor to they get overly preachy, dogmatic, or, for lack of a better term, weird about it.  I come away from class feeling more peaceful and connected than I did when I entered, and maybe I chanted an Om or two and pondered some wise words, but I never feel like I was told to “believe in” anything.

Samara strikes the right chords for me, but there are, as I’ve said, about fifteen bazillion yoga studios around these parts, and everybody resonates differently when it comes to yoga.  If you’re looking around for one, I’d recommend doing what I did.  Hit up some of the various studios’ new student deals and see which one is a fit for you.  All I’m saying is, Samara should definitely be on your list of places to try.