How to Find the Best Yoga Studios Near You

For those just looking to get into yoga, finding classes and knowing what to look for can be difficult. If you’ve been googling all day, searching for “yoga places near me” you’re probably overwhelmed, but finding the best yoga studio can be easy.

Let’s cover how to find the best yoga studios near you, whether you’re looking for traditional yoga, modern methods, or even puppy yoga.

Why Yoga?

So what are the major benefits of yoga? When finding a class or studio becomes difficult, it can be easy to question whether or not finding yoga is even worth it.

Despite this, finding yoga studios near you can be a great idea, especially since yoga has a plethora of benefits that can make you healthier, happier, and let you live a more fulfilling life.

Health Benefits

Yoga is both a mind and body exercise, that means that it has benefits to both physical health and mental wellness.

Yoga poses are known to stretch and strengthen muscles, which helps to improve flexibility, reduce pain from chronic conditions, and even strengthen bones.

Believe it or not, yoga poses don’t just help with balance and coordination, they can also help improve your heart rate, reduce cholesterol, and even improve blood pressure. For this reason, finding yoga classes near you is an absolute bonus.

But while yoga offers this plethora of benefits, that’s not where it ends. Since yoga is also a mental exercise, it offers a multitude of mental wellness pluses as well.

Mental Wellness

While yoga might be notorious for reducing stress and anxiety, it can also improve your mood and well-being, enhance sleep quality, and increase your focus and concentration.

This means you can expect to sleep better when you’re attending practice or classes at yoga studios, find yourself having more energy, and even feel more relaxed.

Tips on Finding Yoga Studios

For those looking around to find classes, it might be difficult at first. If you live near a large city, finding classes can be easy. Even if you’re looking for puppy yoga classes, cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, and even Dallas have plenty of options.

But for those who live in smaller cities, it could be difficult to actually locate a yoga class, let alone a yoga studio. Let’s explore some of the best ways to actually find places that you can attend classes.

Use Online Directories

Many online directories exist to help you find yoga classes near your town or city, no matter how nice the class you might be looking for.

Many online directories, such as YogaFinder and others, can offer an easy way to find classes depending on the size of the city and the availability at the time.

Along with this, larger directories such as Google Maps, Yelp, or even local city websites can be used to find yoga studios.

Ask Friends

While it might seem obvious, asking health-conscious friends is one of the best ways to find yoga classes near your location.

Since your friends often live near your area, asking them if they know of any classes or studios that might be open or what you’re looking for is always a good idea.

Check Online Reviews

When looking for yoga classes, checking online reviews is a great idea before actually going to the studio.

Keep in mind that these reviews are most likely from actual students, so you can avoid any less-than-satisfactory locations before ever making the mistake of attending a class.

Fitness Centers

If all else fails, another great idea is to look for fitness centers in your area that might not be dedicated yoga studios, but could still offer yoga classes and various events to attend.

Finding yoga studios in your area should be doable, but fitness centers almost always offer yoga classes of some form to get started with.

Find the Best Studio

It’s not always about trying to find any studio near your location. Oftentimes, searching for “yoga near me” will yield a plethora of results, so much so that it can be hard to figure out which classes or studios are actually the best fit. For this reason, it’s always important to figure out which studio works for you, and which studio will actually provide the best classes when getting started.

Many yoga studios offer beginner discounts, as well as different types of yoga that might appeal to you more than traditional yoga. From doga to modern yoga and even puppy yoga, it’s always important to keep these factors in mind before signing up for a class.

Visit The Studio

One of the most crucial things you can do is actually visit the yoga studio before you commit to a class. Most yoga practitioners are more than happy to let new potential students visit their studio, ask questions, and potentially even sit in on a few classes.

This way, you can get a good idea of the general “vibe” of your yoga classes, and see if this is actually a place you want to train, relax, and get in your yoga feels.

Consider Important Factors

Once you find a studio you like, it’s also important to consider whether or not the type of yoga is one you want. Many newbies to yoga don’t understand that there’s a crucial difference between traditional and modern yoga.

Beyond this, many dog-lovers or animal lovers will want to try out “Doga” or dog yoga after hearing about it through social media, so whether or not you want to attend a puppy yoga class is something to consider as well.

Yoga Types

So what are the main different types of yoga? Yoga is a classic form of exercise and relaxation that dates back centuries, and as such has developed into several different forms.

Understanding the difference between these types of yoga is crucial in deciding what yoga class you’re going to finally attend.

Traditional Yoga

Whether or not you even want to attend a yoga class might depend on if you’re looking into traditional yoga practices or modern yoga as an exercise.

Traditional yoga focuses on a holistic approach to training your mind, body, and your spirit, which means that it focuses much more heavily on meditation and breathwork.

This also means that traditional yoga usually focuses on spiritual development instead of physical health.

Modern Yoga

On the contrary to traditional yoga, modern yoga focuses on physical fitness, using dynamic and difficult poses and styles with far less emphasis on the spiritual nature of yoga.

This type of yoga is oftentimes seen as a form of exercise rather than a lifestyle practice, and has less philosophical bearing to it. Neither of these forms of yoga is bad, and it all depends on what you’re looking for and what best fits your style.

Dog Yoga

While both dog yoga and puppy yoga are similar, there are actually a few crucial differences to point out. Dog yoga usually refers to a class where people can practice yoga with their own adult dog.

This would mean that dog yoga, or “doga” is often focused on involving your dog in the yoga practice. For those who find this difficult or don’t have a dog, however, puppy yoga is a perfect alternative.

Puppy Yoga

Puppy yoga is one of the latest trends in yoga, and because of the proven health benefits it’s proven to be a very popular yoga style.

Puppy yoga often involves a group of young puppies simply being around while you attend a regular yoga class. These puppies will roam around, getting the occasional cuddle while never actually practicing in the yoga itself.

Puppy yoga classes are now very popular, with classes available in many large cities such as Portland, Los Angeles, and even Tampa.

Finding Yoga

When it comes to actually finding yoga clubs, studios, or classes near your location, it’s all about finding that yoga zen.

Yoga is very much a “do what fits best” style of exercise, and as such it’s easy to overthink it. As long as you do your research, finding a yoga studio near you can be extremely simple.