Exhale Spa, Venice Beach, CA

Exhale Spa in Venice, CA is yogi home to techers Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Erich Shiffman and many more.  The studio is touted as the one of the best in the nation and with those teachers, rightfully so.  

My first class was Samantha Mehra's.  Filled to the brim with contagious giddiness, her beloved voice guided the class through a vinyasa flow with compliments of shakti dance poses.  I enjoyed the creativity balanced with the traditional sequencing.  Non-dogmatic yet firm, this vinyasa 2/3 class I recommend.

Matthew Cohen was my second Exhale class.  Unorganized and spacey, Matthew's class didn't gel with me.  His background is rounded by indonesian martial arts, taoist and hatha Yoga, practices derive deep enjoyment from,  yet his demeanor was tainted with aggression rather than instruction and there he offered little to no allowed self-modification of poses.  After class he reprimanded all for one person not signing in coining it "stealing."  Maybe I caught him on an off day.

The studio is beautiful and  is located on Main St, Venice, CA.  The guys who work at the front desk are incredibly accommodating and funny.  The sign in sheet is located on a small table past the front desk and lines form quickly- especially for Seane Corn's class I hear.  She was just in Cambodia for Off the Mat Into The World and I have yet to take her class but will do so soon and write about my experience!  Many workshops are offered at Exhale from well known teachers worth checking out if in the area.  LA- gotta' love it.