The Class: CorePower Yoga Level 1

Location: Lincoln Center / Upper West Side (See on map here)

Duration: 60 minutes

Instructor: Nora

Classpass?: No

The Studio

I went to CorePower Yoga’s first New York City location the first day it opened for an evening class.

The studio, located just north of Lincoln Center, has two yoga studios and several showers, plus rows of lockers for you to store your things. For a first day, check in went fairly smoothly.

The Class

My C1 CorePower class was PACKED. I don’t think another mat could have been squeezed in that room. However, the layout of the studio is slightly awkward. A pole in the middle of the room prevents equal viewing of the instructor for every student, and the floor weirdly curved upward in the far corner.

Note also the room heats up very fast when there are a lot of people. I started dripping sweat about 5 minutes in.

I loved the fact that this class targeted itself for beginners and fulfilled that promise. Oftentimes I find yoga classes marketed towards beginners are not actually taught that way. Nora broke down Chaturanga Dandasana, led us through multiple A and B sun salutations, and gave good cues on how to do postures like Downward Facing dog and Tadasana. Because she took the time to explain them, the flow of the class was broken up a couple times. I didn’t mind, but someone used to a traditional yoga class might find the interruptions annoying.

The music was upbeat and for the most part pop songs, which I enjoyed, but again, someone used to traditional chanting yoga music might be thrown off.

As expected, there was a lot of core work towards the finish. That’s what we came for, isn’t it? We ended with one of my favorite yoga poses: a short and sweet savasana.

The Bottom Line

CorePower Yoga is for people who like their yoga powerful, hot, and six-pack focused. Be prepared to get sweaty.