Free To Be Power Yoga

The people and space here are excellent. I go through cycles of different workouts but I come back to Free to Be. They closed the uptown location so I've found myself at the Metairie location a bunch. Great group of teachers. Clean and spacious. I constantly lose my mat and it regularly ends up in the lost in found. Couldn't recommend more.

I was in town for a work trip and decided to do some yoga with my colleague. I passed Free to Be when I was walking from the convention center and decided to give it a try. We went on Saturday for the YOD class. The description said it was a blend of yoga and HIIT in a heated room with music. My friend and I arrived early to get registered. The front desk person was nice and got us checked in and set up with a mat and towel. The mirrors were covered and it wasn't clear where the front of the room was. I approached a woman who was writing on a white board. I approached her, said hello and asked if she was the instructor. She said yes so I asked where she would be instructing. She said my mat is right there (pointed) and continued writing. The class "started" with her reviewing the HITT portion of the class and used two participants to model the exercises, that took 10 minutes! Throughout the class she didn't participate at all. Not a down dog, leg lift or jumping Jack, there was no music and she talked about Mardi Gras season the whole time. People in the class were talking, laughing etc. The music finally started blaring (literally) during the HIIT section. It was so loud and startling since we had nothing the whole time. Additionally the cues were way too fast as a seasoned practitioner and yoga instructor I can say this style didn't allow for proper breathing or alignment. Overall, I didn't think the instructor was friendly or welcoming to new students and even though I got a sweat session in, I can't say I would try this instructor again.