The class was held at 889 Yonge, our favourite yoga studio. I've written about yoga in the past, but in the last few months yoga has become even more important and special to Mr. Knitting and myself. We go at least 4 times a week and I really can't say enough positive things about the studio. The space is fantastic, the yoga teachers are incredible, the selection of classes is outstanding, the staff could not be kinder, and they even provide all kinds of awesome extras like delicious herbal teas! We both absolutely love this place and it really made sense to include it in our wedding festivities.
We had spent the day doing a whole bunch of errands, but we had a bit of time together before our class began, and decided to go get some food. After much deliberation we settled on Veda, which serves delicious, healthy, and quick Indian food.
Mr. Knitting went for the butter chicken and I got some palak paneer:
I know you're not supposed to eat before yoga, but I find if I haven't eaten I get really nauseous and I was not interested in getting nauseous the night before our wedding!
We then headed over to 889 Yonge nice and early.
Here we are all excited for our guests to arrive:
The class itself was really amazing. We invited a selection of our friends and family and made it clear that we understood that yoga is not for everyone (even though it is!) and that we would not be offended if they chose not to join us. Lucky for us, almost everyone we invited said they'd be thrilled to attend, including a few relatives to whom yoga was a completely new experience! We were so honoured that they were so enthusiastic about attending such a "kooky" (but AWESOME) wedding event.
Nicky Poole, the Yoga Community Leader for 889 Yonge (and one of my favourite teachers) taught the class for us. Nicky is sort of the coolest person ever and I absolutely love being in her classes. She's really creative in her style of teaching and extremely nice, but she also really emphasizes how yoga is about more than just movement and I really love that. For her it's important to stop doing yoga and to start being yoga. She taught an absolutely fantastic class that was accessible to all levels, which was just what we wanted.
Here's Nicky looking awesome:
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It was really incredible to do yoga with so many of our favourite people. I actually don't really know how to put it into words other than to say it was a really powerful class and frankly probably one of the most awesome experiences of my life!
Here we all are doing downward dog:
It doesn't look like it in the picture because of the flash but the room was almost completely dark and lit only by candlelight so it was really beautiful.
Here we are doing some cobra:
One of my favourite parts of class was when she played Donna De Lory's version of In the Sun as we did some seated postures. This is a song Nicky often plays as we do back bends in her class and Mr. Knitting and I absolutely love it. Seriously, I challenge you not to feel totally soothed as you listen to this no matter how not religious you are.
The hands down most special part of class was when she had us all sitting with our hands at our hearts and asked everyone to send Mr. Knitting and myself good wishes for our marriage. It was really amazing and a very special moment. Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.
Here we are with Nicky after class:
After class we all hung out and drank tea for a bit and then headed our separate ways. Mr. Knitting and I headed to sushi with my family.
We split some sweet potato tempura:
I also had some spicy salmon rolls:
No one really wanted to be in pictures right after yoga so here's a look at the group avoiding the camera:
Oddly, at the end of the meal they brought us fortune cookies and look at what mine said:
This, of course, prompted many jokes about how we should just get married right then!
Overall I can't say enough good things about this yoga class. I am so glad we did it. I realize this type of event isn't for everyone, but if it's something that your friends and family would enjoy I would highly recommend it. It was definitely a major highlight of our wedding weekend and an incredible memory for us! It also really encompassed everything we wanted in our wedding since it was both extremely personal to us and very community centered.
To conclude, I think this awesome picture my cousin took pretty much sums up the feeling of the evening (K and W are our initials):
Cozy, lots of yoga, and filled with love!
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