The words yoga shala means “Yoga home” or “Yoga house”. It is a place for the spiritual practices of yoga. If you practice martial arts, you practice at the dojo. If you practice religious rituals, you go to church, or any other place where there is a high presence of God and mystical energy. When you practice yoga, you practice at the yoga shala. These are spaces made conducive for your practice by keeping them clean, pleasant for the eye, and inspirational for your soul.
To maintain an atmosphere in the yoga shala conducive for meditative and introspective practices, we need some set of rules. These rules, or etiquette, are simple, and are kept both to show consideration to your fellow yogis, and for practical reasons.
- Make your booking online, and arrive on time for class and enter the yoga shala peacefully (no running in the yoga space). If you should be late, peacefully enter and wait for the teacher to show you a space. Please bear in mind that during some classes, such as yin yoga, you will not be allowed to enter if you are late.
- Practice in clean clothes and take care of you personal hygiene before class. If you enjoy walking bare feet during the day, please wash your feet in the shower room before entering the yoga shala (arrive early).
- We typically don’t drink during practice, but you can bring a bottle of water if needed. No other drinks allowed inside the yoga shala (no carbonated water).
- Do not eat right before your yoga practice. Wait around 2-4 hours after a big meal before coming to practice.
- Please avoid strong perfumes and deodorants in the yoga shala.
- Yoga Shala Espoo is not responsible for any of your valuable items and accessories.
- You can bring your phone and other smart devices into the yoga shala, but please leave them in your bag in silent & no vibration mode.
- Avoid talking your daily chit chat with your friend inside the yoga shala. If you need to talk to someone inside of the yoga shala, please use a soft and gentle tone of voice. When you arrive early, you can take a spot, sit or lie down and enjoy the silence and the lack of responsibilities for a little while, and access your internal space as a preparation for practice.
- Please leave your shoes in the staircase on floor 3 before entering the yoga space.
- Payments can be made after class with credit cards, or the teacher will send you an invoice. If you want to pay with cash, please bring an even amount, as we do not carry any cash for change at this location.
Showering
We have one shower in the yoga shala. If you wish to shower after class, please bring your clothes, your shower accessories and towel to the shower room. There might be others who also wants to take a shower, please be swift for a quick clean up.
If you wish to clean up before practice, maybe wash your feet, then please arrive early since there might be a queue to the shower.
Toilets
There are lots of toilets downstairs in the corridor on both floors (floor 1 and 2). Please use those toilets if the shower/toilet is busy on floor 3.
Avoid using the toilet in the shower room immediately after class, in case there is someone wanting to take a shower.
Should you need to use the bathroom during class, you can silently sneak out from the yoga shala and re-enter when you’re ready. The toilet in the shower room is the closest one to using during class.