Get­ting into a deep stretch in a Bryan Kest-​​led class at Thrive Yoga

Wash­ing­ton has a vibrant yoga scene. There’s so much going on that I can’t keep track of every­thing. I rec­om­mend that you check out Wel­come OM DC, a resource hub for yogis, run­ners, ath­letes, and the wellness-​​minded. They focus specif­i­cally on DC. Plus, some­one has a great eye for pho­tog­ra­phy, which makes me slightly jealous.

With so many stu­dios, I need to impose some kind of order, and alpha­bet­i­cal is not going to work. I am mod­i­fy­ing Wel­come OM DC‘s geo­graphic distribution.

DC Yoga Com­mu­nity: 10 yoga stu­dios join forces to pro­mote yoga

Down­town

• Flow Yoga Cen­ter is Debra Perlson-Mishalove’s ven­ture near Dupont Cir­cle. Just com­ing out of a major expan­sion, tak­ing over the sec­ond floor. It was my pre­ferred cen­ter down­town. I went there once or twice a week with my daugh­ter, but since blow­ing out my knee in 2008, I’ve con­cen­trated my prac­tice to Thrive Yoga, where I have perks. Teacher train­ing is among the best in the region
• Tran­squil Space Kim­berly Wil­son has made this cen­ter extremely pop­u­lar, too much for my com­fort because of the elbow-​​to-​​elbow classes, too much of the color laven­der and go-​​girl boos­t­er­ism for my taste. All the teach­ers that I met there over nearly 12 months were excel­lent. Mul­ti­ple lev­els of Teacher Train­ing . Other satel­lite stu­dios have been opened Arling­ton. I have not been there since they moved to the new loca­tion on 17th Street.
• Bound­less Yoga Stu­dio 15th and U Street, NW. Teacher train­ing
• YogaDis­trict has three loca­tions and offers low-​​cost classes. It also has an out­reach arm, Yoga Activist for pro­vid­ing free yoga to home­less shel­ter res­i­dents, trauma sur­vivors, chil­dren at pub­lic schools, and youth in deten­tion. Teacher train­ing is available.
• The Stu­dio DC Yoga Cen­ter offers a vari­ety of styles. It offers teacher train­ing. It has two loca­tions, one near Dupont Cir­cle, the other in Adams Morgan.
• DCYoga on Con­necti­cut Ave, just above Dupont Cir­cle. Teacher train­ing now offer­ing an ini­tial 40-​​hour mod­ule towards 200-​​hour program.
• Shakti Mind­BodyS­tu­dio: near the Con­ven­tion Cen­ter, 7th and New York Ave., NW

Colom­bia Heights/​Adams Morgan

• Embrace Yoga: The stu­dio of Faith Hunter, a ris­ing star in the yoga universe
• Bud­dha B Yoga Stu­dio is located near the U St. Metro sta­tion.Stroga is a new stu­dio in the heart of the Adams Mor­gan neigh­bor­hood. Mul­ti­ple yoga styles are taught in spa­cious rooms. For those who dis­like being elbow to elbow.
• Past Tense in Mt. Pleas­ant neighborhood.
• Yoga Chai is located in Adams Mor­gan, right on Colum­bia Road.
• Bagheera Yoga is a small stu­dio run by Bobbi Poncé-​​Barger in Adams Mor­gan neigh­bor­hood and has a blog for news.
• Stu­dio Seren­ity located in Adams Mor­gan Teacher train­ing Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Train­ing – Level 1 Inten­sive, 200-​​hours
• Inspired Yoga “Help­ing DC Breathe” has two loca­tions on Colum­bia Road in Adams-​​Morgan and U Street. For­merly 18th and Yoga.
• Quiet Mind Yoga is in Colum­bia Heights. It offers Yoga­Works teacher train­ing.

Red Line NW

• Ash­tanga Yoga Cen­ter (Friend­ship Heights). David Ingalls runs the shop, and friends tell me that it has great classes.
• Cir­cle Yoga: near the Maryland/​DC line, it is an Anusara stu­dio founded by Annie Mahon. She also has a Bud­ding Yogis for kids, teens and families.
• Quiet Mind Yoga, near the Tivoli Cen­ter in Colum­bia Heights, just open in early 2008
• Cleve­land Park Yoga
• Wood­ley Park Yoga is an Ash­tanga shop, run by Faith Scimecca, who is an Ash­tanga teacher autho­rized by Pat­tabhi Jois, a rare breed.
• Be Yoga – Yoga with Krista: Kripalu-​​style classes, and works with kids with spe­cial needs. In the Cleve­land Park neighborhood.

Capi­tol Hill

• St. Mark’s Yoga Cen­ter on Capi­tol Hill offers mainly after­noon and evening classes.
• Capi­tol Hill Yoga spe­cial­izes in Anusara Yoga.

Georgetown/​Palisades

• Down Dog Yoga is affil­i­ated with Baron Bap­tiste and his Power Vinyasa Yoga. Just off M Street, near the C&O canal. It also has stu­dios in Bethesda and Hern­don (VA)
• Lil Omm is a community-​​based stu­dio in the Pal­isades neigh­bor­hood (west of George­town). Strong on kids yoga.
• Cen­tered Yoga opened in the sum­mer of 2010.

Hot Yoga

Just to be dif­fer­ent, I’ve lumped all the hot yoga places here.

• Hot Yoga – Wash­ing­ton, DC, near the National Catheral on Wis­con­sin Ave.  Teacher train­ing 200-​​hour program
• Bikram Yoga can be found all over the DC area: Dupont, Ten­ley­town, Takoma Park, Capi­tol Hill, Rockville,  Tysons Cor­ner, Alexan­dria.

Health/​Fitness

Gyms and fit­ness cen­ters fre­quently offer yoga classes. Some gyms are actu­ally recruit­ing top-​​notch instruc­tors as attrac­tions to their loca­tions. The ones listed below tend to be a cut above the aver­age offering.

• Mint (Gallery, Dupont and Downtown)
• VIDA Fit, three sites  (Ver­i­zon Cen­ter, Renais­sance Hotel and Metropole)
• Results Down­town, Cap­i­tal Hill and Dupont Circle

I regret the dis­ap­pear­ance of George­town Yoga, Spi­ral Flight Yoga and Yoga House (but there are still Kundalini-​​style teach­ers in the DC-​​area.).

View DC Yoga Stu­dios in a larger map

Updated on August 16, 2011.