I have been to this studio for both a teacher training programme and for classes, so speak with experience. This studio provides very basic facilities and it is obvious that the owner invests absolutely no money in improving it. However that aside, the studio owner, Dylan, behaves in the most unyogic way you could imagine. He is unfriendly, rude, lacks compassion and only has an interest in enforcing his rules and making money.
Teacher training - I was very unhappy with the way he behaved on the teacher training programme I attended. One student left the programme on day 2 because she was very unhappy with him. I endured him for the duration of the course. He picked his 2 favourite students on the course and looked after them. The rest of us....well, he had no interest in us whatsoever. Very happy to take our money but unwilling to even treat us with dignity & respect. He created a competitive environment by constantly comparing us to these 2 students. This is turn led these 2 students to form a team of 2. Dylan would always talk down to me and suggest to me that I wasn't enjoying the course. He made comments to me like "well done for speaking!". There were many moments when I wanted to walk away because of the way I was treated. The bulk of the course was not about yoga, it was more about "group therapy". We sat in a circle, talking about our problems and Dylan would suggest how we can improve our lives. He isn't a trained Psychologist or psychotherapist but trying to do the work of one. When someone in the group disclosed childhood trauma, he didn't know what to say; he opened up a wound and then left that person with no support. This work is nothing to do with becoming a yoga teacher - he likes to call it transformational but never discloses what he means by this before the course starts.....very unethical!!! He has a tendency to make the students he doesn't like feel inadequate. A constant theme was comparing us to these perfect 2 students. He openly told us that he would happily go to their classes and would welcome them to teach at his studio. I don't know what this man is doing in the yoga industry. This is the kind of behaviour you can expect from him if you do a teacher training programme with him. It was a waste of money and wish I had gone elsewhere. At the end of the course, he was reluctant to provide us with certificates. After a lot of chasing, he posted them nearly 2 months after the course finished but without postage. That has to be the ultimate insult, when you've spent a grand for his course. Never an apology from him, oh no he never apologises for anything.
Classes - he displays the same kind of behaviours. He only helps his favourites in the class. The class is more of an exercise routine than a true yoga class. I'm not sure he understands what yoga is. He's very strict about how postures should be done - has to be his way, otherwise he behaves like a child and throws a strop! When I've asked him questions about postures at the end of a class, I get one word answers because he doesn't want to help. The final straw for me was when I turned up slightly late for a class, after travelling for over an hour, and he bolted the studio door with me on the other side. I had even called the studio to say I would be a few mins late. I managed to get in the class but he told me that next time he would bolt the door and not let me in. Then he told me that I had to pay for the mat I had used. My fault for being late but his aggression was unnecessary. He will go out his way to make a person feel unwelcome when he wants to.
I really am disgusted by the way this studio owner behaves. Yoga isn't the place for someone like this.
If you choose to practice at this place or do his teacher training, do so at your own peril. read more
