Congratulations on starting your yoga practice! We are so pleased you will be joining us for classes.
- Location: Public classes are held in a variety of venues on Capitol Hill. Please note the location in the class description when you register.
- Please be aware of classes that may be in session. We schedule 15 minutes between most classes. If are early and there is a class immediately before yours, please be sure that it has concluded before entering.
Please do not hesitate to call or e-mail if you have any questions before the course.
Our main contact information is:
- telephone: (202) 599-0434
- inquiries [at] breathingspacedc [dot] com
*replace the [at] with @ and [dot] with .
Find out more about each of our instructors.
We can’t wait to get started!
Tips for a Great Yoga Class
- What to wear: Please wear comfortable, stretchy clothes that are not too loose. For prenatal and postnatal classes, it is important that you be comfortable but that your instructor be able to see the alignment of your joints while you are doing yoga poses. Please note that yoga is done in bare feet.
- What to Bring: A yoga mat and water. Most venues have mats to loan but you may wish to invest in your own. Any other necessary yoga props will be provided for your convenience, but you may, of course, bring your own if you prefer them.
Our Tot Yoga and Preschooler Family Yoga are an exception. We do not use mats except for final relaxation and occasional games. Feel free to leave your mat at home.
Baby Yoga & Play classes do use mats, but most venues have enough to lend if you’d rather not carry one. Do plan to bring a small blanket to cover our mats/blankets and a small toy to use during class.
- Please no shoes in the studio: To keep floors clean, our venues request that you not enter the main classroom wearing your shoes. Please take a moment to remove them before walking in, and feel free to ask for help if your hands are full.
- Avoid: Wearing strong scents such as perfumes, deodorants, essential oils, or cologne. Please ensure that your mat, clothes, and body are odor-free to help maintain the purity of the practice space and enjoyment for everyone.
- Get there early: Please arrive 10-15 minutes early on your first day to address any administrative questions and settle in. Children especially.
- Please turn your cell phone off. Even a vibrate setting can be disruptive during quiet moments in class.
- Communicate: If you have any injuries or limitations, please notify your instructor before class begins so they can help you stay safe.
For families with children:
- Let Go of Expectations: We don’t expect full participation by children, and sometimes hardly any on the first day. Some children will be most comfortable observing and some might even wander the room and appear not to be participating. This is all developmentally appropriate and totally fine. Yes, try to engage your child in class, but feel free to simply relax and enjoy your child however they choose to participate.
- Parent Participation: Parents should plan to participate fully in family and early childhood classes. The more yoga you do, the more your child will do (even if not until you get home). One adult must be present for Family Yoga and any class for children younger than 3 years. Up to two adults are welcome to participate in these classes on weekly basis and the same adult need not be present every time. Kids and Tween Yoga classes not described as family classes are for the children only. Due to limited studio space, family members and friends are asked not to observe these classes.
- Stroller Parking: Most of our venues have limited indoor space. We have a cable lock for securing strollers to the fence or bicycle rack poll out front. Contact us for the lock code. Please do not leave strollers in entryways or stairwells.
- Eating/Drinking: Please bring only water or milk/formula for babies in closed-top containers into the yoga classroom. Breast or bottlefeeding is always welcome.
- Consider leaving water bottles out of sight.
- Please, no photos during class. Not all parents are equally comfortable with having their children photographed and phones are potentially distracting, even to toddlers who are pretty savvy about what they do. If you would like photos of your little one doing yoga, please take them before or after class or during the last two weeks of the class when the instructor suggests group photos.
If one of our instructors takes photos at any time, feel free to request a copy of your child or watch for logo-ed version to turn up on our social media sites so you can re-share. You can also feel free to ask that you or your child not be photographed.
- Things to leave at home: Toys, stuffed friends, and even lovies (if at all possible). Very special friends can watch class from the windowsill if necessary, but toys of any kind just cause conflict in class.
Questions about make-ups, drop-ins, refunds, or other policies? See our class policies page, or contact us with any questions.
More Details About Class Venues
Our classes are generally offered in multi-week series with students committing to multiple consecutive classes. There are lots of benefits to committing to a weekly class but we understand that modern life is busy and sometimes unpredictable. If you must miss a class, you have several options to make it up:
Family, kids, and family classes require a series commitment. Need to miss due to travel, illness, or another conflict? Take advantage of our generous makeup policy.
- Take another class.
Any family member of the enrolled student may take any other appropriate* weekly class during the same semester, even in advance – this means the same class on an alternate day or something different; Use our makeup scheduler. (See instructions here. Please email if you have any questions.)
Family members should take a class appropriate for them – for example, a younger sibling and parent may attend an early childhood class or a parent may take a mat-based adult class. Exception: Yoga Trapeze classes and infant massage are only open to makeup by students enrolled in that type of class.
- Bring a friend.
If space is available in your mat-based or family yoga class, you may bring a friend as your make-up (instead of option 1). This is not allowed in trapeze yoga. Please confirm space availability with your instructor. Guests will be asked to sign a waiver upon arrival.
- Practice with our video library.
If scheduling a makeup doesn’t work for you, you can view selections from our video library and practice at home. You’ll find recordings in the Parent Portal of our registration site.
- Carry over one credit to your next series registration.
Continuing students may carry one class over into the subsequent session by taking a registration discount on your next series. See below.
Additional Detials by Class Type
Weekly Mat-based Classes (non-trapeze)
Carry-over Makeup – Mat-based
We get that scheduling a makeup class isn’t always possible, so we extend the following courtesy to continuing students: carry the value of one class over into the next semester by taking a registration discount.
Use discount code “seriesmakeup” when registering to take your credit. This only applies to students registering again for a full semester and cannot be used as a drop-in, but it can be used if you are changing class type or even the family member enrolled. Note: If you are registering multiple family members who need to take the makeup credit, each student registration will need to be its own transaction.
No other makeups are allowed after a semester ends.
Yoga Trapeze
Space is limited in Yoga Trapeze by the number of rigs, however, we have two ceiling attachments that are not included in our class capacity count, so there is usually space for makeup students in those spots.
Trapeze students or a family member may make up in any other appropriate class during the same semester time frame. There are several ways to reserve your spot in a makeup class:
- Use the makeup scheduler to reserve another Yoga Trapeze class (Note: A family member may only take a trapeze makeup if they themselves are enrolled in or have completed a semester of Yoga Trapeze or a week of camp);
- Use the discount code “trapezemakeup” to drop in to any adult-mat class – all levels, prenatal, etc; or
- Email us to let us know you’d like to attend a family class.
Carry-over Makeup – Trapeze
Continuing students may “carry one class over” into a subsequent session by taking a registration discount on your next series. Use discount code “seriesmakeup” when registering to take your credit. No other makeups are allowed after a semester ends.
Infant Massage
Because instruction is progressive and space is limited, only students enrolled in infant massage may makeup in infant massage.
Enrolled students can access an online course reviewing all the material in the live class. Additionally, because the content is always covered in the same order, infant massage students who miss are welcome to make up that same class in a subsequent series – if you miss class #2, attend the next class #2. Just email to let us know.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which class can I take as a makeup?
The only multi-week classes with a makeup restriction are yoga trapeze and infant massage. You must be enrolled in one of those classes to make up in one of them.
Otherwise, take any class appropriate for the family member doing the makeup. You can even send different family members to do the makeup class. Students may make up in any location.
For example, if you miss a baby yoga class and there isn’t another that suits your schedule, you may bring your toddler to Little Family Yoga as a makeup (baby can even tag along). If you and your child miss Little Family Yoga, you and an older child may attend family yoga, you and a younger child may attend Baby Yoga & Play, or you may attend an adult class for yourself. Anytime we have a “Pop-Up” class on the schedule, that can be a makeup.
How do I reserve a makeup class?
Our registration system has makeup reservations. Log in to the system and look for makeups in the drop-down menu under classes (this option only appears for registered students). See instructions here.
Scroll back up for special notes for Yoga Trapeze students.
I really am only able to attend a couple classes, can I drop-in?
Making Up in a Pop-Up Class or Intro to Yoga Trapeze
Occasionally we offer “Pop Up” classes not associated with a series. Advanced reservation is required. Pop-ups with insufficient registration 3 days in advance may be canceled.
Breathing Space does not allow single class drop-ins for children’s or family classes. Why?
Semester Commitment is Best for Both Students and the Program
We’ve written before about the benefits of committing to a weekly yoga class. Children, even more than adults, benefit from the consistency and progressive teaching enabled by full registration.
We understand that may be different from what you are used to with yoga classes. Kids yoga operates in an unusual context. While adult yoga classes are very often drop-in based, you cannot just occasionally show up to any other kind of teacher-directed children’s class. There’s no drop-in ballet, gymnastics, music, art, karate, etc. All of these programs require registration in a series of classes or monthly membership. This creates a stable class and allows lessons to build upon on each other.
Session Commitment Encourages Consistent Attendance
As a parent, there are tons of demands on my time and regularly attending a class requires commitment. Paying ahead of time gives me that sense of obligation to actually go every week. This is true for me with my own classes and it’s doubly true for me to motivate my child out of the house, even for activities she (or we both) adore.
Session Commitment Enhances the Student Experience
As a children’s instructor, I find:
- Drop-in classes are not in the best interest of the child. It often takes 3 or 4 classes for a child, especially a toddler, to feel comfortable with a new place, new people, and a new routine. Children benefit from repetition and structure. Since drop-in students tend to only show up once or twice a semester, they miss out on the full benefits of the experience.
- Drop-ins detract from the experience of the students who have committed to a full session of classes because my attention is drawn to the new student – on everything from taking payment and filling in the parent on policies, facilities, and expectations, to making the new child feel comfortable.
But . . .
There are two major objections that we hear from parents to registering for an entire session:
- That they aren’t sure if class will be right for their child. We get that. It can be hard to even imagine a toddler or preschooler yoga class if you’ve never attended one.
That’s why we offer a No Risk Refund Policy – Not sure if class will be right for you or your child? Register and come to the first class. If you notify us in writing within 24 hours of class that you will not be able to continue the session, you will pay only $20 for the class you attended. (See refund policies for more information.) - That they have travel or other schedule obligations that prevent full attendance. We understand schedules can be tricky. We intentionally skip holiday weekends and other high-travel times and offer a very generous make-up policy. To make up a missed class:
- Any family member may take any other appropriate class during the same session – this means a similar kids class or parents can take an adult class;
- If there is space in your class, you may bring a friend as your make-up class. Please confirm space availability with your instructor.
- Read our full make-up policy here.
