Agni Miami
๐ agnimiami.com
๐ 5084 Biscayne Blvd. Suite 101-A, Miami, FL 33137
๐ 305-231-3171
๐ info@agnimiami.com
๐ฑ Instagram / Facebook / Twitter
Bikram
with Vivi Villagra โถ 1/1/2024
Agni Miami yoga studio is a community of loving practitioners. If you are lonely and lost, you will be guaranteed to find love and light here. I got full connection eye contact upon check-in and again as I was leaving. These are yogis who are truly connected with the spiritual side of practicing. Lots of other limbs being considered here in the minds beyond just the asanas.
I am rarely ever asked about where I am coming from or where I practice at any space I have visited. At Agni, I was immediately asked after class about my practice history. It made me feel very connected to the space to be asked about my past practices. Most people are only focused on their particular studio and selling. I felt a deep love for yoga radiating from everyone who worked and practiced here. Agni is truly a community - which is starting to become rarer and rarer the more and more the world is corporatized.
One of the yogis in our class provided refreshments after the class, which was above and beyond loving. I have never experienced such kindness and community from a studio before. I felt like I belonged, and I had just come in for the first time.
There is ample parking on the premises. The studio had a really fun, super colorful mural on the wall. The studio was large enough for me to enjoy the luxurious space around me even though the class was jam-packed.
Vivi was an amazing instructor. Her energy was to die for. So honest, so authentic, her vibrations were pure, and her intentions only to heal. I got such positive healing from her, both physically and emotionally.
Viviโs cues were extremely alignment-based, which is rare for me to find in a 90-minute traditional Bikram class. She was so skilled at cueing breath work that I felt relaxed enough to fully let go and just find my flow state without thinking about whether I was breathing deeply or not.
She was such a great motivator towards getting me to give just that little bit extra once I felt like I had maxed out already. I was able to achieve peaks that I had not reached before in a traditional 90-minute Bikram class. I felt like I had been doing the postures a bit hastily and haphazardly because the instructors I have had in the past werenโt in tune with the subtleties of alignment during the Bikram flow.
The mindblowing moment for me was when she gave me an amazing foot massage during one of the resting periods during the face-down backbend portion of the sequence. It was soooooooo relaxing. I have never had the pleasure of a pressure point foot massage during a sequence. Sure, Iโve had wonderful unintentional moments where an instructor will adjust my foot by standing on it, but this was an intentional pressure point workup on my feet during a point in the practice where I felt my life force draining. After that small moment of healing energy from Vivi, I came back with a vengeance for the rest of the sequence.
I had a lot of fun in the practice because Vivi kept the mood jovial - I personally love a yoga instructor who tells jokes because I myself get so damn spartan resting bitch face when I practice. While I am having fun when I have a death stare, I feel like my brain releases even more pleasure chemicals when I have to laugh at how serious I look when a great instructor tells a perfectly timed joke.
Vivi began the practice by pulling a card and reading us a motivational quote about change out of the deck from which she had summoned the message. This was such a connective and intimate way to begin the practice. It felt like a moment between friends instead of salespersons and clients.
The space is very intimate emotionally and provides that extra dose of spirituality that a lot of studios lack. The aromatherapy towel at the end of practice was the coldest, cleanest, best towel I have had at any studio. I love this space and hope to practice here again!
This studio melted my heart.
This was my view during Savasana. One of the few times my eyes were relaxed open during that pose!
YIN
with Raquel Ortiz โถ 1/4/2024
This was my second time visiting Agni Miami. I felt so welcome there the first time I couldnโt help but return. This time for something a lot more restorative. We were instructed to lay out our mats in a semi-circle around the candles and incense that Raquel had laid out around her mat. The ceiling had a projection of clouds and stars, and the room smelt of sweet wood and earth. It was so transporting, like walking into a lullaby version of Meow Wolf.
Normally during yin sequences, people shy away from forward folds because they as so damn taxing on the back and possibly the legs depending upon the configuration and props. I am extremely flexible, so those poses are extremely helpful for me because we rarely ever hold them in long form during regular flow classes. I was so grateful to have stumbled into Raquelโs class because she did not fear the fold.
Pretty much the entire class was centered around folds. My legs were so sore from lack of restorative/yin practice since Iโve been to Miami since my mind definitely prefers a power flow to settle itself. My body, however, was craving some peace, so I got exactly what I needed with Raquel. After her class, I was literally relieved of all the tension my muscles had been carrying around for weeks. There is a lot of restorative twisting and hip work after a power flow, but the folds are quickly thrown in there and never center stage. I never realized what a relief a five-minute fold could give me until Raquelโs sequence.
Raquel gave great detailed instructions on alignment and offered lots of opportunities for modification. She really helped me learn a lot about how to adjust each pose to safeguard my body from its hypermobility. She was a great motivational speaker and offered a lot of humor and uplifting kindness throughout the practice, which was nice because, usually, restorative instructors are solely focused on relaxation and rarely ever throw bits of Raja into the room. I loved Raquelโs class, and I truly felt restored afterward. I recommend it to anyone who wants to work sincerely for some really rewarding post-practice release.
