Yoga in Port Arthur, Thunder Bay
Practise facing the Sleeping Giant.
Slow, carefully taught classes in a small upstairs room, with Lake Superior filling every window.
New to Norwester? Your first two weeks are $40, every class included.
Start your two weeksThe room
One room, three windows, one very large lake
Norwester is a single room on the second floor of an old brick block in Port Arthur. Three tall windows face east over the harbour, and on a clear afternoon the Sleeping Giant lies along the whole of the middle one.
The birch floor is heated, because this is Thunder Bay and January is long. There are no mirrors. Mats, cork blocks, bolsters and grey wool blankets are ours and washed after every class, so you can come straight from work with nothing.
Classes stop at eighteen people, so a teacher can reach every mat. The lights stay low, the music stays off, and from November to February the sunrise class starts in the dark and finishes in daylight.
Timetable
A week on the mat
Every class runs all year, holidays aside. Book a mat online or just turn up if there is room.
Sunrise flow
A steady hour of flow to wake you up before work. All levels.
- Tuesday, 6:30 a.m.
- Thursday, 6:30 a.m.
$22drop-in
Book a matSlow flow
Fewer poses held for longer, with time to get each one right.
- Monday, 5:45 p.m.
- Wednesday, 5:45 p.m.
- Saturday, 9:00 a.m.
$22drop-in
Book a matYin and restore
Seventy-five minutes, mostly on the floor with bolsters and blankets.
- Friday, 7:00 p.m.
- Sunday, 4:00 p.m.
$22drop-in
Book a matBeginners' series
The basics, taught in order, for people who have never done yoga. Starts the first Saturday of each month.
- Saturday, 11:00 a.m.
$120six Saturdays
Save a placeTen classes are $190 and keep for six months. Unlimited is $135 a month. Students and seniors drop in for $17.
Teachers
Who will be at the front of the room
Anneli Rautio
Founder, E-RYT 500
Taught in Winnipeg for twelve years before coming home to the north shore. Leads the sunrise flow and the beginners' series.
Owen Makarewicz
Teacher, RYT 200
A former rower who came to yoga for a stiff back and stayed for Sunday yin. Teaches slow flow.
Claire Desrosiers
Teacher, restorative
Teaches yin and restore on Friday nights and knows exactly where every bolster goes.
I have practised in three cities, and this is the first room where I look forward to January. You lie there in the last pose and watch the ice come into the harbour.
Kirsten
Current River, sunrise flow regular
Beyond the timetable
When a class is not quite the thing
Private sessions
An hour with one teacher, at the studio or in your living room, built around what you want to work on.
$95 an hour
Prenatal series
Six Wednesday evenings with Claire, for any trimester, with a partner welcome at the last one.
$110 for the series
Teams and workplaces
A class for your crew, your office or your rowing club, here or on site anywhere in the city.
From $180 a class
The room, for rent
Weekend afternoons for workshops, meditation groups and small gatherings, with the props included.
$45 an hour
Questions
Before you roll out a mat
The beginners' series, or slow flow if you would rather just come. Tell the teacher it is your first class and they will keep an eye on you.
No. The room is kept comfortable, not hot, and nobody is meant to sweat through a towel.
No. Most people who walk in cannot touch their toes, and plenty who have come for a year still cannot. That is not the point.
On the street out front, free after six on weeknights, or in the municipal lot a block up the hill.
Up to two hours before class, and the credit goes back on your pass. Later than that, we keep the class.
First class
Save a mat by the window
Tell us which class you have in mind and we will hold a place. We answer within a day.
Call
(807) 555-0138Serving
- Port Arthur
- Current River
- Northwood
- Westfort
- Shuniah
Hours
- Monday–Friday
- 6:15am–8:30pm
- Saturday, Sunday
- 8:30am–5:30pm
The door opens fifteen minutes before each class.