Barre & Soul is a Yoga and Barre studio chain with 3 locations that span from Portsmouth, NH to Cambridge, MA. The chain also offers virtual classes for you to take in the comfort of your home. The founder, Andrea Isabelle Lucas, has a blog called Fitfeminist. The name evokes an eye roll from us, but her message about personal empowerment and positive body image is something we can get behind. Not to mention, she did her barre training at Exhale Spa and if you know anything about barre, you know Exhale has the toughest classes in town. Both the barre and yoga classes at her studios kick ass; no wonder she is in such great shape.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

We took a Barre & Soul method class earlier in the week and needed some good ol’ vinyasa yoga for our sore muscles. The hour long vinyasa yoga class stretched us out and we left feeling great, but our muscles were even more sore the next day. Holy core work!

We started on our backs and knew we were in for it when we were told to grab our blocks for ab work to warm up the core. 5 minutes into class, our abs were on fire and we’d just barely started. After “”warming up our core,”” we moved through an athletic, quickly-paced flow and broke a much needed sweat. Class was over before we knew it, and Matt was able to sequence a class that gave us everything we needed: a good sweat, some major hip and hamstring opening, and a little bit of calm in the midst of our crazy week.

INSTRUCTOR

Matt Rutkowski isn’t your typical 100 pound beautiful, blonde, and bendy yoga teacher. He’s a badass, tattooed, red-headed metal music fan. He’s cool, really cool. His classes are peppered with jokes and occasionally some swears and he brings a lightness to the practice that sometimes gets lost when teachers’ egos fill up the room. He is extremely strong (like crow to handstand strong) and if you go to his classes continuously, you will be too. He focuses on the core and strengthening it as a gateway to most, if not all, advanced poses. Who doesn’t like strong and cool?

SPACE

We loved the decor in this studio. It’s feels like you are walking into an art show with tons of modern decor: think terrariums, a blue piano, and Jonathan Adler-style decorations.

The studio is open and well-lit thanks to the big windows looking over Harvard Square. There are no locker rooms, just 2 bathrooms, so come dressed to sweat and plan on going home and showering after class. Don’t worry, you can purchase your coveted “barre so harvard” and “barre your soul” tanks before grabbing drinks in Cambridge and getting hit on by a bunch of engineers ; )