New Life Fitness World is Iowa City Patch's Readers' Choice for Favorite Yoga Destination

Like I said , Iowa City is a great town for yoga. And as I learned by doing this contest, there are also a lot of people who are very passionate about their yoga here as well.

The winner of the Iowa City Patch Readers' Choice challenge for favorite location to do yoga in Iowa City was . New Life surged into the lead on Thursday night after yoga held the lead for most of the two week contest. 

Congrats to New Life, which will be the winner of the Patch Readers' Choice certificate!

Here's what one reader wrote about New Life's yoga program:

Nothing like Dawn Worrell O'Leary's Monday night yoga class at New Life Fitness on Mormon Trek. She took us in when we were yoga neophytes and her unique blend of yoga discipline, existential optimism and friendship has rendered us converts.

~ Richard Campagna

Robin's Nest yoga generated the most comments of any of the yoga destinations. Here are a few of the comments that it received:

Robin's Nest Yoga Studio - beautiful space, wonderful teachers, laid-back environment -- what's not to love?!

~ Renee Harper

Robin's Nest Yoga Studio absolutely has the most dedicated teachers, caring staff, and community-centered feel. I always say it's "real yoga for real people" - no schtick, no need to be "hot", no need to be only 18-25 years old - the students are from all ages, every walk of life, and there to simply center, ground, and get strong and flexible. I'm so glad to be a student. I agree with Renee - what's not to love?!?

~ Jason Bradley

Kate Connell (Editor's Note: Connell teaches at Robin's Nest) is a terrific yoga teacher. She is energetic and takes the time to address each individuals needs. I have a truly wonderful experience as a student.

~ Heward Platt

I learned after the contest began that there were some flaws in my selection of yoga destinations as they varied greatly in size and number of membership. Others expressed concern about yoga being judged in a contest form in the first place. One of my favorite parts of this, though, was through this process of working through these flaws, I learned more about the yoga destinations in the city. Taking a lesson from this, I would like to make future contests of this type on this site to be more about the discussions than the voting.

You can see some of the comments in the discussion on the . Here is the comment that I think sums it all up nicely from a reader named Mia:

First of all, thank you for shining light on the yoga community in Iowa City. Admittedly, I was a wee bit perplexed by this contest (I saw a note for it up at the co-op and decided to put in my two cents). In 11 years of practicing yoga in Iowa City, I always loved every class I have taken. I do not believe there is a fair way to compare yoga studios. Being somewhat pragmatic, I will go to any studio that is offering a deal of some kind. Most recently, I bought a groupon for Robin's Nest and have enjoyed taking classes in a room with skylights and a fireplace. I love Zenergi yoga because of how friendly everyone is there; the studio itself reminds me of Colorado (where yoga became an extremely important part of my life) and it was built out of environmentally friendly materials. They, too sometimes have groupon deals. Core Fitness is a wonderful place to become introduced to yoga--they offer beginning levels to very advanced power yoga. Core has a steam room and a sauna and showers, as well as a variety of other classes too. Plus, it's one of the only places in town that offers child care while you take a yoga class. Unbeatable. Heartland is a gorgeous space and is one of the only places in town to offer Anusara yoga (my favorite kind) and Hot House has a West Coast feel. Downward Dog Yoga is great for bringing in special guest instructors. The point is: EVERYWHERE is a great place to practice yoga in Iowa City. We are lucky to have so many great studios here.