Classes in Ottawa

In 2006, it dawned on Terry Moshenberg and Topher Stott that there was a lack of creative outlets for musical adults. Those hoping to hone their skills or simply jam out often had a hard time finding likeminded people. A year later, Terry and Topher sought out to solve this problem by starting League of Rock, which has since revealed what they refer to as the "hidden musical population." During workshops and team-building exercises held at corporations and various venues, professional musicians invite grownups to unleash their inner rock star by helping them master their chosen instrument, assigning them band mates, and getting them up on stage with a professional rock band. In corporate music leagues, clients use LOR as a resource to put on shows for recruiting purposes and raising money for charity.

Venk Prabhu, founder of Shanti Tea, envisions tea as a ritual, as a space that should be honoured. He respects this belief by travelling the world to source his fair-trade, sustainable, and certified-organic teas, curating and collecting distinct blends after steeping himself in the culture, traditions, and stories of the places they’re grown. In addition to a wide roster of green, black, white, and red-all-over teas, herbs and spices add extra aroma to blends and range from the familiar lavender or clove to the more esoteric and medicinal eyebright, yarrow, and st. john’s wort. Certified organic matcha from Japan’s Aichi Prefecture facilitates formal and casual tea ceremonies in three different grades, from straight matcha to blends with blueberry or cocoa. Cofounder and naturopathic doctor Priya Prakash blends wellness teas, as well as Ayurvedic teas that fit within Ayurvedic medicinal tradition. Shanti Tea also educates its customers with regular workshops that include tastings and blending lessons.

Honking cars amble through down the bustling streets of restaurants and boutiques in the surrounding Golden Triangle neighborhood, but the interior of the Santosha Yoga studio is an oasis of calm and tranquility. Sunlight gleams down on the hardwood floors, where a rotating cast of certified instructors lead classes in a variety of yoga styles throughout the day. In the mornings, instructor Robin Russel Hosein teaches Hatha yoga, guiding students through traditional poses and breathing exercises to build strength, spinal alignment, and breath awareness. Later on, Laura Conroy directs students through the movements of vinyasa flow, the yoga modality most favored by rap artists. When Jane Baird takes over for hot yoga classes, she cranks up the temperature in the studio to encourage detoxifying perspiration and increased flexibility. All instructors strive to maintain a peaceful and focused energy during the classes, requesting that participants turn off cellphones and refrain from chitchat.

After moving to town in 2005, glass artisan Melody Jewitt was renting studio time in Merrickville, Ontario. While at work, the Sheridan Institute–trained craftswoman discovered a kindred glassblowing spirit in the studio's owner, Bronwen McKnight, who has since retired. The two forged a friendship and artistic alliance that eventually became a business venture as well—their Ottawa studio dubbed Flo Glassblowing. The women used the studio to produce new work, continue their ongoing experiments with glass catcher's-mitt prototypes, and showcase their best designs. They also offer visitors a variety of workshops tailored to all ages, in which they reveal the secrets of flameworking, fusing, and casting that enable students to execute their own small glass pieces. In addition to the workshops, the studio creates a wide variety of custom glass blown products.

Relaxation is both a concept and a destination at Soma Health & Fitness, where sleek wooden floors are bathed in the sunbeams streaming in from symmetrical skylights. Here, visitors steep selves in soothing services such as massage therapy and physiotherapy, which pairs clients with certified professionals for one-on-one treatments that tackle movement difficulties with postural correction, muscle stimulation, and ultrasound treatments to seek out cursive injury reports spelled out in knotted tendons. Rehabilitative kinesiology combined with yoga and cardio fitness classes in the fully-equipped gym boost clients' cardiovascular health and muscle tone while providing an outlet for emotional renewal.

Like arriving at school naked, going to school in a bustling bar is something that usually only happens in dreams. However, in BartenderOne’s signature MasterClass, that dream becomes a reality as students try their hand behind the bar at a variety of nightlife hubs during mobile, hands-on classes, taught by head bartenders from across the country. This class is just part of the school's unique offerings, which were created by the school’s founders, who surveyed 14 bartending schools on five continents before founding BartenderOne. They wanted to offer their students a preeminent bartending education, so they fused the best of the curricula they saw and left out archaic practices, such as memorizing lists of outdated recipes. The resulting classes—held in active bars to provide real-word experience—run the gamut from full bartender training to workshops on specific skills, such as martini-making, whiskey pouring, or balancing another bartender on your nose. The school is run by people who own and operate bars and restaurants, and they guarantee internships for all of their graduates.