Your Guide To Yoga: Where To Get Your Downward Dog On In NYC
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<strong>BEST SMALL & LOCAL</strong>: The vibe at Park Slopeâs <a href="http://bendandbloom.com/">Bend & Bloom</a> is low-key and unpretentious, in a neighborhood that many consider to be anything but. The receptionists are friendly and warm; you can help yourself to a cup of tea and peruse books on mind-body healing while you wait for class to begin. The teacher is likely to approach you and introduce her/himself and inquire as to how long you have been practicing and if you are working with any injuries or limitations (this is the mark of a teacher who takes their job seriously). The classes range from gentle Beginner to more vigorous Intermediate/Advanced, with some prenatal, postnatal, and kidsâ yoga thrown in for good measure. A new student package gets you three classes for $30, and the auto-renew membership is one of the best package deals in town: $99 for a month of unlimited classes.
<strong>BEST BIG & FAMOUS</strong>: <a href="http://nyc.laughinglotus.com/">Laughing Lotus</a> has a reputation for being wackadoo in the best way. The center, which spans a good portion of the third floor of a building in Chelsea, is painted kool-aid colors and spangled with flowers, stars, hearts, and altars. Hindu gods and goddesses are regularly invoked in the midst of a flowing, sweaty practice. The Vinyasa-style classes are often powered by experimental soundtracks that include tunes by Nina Simone, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, and Devendra Banhart. Although a 1.5 hour drop-in class clocks in at $16 (the hour-long classes are $11), this still isnât considered expensive when compared to other Manhattan studios. Lotus also hosts workshops in Ayurvedic healing, back care, and partner yoga, and has monthly community events like the Lotus Speakeasy (a rollicking open mic that draws musicians, poets, and performance artists).
<strong>BEST INEXPENSIVE</strong>: Many studios offer donation-based classes, but some studios are completely donation-based, and thatâs awesome. Sure, it gets a bit crowdedâeveryone who canât afford (or refuses) to throw down $20 on a yoga class at some foo-foo studio instead opts to cram into the <a href="http://brooklynyogaschool.com/">Brooklyn Yoga School's</a> tiny yet beautiful space on 6th Avenue between St. Markâs and Prospect Place. Every time weâve taken a class there, itâs been mat-to-mat and therefore slightly perilous. There is a real sense of gratitude and camaraderie amongst us working folks who donât have the time or the dough to traipse into Manhattan, decked out in Lululemon, to twist and bend alongside the upper echelons of well-manicured yogis and yoginis. BYS also offers daily meditation classes and hosts weekly kirtan gatherings. Founders Lilly Cushman and Jeremy Frindel will offer the School's first 5-day immersion in October 2011, and it looks to be one of the most realistically priced intensives in the city.
<strong>BEST HOLISTIC YOGA CENTER</strong>: Itâs all in the name: <a href="http://www.greenhouseholistic.com/index.html">Greenhouse Holistic Yoga & Massage</a> in Williamsburg has to maintain three locations in order to accommodate its many healing services. Practitioners at Greenhouse offer shiatsu, hot stone, deep tissue, sports, Swedish, pre- and post-natal massage, as well as reflexology. Greenhouse also offers guided meditation, belly dance lessons, Pilates, and nutritional counseling, all of which are branches of the stellar teaching that has given the space itâs glowing reputation. The 200-hour teacher training is thorough and intensive, with a mentorship program, internship opportunities, and retreats included.
<strong>BEST TRADITIONAL YOGA:</strong> We appreciate the instructors and studios that are throwing their own personal, contemporary flair into the noble dissemination of yoga, but we do love revisiting the more structured, so-called traditional methods like classical hatha, Ashtanga, and Iyengar. The legacy of the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is alive and well at <a href="http://www.theshala.com/index.html">The Shala</a>. Founders Barbara Verrochi and Kristen Leigh are part of a small, highly skilled group of American teachers trained by Jois, the father of Ashtanga and one of the most famous students of Krishnamacharya. Although they host Mysore-style sessions (the backbone of the Ashtanga lineage, in which each student practices individually and the teacher makes his/her rounds administering poses and adjustments), they also diverge slightly by offering led classes, basics, prenatal, and abbreviated intermediate/advanced classes. Great news for Brooklynites: The Shala will be opening their second location in Fort Greene in mid-June!
<strong>BEST VARIETY:</strong> <a href="http://www.yogasutranyc.com/">Yoga Sutra</a> in Midtown is a beacon of light in a sea of super-swanky, seemingly sterile Manhattan yoga studios. It offers classes from a wide range of schools: in a given week, you can take a Mysore-style Ashtanga class, learn Iyengar fundamentals, have a lesson in aerial <em>asanas</em>, suffer through some hot yoga, flow through Desikachar-style vinyasa, and recover from it all with a restorative class. Private, individualized sessions are also available. Yoga Sutra offers 200-hour and 500-hour teacher trainings, and their School of Yogic Studies hosts lectures and study groups pertaining to ancient yogic texts like the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and (of course) the Yoga Sutras.
<strong>BEST YOGA OUTSIDE A STUDIO</strong>: The foundation of yoga is mindful, controlled breathing, so we canât decide if outdoor yoga is one of the best things to do or one of the worst things to do in New York City, a metropolis notorious for its severe air pollution. However, there is something to be said for the purifying effects of practicing on the grass, under the sun, surrounded by dozens of other people with similarly positive intentions. <a href="http://www.bryantpark.org/plan-your-visit/yoga.html">Bryant Park</a> has a fantastic ongoing yoga series that began May 3rd and will end on September 29th. Classes are held Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings. Last yearâs Yoga at the Great Lawn (organized by Flavorpill and yoga superstar Elena Brower) was rained out, but hereâs hoping they give it another shot this summer. And speaking of Elena Brower, sheâs known for teaching large-scale classes in unlikely venues like <a href="http://flavorpill.com/newyork/events/2009/2/1/yoga-at-the-moma">MoMA</a> and the<a href="http://flavorpill.com/newyork/events/2011/5/1/poetry-and-yoga"> Rubin Museum of Art</a>, so we encourage you to <a href="http://www.artofattention.com/calendar-2/">stay up-to-speed </a>with her prolific, innovative teachings around the city.