Are you Open?

The Open Center

83 Spring Street

New York, NY 10012

212.219.9635

www.opencenter.org

Every time I see my landlady she tells me I have to check out the Open Center. I looked at their website and was impressed by the array of classes they hold, not just yoga classes, but meditation, writing, nutrition, etc. They have a lengthy list of visiting teachers that include such greats as Alan Finger of ISHTA yoga and Julia Cameron, writer of “The Artist Way”. Seeing all of these great names and teachers, I was a little intimidated to check it out and I’ll admit, I put it off for a few weeks. But, the other day, I was feeling a little less afraid and a little more open to the experience so I jumped at the chance before my fears held me back again.

Their only drop-in yoga class is on Wednesdays at 12:30, so around noon, I meandered my way over. I walked in and saw a plethora of fliers advertising upcoming classes. There is also a quaint bookstore to your right and as you walk down the hall the ground floor opens up to an area housing several reception desks. I spoke to a friendly woman at the first desk who directed me over to another desk where I could sign in. I quickly realized they didn’t take credit cards (I believe that only pertains to the drop-in yoga class) and had to run out to the nearby bank to get some cash.

Take two. With cash in hand, I re-entered the center and quickly filled out my new student registration cards, meanwhile discussing with the staff the many languages you can set your Facebook page to. (I enjoyed Pirate for a while, but it soon got too confusing to figure out).

I decided to take the stairs to the third floor instead of the elevator. I made my way up a grand wooden staircase and stopped on the third floor landing. I was a little confused as the stairs to the fourth floor were roped off, so I knew I couldn’t go any further, but I was afraid to enter as the only door to the third floor looked like it led into an office. Finally I knocked and a woman inside pointed to a second door inside the office that led to the yoga room.

Once inside, the teacher, Maureen, soon came up to me and introduced herself and pulled down a few props for me as I set up my yoga mat. The room was long and narrow and Maureen set herself up in the middle along one of the longer walls. The setup made it more intimate as we were only two rows deep, facing her from the front and both sides.

We started out slowly, doing some breathing and seated arm stretches as Maureen discussed the concept of yoga and its benefits to digestion. The class participants varied in age and physical abilities so it was very much an all levels class, and leaned towards a more gentle, slow moving practice. After our stretches we began a standing warm up including flowing half salutations. We transitioned into several standing poses with long, rejuvenating holds. It was a very laid back class and the students who needed to come out of the longer holds early, felt completely comfortable doing so.

After doing some backbends, our class wound down with a Shoulder Stand (the first one I’ve done in a group class since coming to NYC) and some reclined twists. We finished with a nice long Savasana.

As we were wrapping up, I approached Maureen and began to talk to her about the Open Center and their programs. She mentioned that they are planning a move to 30^th and Madison. They’ve been working on it for a while so if you’re scheduled to attend a class or program, make sure to call and check in to verify which location they’re at. I am a little sad to see them go as they’re currently in a great neighborhood and building, however in keeping with the name, I want to keep myself Open to the opportunities their new, larger location will afford them!

Bridge Your Practice

Golden Bridge Yoga

253 Centre Street

New York, NY 10013

www.goldenbridgeyoganyc.com

212.343.8191

Normally I am happy and content with my Hatha yoga practice, but every once in awhile I just feel like I need something different, something to shake things up. I was having one of those days the other day so I decided to go check out Golden Bridge yoga studio and take a Kundalini class (thanks to my Yoga Passbook, free of charge). I have been to classes at the Los Angeles location several times and their space is amazing, so I was excited to experience the studio here.

I had been having one of those busy, where-did-the-time-go kind of days, so by Hari’s class at 6pm, I was ready for some chanting and relaxation. Hari is the head Kundalini teacher here in NYC. The founder of Golden Bridge, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, holds down the fort in LA, but she comes to New York fairly often.

The studio is in a converted three story townhouse, which according to their website, used to be a church. The first floor is home to a retail area featuring Satya Jewelry. There are also several changing rooms and a quaint seating area with freshly brewed tea. To get to the studio space you walk up a staircase along the side of the townhouse. My class was up the first flight and I assume the second studio was above us up the second flight.

The room faces out towards Centre Street and contains a beautiful fireplace, possibly leftover from its time as a residence. Behind the curtains at the back of the room is a hidden nook containing a small kitchen used for cooking workshops.

The class, as they always seem to be in this city no matter what time they’re held, was full. We started out with the standard Kundalini chant and some warm up exercises, such as breath of fire and seated spinal rolls and twists. For anyone who has never experienced Kundalini, it is very different from Hatha in that Hatha tends to work at your body physically from the outside in, whereas Kundalini tackles you energetically from the inside out. What I mean by that is that Kundalini yoga is practiced in sets that focus on a specific goal. The exercises in the sets link breath and movement performed at a rapid pace to either help you release/burn out unnecessary energies or build up necessary ones. (As a much needed disclaimer, this description is based on my very limited experience with the Kundalini yoga practice.)

I don’t know about you, but for me, it always seems that out of the numerous class options I have in a day, I often seem to end up at the one class that does exactly what I need. This day was no exception. Once we did our warm up exercises, Hari explained that we were going to do a set created to help us release fears. So, I prepared to acknowledge my fears and hopefully let them go. One of the first things she had us do was lie down on our backs and pretend to snore. I actually found this extremely difficult and of course a little bit funny, but who can’t use a bit of a laugh before facing their fears?

We moved through several different exercises, many which included chanting of various mantras. One of the reasons I was particularly excited about this class was because it included some meditation at the end. Lately, I have felt like I could really benefit from a regular meditation practice, but have been struggling to do it on my own. Hari had us sit in Sukasana, easy pose, with our elbows into our sides, forearms floating over our legs and our fingertips touching. She commented that it was actually a very comfortable way to sit. I noticed that my arms did feel surprisingly at ease, but I still had my doubts about maintaining the pose for any length of time. We proceeded to do a breath meditation with her chanting as we held the pause at the end of the exhale. According to her calculations, by the end of the meditation we were only taking 3 breaths a minute. Wow!

As always in Kundalini, we finished class singing, “May the Longtime Sun” and she played my favorite variation by Snatam Kaur.

After I left, I realized that I didn’t get a chance to check out the jewelry. Since I have another free class left on my pass (although if I didn’t, the second class is free for new students) I plan to check it out, along with one of their Hatha classes on my next visit. Maybe I’ll even get to sample some homemade cheesecake from Eileen’s Cheesecake. A few doors down from Golden Bridge, the store never seems to be open when I’m around, but the desserts look delicious!!

It's All in the Name

Laughing Lotus

59 W. 19^th St. 3^rd Floor

New York, NY 10011

www.laughinglotus.com

212.414.2903

As much as I love the thought of checking out a multitude of different studios, it didn’t take me long to realize that this was quickly becoming a pretty expensive venture. When I was playing around online one day, I saw a reference to something called the Yoga Passbook that supposedly was a coupon book filled with free classes to hundreds of studios in the New York City area. I was intrigued. Could such a treasure really exist? And if so, was it legitimate? Lo and behold, I quickly found it through the American Health and Fitness website and after Googling some reviews I found that it was indeed legitimate! They even have fitness passbooks for Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.

 

Once it arrived, I flipped through and was excited to see a pass for Laughing Lotus studio. I had wanted to check this place out ever since I found out I was moving to NYC. Something about the name and fun sounding classes like Flower Hour and Lounging Lotus just called to me. I decided to go to a Happy Hour class (because who doesn’t love happy hour?) with Betsy.

 

I usually like to walk to class and check out the area, but since it was a rainy day I took the train to Sixth Ave and it was a short walk from there (also just as convenient from Union Square). I entered the building and waited for the elevator with several other yogis. Unfortunately, the elevator decided to skip the 3^rd floor and take us to the next floor where another passenger was getting off. He commented that the elevator was a bit finicky and he was just hoping it didn’t get stuck as it had happened to him before. When the elevator doors opened on the 4^th floor we all quickly disembarked and decided it was a safer bet to walk back down a flight instead of chance it with the possessed elevator. As I walked towards the studio, I made a mental note to always take the stairs from now on. 

 

The smell of incense guided me towards the studio and when I opened the door I was hit with a blast of hot air. I’m starting to understand why hot yoga is so popular in NYC. All the studios seem to run on the warm side anyways, so it’s just going with the natural tendency of the studio. As far as I knew Laughing Lotus was a vinyasa flow based studio, not necessarily hot yoga, but I immediately knew I was guaranteed to break a good sweat.

 

As we entered the “Love” studio, I admired the brightly painted walls and an amazing glass chandelier that looked like a lotus flower growing out of the ceiling. I found my preferred spot along a sidewall and sat down to enjoy the music that was pumping out of the sound system.

 

According to Betsy the theme for the month was meditation so we took some time to talk about being victorious over the mind and all of its mental chatter. We then set about focusing on the breath and tuned in with three OM’s (I have yet to go to a class in NYC that doesn’t open and close with OM’s).

 

The hour seemed to fly by as we flowed our way through sun salutations, plenty of warriors, lunges and twists and even a child’s pose here and there. She also threw in some playful poses like Bird of Paradise and Crow (Bakasana). Before I knew it, the music was slowing down and we were settling into Savasansa.

 

After I gathered my stuff and checked out the books, clothes and other goodies for sale in the lobby, I walked down the stairs, waved good-bye to Betsy and a fellow student I’d been chatting with and walked into the rain appreciating the cooling effect and the fact that it would hide how sweaty I’d gotten in class.