78 Fifth Ave
New York, NY
212.243.5995
Union Square in New York City is one of those not-so-touristy mecas where locals go for one stop shopping. It has everything from a Lululemon to a pet store and the city’s only Trader Joe’s (although I hear they’re opening one on the Upper West Side). It’s also home to the biggest Greenmarket in the city that runs all day on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Seeing as there is so much to do in this little area, it only makes sense that yoga studios would want to find a home there as well.
One of these studios is East West Yoga about a block off of Union Square. The whole East West Enterprise consists of a bookstore, café, art gallery, yoga classes and special events. One day as I perused their website I decided to check out their yoga class schedule. They have a smaller schedule consisting of around 30 classes and I noticed they didn’t have any classes that started before noon on the weekdays. Seeing as I suddenly have a penchant for being a night person, noon sounded like the perfect time to take a class. I headed over there on a Wednesday feeling a bit sluggish. According to their schedule there were two classes that started at noon. One was a Vinyasa flow class and the other was a Gentle Hatha class. As I rode the train over, I continuously wavered between the two trying to decide which one I wanted to take.
Their website stated that they were located above the East West bookstore and indicated if you had any problems figuring out how to get to the studio you should stop into the bookstore and ask. Knowing my sometimes difficulties in finding places, I decided to give myself plenty of time to figure everything out. Standing on the corner of 5th Ave and 14th Street, I had a little trouble locating the address as there isn’t a lot of signage, but once I walked across the street, the entrance was obvious and I easily made me way upstairs.
Since I was early, I was the first student there. I walked up to the desk and began chatting with the receptionist as I filled out my paperwork. (FYI, even though they have a coupon in the Yoga Passbook, they don’t actually accept them. Apparently they’ve asked numerous times to be removed from the book, but each year they still magically appear in there.) She indicated that they had had a recent schedule change and that there was only one Wednesday noon class for the summer. Decision made! After she explained where everything was, I made my pre-yoga bathroom stop and then headed into the room. Right outside the room I noticed a sign that discussed the art gallery room rental.
Upon entering the room I immediately understood what the sign was talking about. I was greeted by a colorful exhibit of paintings that chronicled the life of a family, from boy meets girl to copulation, birth and the happy family stage. They were artistically amazing, but I have to admit I was a little taken aback by the birthing image and found it hard to concentrate on anything else for the first couple of minutes. I soon began conversing with another student who was a Kundalini yoga teacher, and she was able to distract me from focusing on the artwork.
We were a small group of 5 students and as our teacher, Eric, began class he addressed the recent change in the schedule by indicating his class would be more of a slow flow practice then the faster Vinyasa flow that was indicated on the schedule. Perfect!
It was a typical flow class consisting of sun salutations, standing poses a couple of backbends and a closing shoulder stand. Eric knew that the 5 of us varied in experience level and made sure to offer multiple pose modifications so we could guide our own practice. For as low as my energy level had been before class, I surprised myself by opting to take several of the more advanced variations. By the time I settled into Savasana I was a happy camper. The class had been just enough movement to make me feel energized without taxing my already tired body.
After class I asked Eric his suggestions on other studios in the city that I should add to my list. He was very kind and offered up plenty of places so my already long list has now grown even longer! One of these days when I’m at the Greenmarket, I’ll have to meander back over and check out the bookstore and café and maybe pick up some metal singing bowls that I’ve been interested in learning how to play.
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