“The whole system that we live in drills into us that we’re powerless, that we’re weak, that our society is evil, that it’s fraudulent, and so forth. It’s all a big fat lie. We are powerful, beautiful, extraordinary. There is no reason why we cannot understand who we truly are, where we are going. There [...]

Yesterday was my third or fourth class with Ariel, one of the newer teachers at Greenhouse. He also teaches at Kula and David Barton. Such a sweet guy, but his classes are like boot camp! (Tasty, tasty boot camp.) A 90-minute class will be 85 minutes of standing poses, followed by a bit of relaxation [...]

This weekend I had an old yoga friend in town, which was really great because I got dragged to Vinyasa classes and Burning Man decompressions instead of bars and Broadway. I got to talk about Warrior I for twenty minutes! Because this fall, the real issue is whether your front heel should align with the [...]

Yesterday I took myself for a treat — Dharma Mittra’s two-hour master class, over on 23rd and 3rd. Populated mostly by teachers and serious yoga addicts, there’s nevertheless a friendly, non-competitive vibe. People are rolling from splits into one-handed handstands, or hopping on their forearms, but it never feels like showing off. Dharma’s laughing in [...]

This morning I got up early (9:15) and went to J.Brown’s class at Abhyasa. It’s the new studio on Metropolitan and Leonard. I really liked the essays he posted on the studio’s site; like me, he’s looking for something more than just acrobatics and athletic achievement of poses. (I should say for me, in addition [...]

Last night I jogged to the park and did almost the entire Atmananda Sequence. It takes about an hour to do all 69 poses — it’s a very fast vinyasa class. I forgot Peacock, Firefly, and Boat. I skipped Frog and Sleeping Yogi. (Legs behind the head in the middle of Brooklyn is a little [...]

I actually did a decent sequence this evening in the park. I’ve been doing way more breathing exercises and meditation than “actual poses” lately, so it felt great to stretch. Although it’s always weird to practice in a crowded Brooklyn park, you feel so many eyes on you (even if they’re not). Here’s the part [...]