The Fierce Club

Yoga to kick your asana… claims this new studio —

Free class first-time students only. Print the pass on their website. 269 Elizabeth Street on Houston.

www.thefierceclub.com

Straight from their website:

“The Fierce Club is a yoga studio, event space and all-around life transforming destination in the midst of SoHo, New York City. Our main style is Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, created by co-owners Sadie Nardini and Shannon Connell. Our cutting edge yoga, which is designed to give you a 90-minute gym-strength, cardio and muscle-sculpting workout in just 60 minutes, we’re real, and use real life as our classroom.

Named “One of the Top 10 Ways to Change Your Life” and “Calorie-torchers” by New york Magazine, our signature Power Hour classes will give you all the benefits of most other styles’ 90 minute sessions…in only one hour! Great for multi-taskers and busy people who want the full mind/body workout, without spending hours at the studio or gym.

We also offer events by well-known authors, lecturers and teachers from all across the country. Whatever you do at The Fierce Club, it will expand you body, mind and heart…and rock your world.”

What would Chirstian Siriano have to say…?

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Rodney Yee – if you like short shorts

Just heard about this teacher training program through Urban Zen feaeturing Rodney Yee.

The Urban Zen Yoga Teacher Training Program is an in-depth 200-hour yoga teacher training program that can be completed on its own or taken as a suggested pre-requisite for the Urban Zen Integrative Therapist program. This program begins March 13, 2009, in New York City, and will run through September 2009, one weekend a month, with a break in July.

News to me, the Urban Zen was founded by Donna Karan to create awareness in areas of well-being, preserving cultures and empowering children.  Check it out at www.urbanzen.org.

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My beef with Hard Tail Forever

So a while back I bought myself a standard pair of black Hard Tail yoga pants. Nothing special. I got them at a YogaWorks on the UWS and because I already own a few pair I didn’t bother trying them on or anything but my last pair had faded and grown holes thanks to the notoriously crappy coin operated washing machines of Manhattan apartment buildings. Anyway they ended up sitting in my bureau just long enough for me to lose the receipt.  When I finally did throw them on I noticed that one leg was noticeably shorter than the other! I thought maybe it was me – could I possibly be a bit lopsided? No – it’s not me.  When I took them off after my class and folded them over it looked like the manufacturers must have paired an XS leg with a S leg or something cause there was a clear difference.

So you may know where this is going. YogaWorks as a retailer obviously couldn’t take them back without the receipt but I couldn’t continue ignoring the situation – as embarrassing as it looked it was actually just uncomfortable!  I called Hard Tail directly from the # listed on their site and spoke to a woman who said she’d help me – just e-mail her.  I’ve e-mailed twice and called a second time as well and NOTHING. No one’s gotten back to me – not even to acknowledge the defect.

As someone who works in consumer goods I know what good Customer Service is as rare as it may be.  This is terrible customer service and they’ve officially lost my business.

Take heed when buying in the future – – any recos for great yoga pants?

-Eliza

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Yoga to the People

Yoga to the People is a yoga studio with the great ambition to make yoga available to everyone. What does this mean? It means that their yoga is donation based. Yoga to the People understands that there are a lot of people in New York who want to practice yoga regularly and in a public class setting but simply cannot afford to–

In a time where yoga as a business is getting a lot of attention, the fact that it is being priced out of many people’s reach is in direct conflict with what we consider to be the spirit of yoga itself…
…There is a suggested donation of $10 a class. Suggested donation means that if you can put $10 in the box, please do. If you are not in a position to do so, contribute what you can. Nobody will be keeping track of individual donations.

Better yet, the yoga at Yoga to the People is a Power Vinyasa Flow inspired by Bryan Kest and taught by certified, experienced teachers for every level.

Classes are generally 1 hour. As mentioned above it’s a suggested $10 donation but mats rental and water are non negotiable, $2 and $1 respectively.

Located at 12 St. Marks Place (at 3rd Ave. ) 2nd Floor.

-Eliza

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Jaimie Epstein, you speak my language

Jaime Epstein, this week’s writer of the On Language column for the New York Times (who also happens to be a certified instructor at Jivamukti in Manhattan), wrote a very fun and funny article on the language of yoga-Namaste– published in the New York Times Magazine this weekend.

“‘At the beginning of class, we stood at the front of our mats and let out a long, dirgelike moan,” the first-time yoga student recollected. “Then the teacher yelled, ‘Chili-pepper pasta,’ and everyone hit the floor.” Sanskrit, the language of yoga, is said to unite sound and meaning; that is, saying the word gives the experience of its meaning. But for the novice yogi (the word for male as well as female practitioners), whose ears need to be tuned to a new frequency, that experience can be as elusive as an overnight parking spot in Manhattan. Thus, chaturanga dandasana (four-legged staff pose, which looks like the bottom of a pushup, your body hovering inches above the floor) might become “chili-pepper pasta” if you’ve got dinner reservations at the latest outpost of the latest fusion craze. And the ear-twisters don’t end there.”

Very much worth a quick read!

Namaste!

-Eliza

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