Yoga to the People

Yoga to the People

Photo: Cititour.com

Neighborhood: East Village
Type of Place: Yoga Health & Wellness

Description:
Like most yoga studios, Yoga to the People (YTTP) is packed. Yet unlike other yoga studios, reaching nirvana is not expensive. YTTP is donation-based yoga studio that seeks to bring yoga to everyone, without the astronomical fees and teacher glorification.



The quality of the classes is stellar, and not just because the studio is pay-what-you-can. Founder Greg Gumucio, who worked for Bikram Choudhury for six years, emphasizes practice over individual teachers. This means that students don’t even know who will teach the class. This credo has seemed to work. It is rare to have a class that has not reached full capacity, and it’s always a mix of those who are new and those who have been doing it for years. Their East Village studio offers one-hour power vinyasa yoga in unheated rooms, and the sequence of the poses varies, although the poses themselves are essentially the same.

There are also other things that make YTTP unique. At the end of each class, teachers recite a quote, and seal the end of the class with the sound from a Tibetan singing bowl. Sunday evening classes are candle-lit. And as you leave the class, your anonymous teacher politely holds a Kleenex box for you to drop your donation – and won’t judge you if you really can’t pay anything that day.

Yoga to the People also has studios that offer hot yoga on 27th and 38th Streets. Visit their website at www.yogatothepeople.com   - Cat Young

Yoga to the People
12 Saint Marks Pl. (2R)
New York, NY 10003
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