Jivamukti Yoga Center

Review on New York Today, January 19, 2001

The name of Jivamukti has traveled far and wide. What started out in 1989 as a small center in the East Village is now the largest yoga center in the U.S., with over 100 classes a week. Many yoga teachers say, "Jivamukti started it all," meaning that without Jivamukti, yoga in the U.S. would still be the obscure practice of a few devotees.

Many yogis have strong feelings about Jivamukti -- they either love it or they don't. Since it is such a big place and has to run itself as a large business, classes may have over 50 students, who must register for class with a "scan card." Also, small number-stickers on practice room floors mark off the place designated for each yoga mat. It's understandable that some students feel Jivamukti treats students more like cattle than human beings on their way to enlightenment.

On the other hand, Jivamukti is popular because it's good. Some, including me, would say it's one of the best. The teachers are required to undertake a training program that is thorough (and expensive), and the classes at Jivamukti are also thorough (and slightly more expensive than at other centers). Every class has chanting, a short sermon on the topic of the month and asanas that are challenging and invigorating. The trick to having a good experience there is to avoid the weekday evening classes, except maybe Friday nights, so that your fellow practitioners aren't breathing or dripping their sweat on you.

Then again, the yogi breathing down your neck just might be Sting, Willem Dafoe or Christy Turlington, all of whom attend classes at this center known for its glam factor. Jivamukti founders and vegetarian preachers David Life and Sharon Gannon, who, in the world of yoga, have the same star power as some of their students, are as colorful as the center's pink, green and purple rooms. The clientele is a young and pumped-up bunch. Jivamukti isn't for everybody; but, then, no yoga center is.

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