Teaching What “Is”— Interview with Jill Satterfield

Hanging from silks, or sweating in heated rooms, and taking poses to extremes are just a few of the dozens of ways that yoga is being taught today. In North Brooklyn recently, WG ran a story about no less than 17 unique yoga studios that have opened in the last few years, in a two-part series [January and March ’11] called “OMMMM My God, So Many Yoga Studios.” This month, we had the opportunity to interview Vajra Yoga and Buddhist meditation teacher Jill Satterfield, who moved to Williamsburg in March. We spoke about the yoga scene and her thoughts on yoga’s continuing and growing popularity.

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It’s a boom time for yoga studios in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. When I first began researching for Part I of this story, I was aware there was a surge of new places to practice yoga in the neighborhood, but I didn’t realize we were in a veritable cornfield of them. Turns out that behind those barricades we all thought contained high-rise apartment buildings—just yoga studios! Miles and miles of yoga studios. If you haven’t yet sought out a neighborhood practice space for your plow pose, it’s a wonder you haven’t tripped into one, given their prevalence. It’s even possible you are living in a yoga studio and haven’t realized it yet. Take a whiff of the air—is it incense-scented? Is your pup, Sparky, all of a sudden stretching with his back knees bent, and his pelvis tipped in the air? Are people touchy about you wearing shoes inside your own home?

But in all seriousness, what is wonderful is that each location offers a different flavor of practice; a unique pathway to enlightenment and philosophy of mind/body healing. There are studios for those who like chanting, and studios for those who want to skip the “OM” business and dive straight into a workout. There are studios in the east, in the west, and Southside and Northside. And while there are ever more variations of the eastern discipline dotting our enlightened streets, what remains a common theme, is that when we come together to heal ourselves, good feeling and goodwill prevail throughout our community.

Yoga to the People (Affordable Yoga)
211 N. 11th St. 2nd Floor
b/w Driggs Ave. and Roebling St.

Yoga To The People’s name is instantly recognizable. The first YTTP studio cropped up on St. Mark’s place four-and-a-half years ago, and is now one of the premiere spots for donation-based Power Vinyasa in Manhattan, holding heralded classes crammed with post-workday yogis, some-times as many as 60 at a time. The brand new Williamsburg outpost hasn’t garnered quite that much traffic yet, but I would be surprised if the studio’s contingency didn’t grow rapidly in the coming weeks. When I attended class at 4:30pm on a Tuesday, the just-opened traditional hot yoga studio held a class of about sixteen, one of the largest classes I attended in my ongoing yoga marathon. YTTP also had the most equal male to female ratio of any class I attended, and I don’t know about the other ladies in the neighborhood, but I am always motivated to work a little harder when there’s some strapping muscle around.

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Part 1

My Zen is at the peak of productivity. Between morning and afternoon meetings, doctors appointments, a run at the gym, jazzed up on cappuccinos, deadlines looming, I take a minute to focus on my breath, I inhale the city’s car-fumed air … Blackberry still in hand, podcast tunes pumping through my brain, scanning the daily paper … and I exhale.

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By Arnaud Aubry

Ever feel like Dr. No on a TV re-run of a bi-focaled scientist from outer-space? No harm in trying on a new look, but without changing your whole life. The place to let your imagination run wild is Jenny Ma’s nine-month-old store on Bedford Avenue. It’s a stylish place that caters to young professionals between 21 and 45.

“Most of our clients are artists, band players, tattoo artists,” says Ma. More or less, all of them live in the neighborhood. Ma explains the kind of clientele she has by the originality of her boutique. “A lot of ar-tists have a unique taste, and they come to Luxeye because we have a good selection of eyewear.” Luxeye even carries rare and hard to find vintage frames dating back 20 years.

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Motivated by the mounds of food I know I’ll be sinking my teeth into later, and also an episode of the Biggest Loser on television last night (don’t hate on mass media motivation) I set out on a run over the Pulaski Bridge this morning.

Like my roommates—one gone to Chicago and the other New Jersey—I too am traveling to family for Thanksgiving, so I planned ahead to get a workout in, early. I set out at 9am, and found Nassau St, Greenpoint Ave, and the bridge completely deserted. It was unexpected and glorious moment. I give thanks because heading over the Bridge in the morning is usually like trying to push your way to the front stage of a concert, pushing people to the right and to the left, and constantly looking back to make sure no one is pissed off.

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