So excited I got to squeeze in a yogi sesh at Yoga to the People. I missed last week and was in serious need of some stretch therapy. Located on fabulous St. Mark’s Place in the East Village, operating strictly on a donation base ($2 if you need to rent a mat), Yoga to the People is a not for profit organization that has opened studios and their doors to EVERYONE throughout the Buroughs of Manhattan. You get a sweat filled work out and give yourself the opportunity to momentarily de-stress from the every day chaos we as NY’ers face on a daily basis.
I’m no exercise freak or yoga aficionado, but I do value the importance of eating well and working up a good sweat from time to time. After my first class at YTTP I was sold after I had witnessed some of the most killer bodies I’ve ever seen. I truly suggest this high intensity-but not over exerting- form of exercise. Plus it is a fun activity to do with your girlfriends- friends who meditate together stay together ;). Also if worst comes to worst and you don’t enjoy it (unlikely), Mamouns’s falafel shop ($3 falafel) is located a few doors down.
Since 1971 Mamoun’s has been known as the best falafel in NYC, as well as one of the first Middle Eastern establishments to ever open in the U.S. If that doesn’t sell you then the fact that it has been recognized on The Food Network, Travel Guide Channel and listed in the book “1,000 Places To See Before You Die” should.
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During final meditation, at the end of every class, the instructors’ read a quote or poem- here is one of my favorites that I want to share with all of you:
I am the decisive element
“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily
mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”
-Goethe
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