Pure Yoga NYC

I love to try new classes when I travel.

It's a departure from my usual, regimented ashtanga practice and always reinvigorates my practice.

While in NYC, I enjoyed several classes at Pure Yoga.

The service at this swanky studio is unmatched. Pure offers a one week pass for $70 - a bargain in my opinion, especially if you practice all seven days of the week, making each class $10.

I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon Scott Harig's classes right at the start of my week. I noticed a led Ashtanga class on Friday morning and wanted to take advantage of this, since traditionally on Fridays in Mysore, India - everyone does led primary series.

The class was full of friendly, chatty yogis ready to rock the primary series.

Scott came in, with no pretentious airs, just a calm, open hearted, friendly energy.

He led the class gently through the challenging series, adjusting and assisting students without missing a beat.

I was completely blown away by Scott's intuitive adjustments, warmth and knowledge of ways for his students to achieve their ultimate expression of each pose, while simultaneously respecting the boundries of everyone's bodies.

I immediately trusted Scott and rightly so. He took me farther and taught me more in one single class than I have learned in a quite a while. I am so grateful for the experience of his class.

After class, one of his lovely students urged me to go to Scott's vinyasa classes!

Thank you Jane ... what an EPIC vinyasa series Scott teaches!!

I took two of Scott's vinyasa classes and they did not disappoint. This was by far the most challenging 90 minutes I have ever yoga-ed!!

Set to an eclectic mix of tunes, Scott's gift for teaching flowing, creative sequences was in full effect. Once again, he demonstrated his ability to instruct students individually while inspiring the class to stay strong through each pose.

To learn more about Scott Harig click here: http://intouchyoga.com

I also ventured to their 8am Hot Ki-Yoga class on a freezing cold Saturday morning.

Yes ... this was Ki-Yoga with the addition of heat. Pure has a heated studio that they conduct many styles of yoga class in. The led Ashtanga class was also taught in the heated room. Needless to say ... the sweat poured.

Created and taught by Isauro Fernandez, Ki-Yoga fuses martial arts and vinyasa yoga. Ki is defined as "life force" and the word yoga means "union." According to the Ki-Yoga website (http://ki-yoga.com/,) the combination of the two helps to " tap into the unlimited source of energy that is available to all of us."


Pure furnishes special mats in the hot yoga studio, to prevent the inevitable slip and slide. I truly appreciated this as a traveler and someone who is basically fused to my Manduka by the soles of my feet. But, as experienced practitioners know, even the Rolls Royce of yoga mats doesn't cut it with the addition of an external heat source.

The class was packed with New York Yogis ready to sweat and engage their Ki.

Thunderous, powerful music filled the studio as Isauro led the class through a flowing series of postures injected with hints of martial arts breathing techniques, hand positions and forms.

The 75 minute class was a fun challenge and ended in the darkened studio with a deep shavasana.

Learn more about Ki-Yoga here: www.ki-yoga.com

Check out Pure Yoga in NYC and Asia: www.pureyoga.com

(image from: ki-yoga.com)