Social Workout

A Week at Equinox: Day Two

Who knew that on a cold Saturday morning in noisy Manhattan, you could peacefully lie in a room with twenty other people to the soothing sounds of New Age music and feel total calm? Not me.

Today, my second day of this week long adventure at Equinox on 17th Street, I attended a yoga class with Erin Dudley, a woman with an obvious warm and generous spirit. She greeted us by saying just how grateful she was for making it to class and that it was Saturday. Then, for ninety minutes, she directed us in various poses, and sprinkled words like “purity,” “love,” and “meditation.”

We even chanted something that translated roughly into “Let’s all love one another.” A little corny, maybe, but it got me out of my own head and making a little noise--“throwing a little fit,” as Erin put it--is always a good way to spend a Saturday morning.

A novice in vinyasa yoga, I nevertheless was able to use whatever athleticism I was given and have accessed over the years to keep up with the class, which began very nicely with some easy warm up poses opening up the chest and the core and then working into some difficult strength poses and some deep stretching. It was at the climax of the workout when I began to feel the angst in my life come up. I was deep in the tangle of my mind for a few minutes. But I guess I wasn't the only one.

Erin apparently knew this was happening and coached us through it—which was comforting because I was having a minor meltdown. She told us to cherish the moments of peace in between all the distractions going on within us.

Yoga really is an interesting exercise because its goal is to directly undo what we naturally seem to do. It is supposed to open us up when we want to shut down. It is supposed to allow us to sit with our fear when we want to run from it. It is supposed to make us loose when we instinctively are tight, especially in this city at this time of year in this economy.

Finally, the studio is killer. Open windows looking out over the Highline and the IAC ice cube building allow tons of sunlight to come in. And the people in the class know what they are doing and look good doing it.

So if you’ve got the wherewithal, find a yoga class with Erin and take it. Ninety minutes of a somewhat spiritual and totally physical workout will make you feel at peace, if only for a little while.