Park Slope Kula

By Emily Weitz

The word for community in Sanskrit is Kula. It describes a group of people with something that binds them together – a “community of hearts”. Here in Park Slope, where brownstones line quiet streets leading to sprawling Prospect Park, we already share a great deal.

Overheard conversations in local diners, complaints about the perpetual problems of the F train, and an affinity for the local institutions that make this neighborhood unique are just a few. But when you zoom in even closer on our kula, you’ll see that it is blossoming into a thriving yoga center, with new studios opening their doors and old studios standing their ground. You can’t walk down 7th Ave without seeing someone with a yoga mat slung over their shoulder. And from this kula within a kula, we find even more ways to connect to each other.

Whether you practice Bikram yoga or Kundalini, and whether you seek out popular teachers or jewels in the rough, you can find your niche here in Park Slope. I was given the fantastic assignment of finding the yoga studios, large and small, that contribute to this neighborhood’s yoga community. The welcoming voices and smiling eyes of the men and women who comprise the Park Slope Kula are simultaneously distinct and harmonious. We are all connected, and when we stretch our limbs over our heads at the end of a yoga class, and we step out into the sunny neighborhood that makes up our home, that connection is just a little more apparent. 

Park Slope Yoga is located in heart of the neighborhood, right next the Food Co-Op. It’s been there for ten years, and has developed into a thriving community. When I asked Claudia, who teaches there six days a week, what she thought made people come back to Park Slope Yoga, she thought for a moment. “I like to think when people come back again and again, it’s because they’ve found a sanctuary, a safe spot, a place where they can find peace of mind. Many people can’t get that at home.”

In a city where square footage is at a premium, it is vital to have a place where you can find solitude, even if it’s in the cozy confines of oneself. Jeff, the manager of Park Slope Yoga, added, “If people walk out of here and they’re a little more peaceful and chilled out, it benefits everyone. It gives them a reflection on other aspects of their life. So when they go across the street to Tea Lounge, they carry that [with them].” 

Claudia and Jeff are from Colorado and Wisconsin, respectively. It’s a far cry from the fast-paced culture of New York. “But that’s what I like about this neighborhood,” Claudia said. “Park Slope is so clearly outside the city. It gives you a small-town feel.”

Park Slope Yoga is located at 792 Union Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. Most of the classes are in the Vinyasa tradition, and there is a vibrant community for Mommy and Me and prenatal classes as well.

I only had to stumble out my front door at 7:25 to get to the 7:30 open class at Jaya Yoga. When I walked into the studio, Carla, the owner, was greeting everyone and chatting about the little things: one guy was just getting over a cold, another woman was talking about her new niece. Upon entering the studio, I knew Carla was at the helm of this operation, and I knew that Jaya was a true community center.  

Jaya Yoga opened in March 2000, and Carla started out as a teacher. But eventually the opportunity to buy the place came about, and she couldn’t say no. “It was such a nice community place. I didn’t want it to get put into the hands of heating machines and speedos,” she said with concern in her voice. “I’ve taught two of my current classes for eight years now. I know my students.” Her voice grew passionate as she explained, “[Buying the place] was a chance to hone my ability, to practice what I preach, to cultivate my teachings in one place… I think of Jaya as a community center with a high level of practice.”

When I went in to practice, people were setting up with their props. I noticed a hand-knit star on the Buddha shrine – “brought by a student to one of our solstice parties,” Carla explained. Carla taught a dynamic Vinyasa class with enough scaffolding that the wide variety of students felt both supported and challenged. When Carla eased us out of our deep relaxation, everyone was beaming. Everybody seemed to know each other, and even though I didn’t know a soul, I felt completely at home. Jaya offers everything that a community center should: book clubs, free meditation classes, solstice parties, showcases of local artists, ice cream parties for kids, and fundraisers.

So I knew from the outset how Jaya Yoga served the community, but I wanted to know how the community served Carla. What did she, this woman who once spent every weekend in Vermont, find here in Park Slope that made her stay?

“Right after I teach here, I feel good,” she said as she leaned against the wall. “It’s like a shot in the arm of B-12. Teaching is a form of practice. To be connected with a group of people is invisibly satisfying. I am the biggest student in the room.”

Jaya Yoga Center is located on the corner of 8th Avenue and Windsor Place. 

As a seasoned yogini, I felt pretty confident dropping in on classes in the first two studios, both of which have strong Vinyasa-style practices. But when the time came to check out Bikram South Slope, I was nervous. Bikram yoga, or Hot Yoga, is practiced in a room that heats up to over 100 degrees. I had never attempted anything like this. At least not on purpose. But Dara, the co-owner of the studio, was reassuring. “You’re going to love it!” she said. 

The studio, located at 555 5th Avenue, just opened in December, though the first location on Flatbush has been there since 2002. The changing rooms are complete with beautiful showers and lockers. And the class, as the heat poured into the room and sweat glistened on my chest and forehead, wasn’t as insane as I thought it would be. It was filled with people of all ages and levels, and Dara’s directions were clear and straightforward.

After class (and after I sopped the sweat from my body with a towel), I sat next to Dara to talk community. As each person filtered out and she smiled and exchanged words with everyone, I knew that Bikram may be a very different style, but the kula is still there. 

When I asked Dara why she thought students came back to her studio again and again (one student was there for her 37th day in a row), she took no credit. “It’s the system,” she said. “Bikram is a powerful yoga with physical, emotional, and mental benefits. That’s what people come for: the system and how it makes them feel.”

After the locomotion of vinyasa and the heat building of Bikram, I was ready for the restorative class that met me down the Slope at Yogasana Center. Yogasana, founded in 2003 by Kristen Davis was created “to bring together a community of extraordinary teachers rooted in the Iyengar tradition.” When I first entered the studio, I found a group of women huddled together, discussing plans for Kristen’s baby shower. Consistent with all the studios I had visited in Park Slope, this was another shining example of a place where members of the community came together in a beautiful, healthy manner to support the changes in one another’s lives. Our restorative class was luscious, and Rachel, our informative leader, never forgot to take the time to make sure each student’s individual needs were catered to.

The Iyengar tradition is known for its impeccable alignment, and the Yogasana space clearly provided for this through the use of props (wall ropes and chairs notable additions to the usual straps, blocks and blankets of a regular vinyasa class). Rachel explained to me, with her authoritative British accent, that she observes the practice of teaching a different class of poses each week in the month. Since I attended the last class of the month, we were delving deep into Restoratives. The following week, she explained, would be a rigorous standing class to start off the month. I wondered how this structure of teaching might impact the group dynamic – and the kula. Rachel said she thinks it has contributed to her “solid core of people”. The same students come on a regular basis so they can get their well-rounded practice. “And maybe,” Rachel added, “you’ll grab a cup of tea together after class.”

Bouncing from studio to studio was really growing on me, and when I headed back up to my own corner of the neighborhood with my yoga mat, I was ready for a big welcoming sign saying “Yoga Here.” But there was no such sign. Park Slope Kundalini is a little jewel on 13th Street, and it has to be sought out. Finally, I found the wide brownstone stoop that led up to the door of Park Slope Kundalini. Gurusarya, dressed in flowing white robes, was waiting inside for me. The room that was once the parlor was bright and white, flooded with light from the crisp Saturday morning sun. 

Kundalini yoga focuses much more effort and attention on breathwork, or pranayama, than most Vinyasa traditions. Gurusarya took me through a series of transformative breathing practices. One, known as the “miracle bend,” was particularly aptly named. After just a few minutes of following her directions, my mind felt more alert and my body more grounded. 

After a short but intense practice, Gurusarya led me through a meditation using her beautiful gong. The gong allows you to deepen more profoundly into yourself through resonant vibrations on the skin and eardrums. It undulates in a wave-like pattern, and I was amazed with how deeply relaxed I became.

After our savasana, Gurusarya offered me some chai tea. “We always share a cup of tea after practice,” she explained. Shared tea, it would seem, is a sure sign of kula.

I looked at my list of questions, designed for local yoga studios. Then I looked at my surroundings, in the washed out room at the feet of this wise woman. I shook my head and looked into Gurusarya’s kind grey eyes. “Where did you come from?” I blurted out. She told me that, in the 70s, there was a Kundalini ashram on Bergen Street in Brooklyn. That’s where she met her husband, and they lived and taught there for years. When the decision was made to relocate the Ashram to Manhattan, she and her husband purchased their brownstone in Park Slope. In the 1990s, they became the Brooklyn ashram.

Of her students, Gurusarya says there are a lot of regulars, but there’s almost always someone new in class as well. “It’s a neighborhood place,” she said. “A lot of our people are family people who have come here for years. It’s nice when they can just walk over. People have begun to seek out Kundalini,” she said. “And after all these years of teaching, I’ve developed intuition. I teach to the class.” I can absolutely vouch for her, because her choice to work on emotional and mental balance with me was right on target.  

Park Slope Kundalini may be without a sign, but it has stood the test of time in the community. It has seen Park Slope morph into what it is today. So what does Gurusarya think of all the yoga centers opening up in the neighborhood? “Having lots of yoga centers in Park Slope, and people that are meditating on their own, it lifts people up with a subtle vibration,” she says. “It lifts up everyone.”

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Illustration by Rachel Carns