Last night I checked out what is probably the most affordable yoga in the city Yoga to the People. The chain now has 5 locations in New York, I went to the 38th St 6pm Hot Vinyasa 60-minute class.
The classes at Yoga to the People are only $5- that’s the best deal around! Bring your own mat & towel, otherwise there is a small extra charge. The site says get to class early, I got there about 20 minutes early and nabbed one of the last available spots, so if you want to go, really make sure to give yourself enough time. I see why people flock to this place, similar studios charge upwards of $20 for the same thing. If you can, change into your yoga outfit prior to getting to the studio. The changing room is tiny and crowded. It’s hard enough to get on super-tight spandex, but way worse trying to get it on standing up with 1 inch of space between you and the next person.
The yoga room isn’t huge and it definitely gets packed. For a full class there is barely any space between mats so if you are germaphobe, this probably isn’t for you. The room is heated to 100 degrees so while you are sweating your face off, so is the person next to you and yes, it’s gross, but some of their sweat may make it’s way on to your mat.
The class started promptly at 6pm and I enjoyed it. The teacher was informative, friendly and played good music (Dave Mathews-esque tunes for the class). The time passed fairly quickly. There isn’t a clock in the room so you have no idea when class is going to end, so when it did, I was pleasantly surprised.
If you’re taking a hot yoga class in the winter I suggest bringing a change of clothes. You probably will have completely sweat through your outfit and you’ll be freezing if you go outside right after class.
While I enjoyed the class, the rushing to get a spot, changing in the tiny room before and after class among many sweaty people was kind of stressful, the opposite of what yoga should be. I do recommend this class, but know what you’re getting yourself into. The less stuff you can bring, the better because there aren’t lockers, just tiny cubes for your personal belongings. I am always weary of leaving my bag out of sight so luckily there was a little window with a shelf near where I was set up so I brought my bag into the yoga room, but if you can go sans-bag, that would probably be better.
So yes, there are pluses and minuses to this studio, but you really can’t beat the price. For thrifty yogis, this is the spot for you.
