Lynbrook Gyms and Fitness

At South Bronx Yoga, founder Amy Moran nurtures a noncompetitive community where budding stretchers find the support they need to begin, and seasoned practitioners can continue to grow and develop their practice. Amy's yogic curriculum focuses on Vinyasa-style yoga, and students begin each session with three minutes of silent meditation and three minutes of mindful breathing exercises to focus minds and bodies on the athletic task ahead. Instructors lead classes through roughly 55 minutes of dynamically twisting and arching poses, seamlessly alternating between standing, seated, and inverted positions, much like games of musical chairs on the International Space Station. Throughout each class, instructors recommend modified stretches for attendees, allowing them to increase or decrease the difficulty of their practice.

Community spirit and a love for all things creative and spiritual are what motivate Loom Yoga Center's team of mind-body practitioners. In the studio's practice room, where flickering candles fill the space with a calming glow, these instructors center wandering third eyes through hatha and Vinyasa posture sequences, guided meditation, and Pilates mat work, providing plentiful individual attention along the way. Massage and craniosacral therapy are also offered onsite. A recent addition to the studio, salsa-dancing instructor Ashley Kervabon teaches students the basic steps and style techniques of the exuberant dance every Monday, though no partner is required to participate.

In his early teens, Mario Godiva Green was overweight. At school, kids bullied him daily, and he was tired of their incessant mockery. At 16, his mother died, providing the catalyst to the dramatic life change that Mario was about to embark on. Over the next 11 years, his rise to prominence in the fitness circles of New York and Chicago was nothing short of meteoric. From modeling for Calvin Klein to pioneering Kangoo workouts in the United States, Mario has been at the forefront of physical fitness.

Today he jet-sets around the world to promote and teach Kangoo to throngs of eager exercisers and underachieving kangaroos, and his Kangoo classes have become one of the trendiest, most exclusive workouts in the city. A firm believer in having fun while exercising, his hip-hop classes are half performance art, half aerobics class, and he also leads hoppers throughout Manhattan during outdoor boot camps and jogs. The springy shoes reduce the impact on the joints and spine, harnessing the 33 health benefits associated with rebounding without danger to joint cartilage.

In Greek mythology, Anthea was a nickname that poets and playwrights used to describe goddesses of healing; Anthea Yoga & Healing Arts Center aims to live up to that moniker. Within the studio's exposed brick walls, candlelight pirouettes on the windowsills as students practice yoga or meditation on earth-green mats.

Down the hall, massage therapists extract tension to reduce excess cortisol—a hormone associated with stress that causes high blood pressure and other maladies. A certified health coach helps guests right their lifestyles with holistic nutritional counseling. To power-wash souls, the center also holds regular art events and creative expression classes that help students learn to articulate their emotions and break away from relying on Magic 8-Balls to solve arguments.

Vel, a certified Climb & Spin pole-dance instructor, spent time shimmying across Japan, Europe, and Africa in order to expand her repertoire. To put her versatile expertise to good work, Vel founded Brooklyn's Finest Pole Dancing Studio as a women-only dance studio where she could help women to shake themselves free of inhibitions. Newbie, intermediate, and advanced pole-dancing classes give students of skill levels the ability to shimmy away their insecurities and find enjoyment onstage as they study under expert dancers. In addition to dance, the studio’s schedule also includes fitness classes and specialty sessions where students can learn the secrets to burlesque dancing and creating sultry dance routines around props such as chairs or airport-terminal seats. Vel's dedication to empowering women carries over to the studio's Women's Wellness Workshops, which bring industry professionals and eager students together to share and discuss issues of women's health and sexuality.:m]]

Urban Yoga Foundation's founder Ghylian Bell believes "communities will change when the people in them change." Through yoga and her organization's outreach efforts, she hopes to inspire that transformation in her community in Harlem, uniting its residents and motivating them to achieve mind-body wellness and awareness.

Nestled within an 1893 brownstone on historic Strivers Row, students bend and stretch through classes facing a grand mahogany fireplace ablaze with candlelight. Certified in kids' yoga, Bell also leads wee ones and teens in laying the foundation for a lifetime of wellness and nutrition. She also lent her expertise on a documentary about yoga in the public-school system, in which she bends all the rules. More than just a place to hone downward-facing dogs, Ghylian reaches out to her community via organizations such as the Girl Scouts of the USA, the "I Love Africa" AIDS awareness movement, and various afterschool programs.