Urban Sadhu Yoga Jersey City — Attraction in Jersey City

I just moved to Jersey and was excited to come here. That excitement turned to dread upon my checkin to the Urban Sadhu Express class. Austen made it a point to tell me it was more “athletic and technical” than whatever “generic” yoga I attended in the past. It seemed presumptuous but I thought, it’s an hour, it will be over soon. He seemed pretty determined to break my spirit from the start of class. I admit it was a much faster pace than I was used to practicing yoga but he was forceful about making me do hand stands which I had said before class started I didn’t want to do. The rest of the class were all moves that I was familiar with but after he was pushy about making me do the hand stand, so soon, I fell and injured my knee. After the fall I couldn’t put any weight on the knee but I could continue with the class. In an un-empathetic way he asked if I wanted to opt out and I said no, that I could modify—to which he looked disgusted. He made it a point to single me out, ridicule and patronize me for the entire class. He raised his voice at me several times and when I tried to be playful and cheerful he returned my gestures with a mean stare. He mentioned several times that I didn’t have the strength. I think that may have been partially true at times but my confidence to try hand stands for the first time was really shot. I think I could have done them if I had support but I was afraid to get more hurt. When I opted out of a shoulder stand (which I could do but decided against) he said “fine, I’lll accept that for now. “When class was ending with “peaceful” meditations I felt the opposite of the peace he was preaching. I had never been hurt in a yoga class before, or ridiculed or pushed past where wanted to go. I always understood that yoga was supposed to be a practice you modify to work for you—no matter the pace. Also, at the beginning of class without asking, he put a salve all over our backs. In my experience, people need consent to be touched if you don’t know them or at least approached gently. I felt like all of this set the tone and I should have walked out and listened to my instincts that this was going to be really bad. If this is what Urban Sadhu is like, then I want no part of it. I was tempted to go back to the aerial yoga class which I did enjoy and found much ,much , much harder but the idea of giving my time, energy and money to Austen made me not even want to attend a virtual class. It’s such a shame, I love the area and it’s a beautiful studio that I would have supported and bought a lot of friends to if I had been treated with kindness. Bobby seemed very nice and Aileen was a good instructor, because of them I will give this studio a 2. I've done martial arts and so many forms of exercise and have never let a studio feeling so belittled. I rarely give low scores in my reviews to places but this one went out of it’s...

I have never left a review here before but I feel moved to expressed the unacceptable behavior that Austin exhibited during my class. About 15-20 minutes into class, I blinked my eyes for a second after felt my contacts drying out, which is something I periodically do throughout the day. Austin began to clap loudly at me and yelled "Open your eyes! Open your eyes! Hey, what are you doing?" He continued to yell at me, even though I had opened my eyes. I was particularly shocked because I was literally only blinking to moisten my contacts, but I believe that this reaction would have been unacceptable regardless of the circumstances. He seemed to have been personally offended by this incident, because he began to meticulously police me and single me out the rest of class. He corrected me for any small mistake in my stances with a level of vitriol and irritation that made me feel deeply unwelcome, starting his critiques by saying "What are you doing?" instead of pointing out how I could improve. For the last half of class, I was so afraid that he would yell at me or see that I was crying that I kept my head down, which, ironically, he then yelled at me for.

To be clear, I welcome corrections from teachers in classes - especially yoga since it's a practice that l'm trying to improve in. I played competitive soccer throughout college so I'm fairly immune to feedback that's a bit rough around the edges, but Austin's comments felt much closer to bullying than constructive feedback. His words and behavior towards me made me feel small.

I'm disappointed that someone so clearly lacking in tact and empathy has been given the chance to lead classes. Yoga is just as much a practice of the mind as it is the body, and Austin has some work to do on the former if uses his power as an instructor to single out and condescend to students. (If you’re looking for a rough idea of what I mean, see how other negative reviews are addressed on here — I get the impression that Austin is probably in charge of that.) The last thing that we need from yoga classes is a greasy white dude in culturally appropriated clothing being a bully to beginner students.

Aside from Austin being a total jerk, everything about the class was great — the space is beautiful and the other students were super friendly. Echo is also a great instructor! I wish her well in her journey to becoming a...

I feel very disappointed in this practice. It feels that the vibe and customer service vary day to day, depending on when you go and who you interact with. I have been going for a few months, off an on, and was happy with it, especially based on proximity to my home.

My friend recently moved here and I have been trying to convince her to join with me. They go through the packages and hand the infamous free class coupon.

She meets me after work, but she forgot the coupon at home. DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!!! We take one from the counter and explain we spoke to so-and-so and blah and blah and she immediately shuts us down and says it's policy, you have to go get the one from home. Class starts in 4mins. Fine, whatever.

We spoke to someone after the class and were explaining that we paid for the class, and before we finish our sentence the instructor rolls their eyes and says "no refunds, you need the coupon here at time of class for it to be free, sorry" and starts to walk away when the question was if the fact she paid would influence her New Student status and the rate for the month as a new student. We left and she said she'd call.

We talk few days later and she says she called and spoke to someone and laughs that when she brought up the paying since she forgot the coupon, she was cut off AGAIN about how there were no refunds. She said she just spoke over him until the actual question was out.

He said she was still eligible for the New Student discount but she had to go in THAT DAY or he couldnt help her. She didnt, missed their hours that day, and has since decided to join a practice closer to the PATH. That is wasn't "worth the hassle. If they act like this over $22 imagine if there was a real problem." And she's right.

I get it. I own a business. But there is such a thing as customer service and I would gladly honor a coupon, that I have a stack of, for someone that is about to give me months of income. I am so bummed out about this whole experience and will be joining my friend at the PATH located practice once my package...