Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center — Local services in New York

I really didn't want to write this review as I love the intention of a centre like this- however it was the worst experience I've ever had in my 8 years of doing yoga thanks to the Spanish girl at reception with curly light brown hair.

We ran into each other outside, she saw my yoga mat and gave zero acknowledgement. Then I said hi to her and she responded, we went through the motions of filling out forms, etc.

As it was my first time here I was pretty daunted and she did not offer to show me to where I needed to go and simply resumed gossiping in Spanish with a guy who was there.

As a result, I waited for ages feeling confused in the wrong studio (there are many) and when I finally realised I had to rush into the new class late and all flustered.

The teacher for the class was nice enough but could have been a little more supportive rather than lecturing and in the end I decided to leave as it was clearly not happening that day.

I went down to get my things and the receptionist was gossiping on the phone on a personal call, which she later denied - although I highly doubt you can just hang up right away on someone if it's a business call.

She asked me what was wrong and I told her she could have shown me around as I went to the wrong room. She then told me "Everyone manages to get the right room, how could you not get it?" and then "I can't leave the desk, I'm the only one here" (well, I made a point to come early when there was no-one else waiting so you could take 1 MINUTE to show me in a building with 3 levels!)

When I pointed out that she did not even say sorry or admit responsibility for her mistake, she went into the mode of "I'm sorry, but what do you want me to do?" I left in tears and sarcastically thanked her for not even bothering to refund my money, to which she GRUNTED AT ME.

Never coming here again. And I'm pretty sure Sivanandaji would have been mortified that his legacy is being...

Tonight I went back to my yoga spot in-person for the first time since the pandemic! It felt so so great to be in this spiritual space once again. I remember when I first moved to NYC almost 15 years ago, I was living on 30th and 9th. It was still pretty ghetto and definitely up and coming, but they called it “Upper Chelsea.” One day, I headed down south to the “real” Chelsea and was wandering around trying to find a local yoga place. Walking on 24th street, I noticed this blade sign with its logo literally being shone on with bright sunlight and that was how I found Sivananda. I still wonder…Did I find it, or did IT find me? Fast forward, I have since moved to different parts of the city but always ended up back at this place to practice yoga. Whenever I am here, I feel at peace. I am so grateful that this temple exists and hope it will continue to stay for all of us 🙏🙏🙏

(Photo taken in 2019 with the well-loved, live-in, one-eyed Rami who unfortunately passed...

Classes are good. Classical Hatha yoga. However, people working at the reception are horrible. I recently purchased a three month unlimited classes and specifically asked if this covers advanced class as well which the lady at the reception said it does. When I tried to sign up for the advanced class I was told that I have to pay additional $8 and the unlimited classes does not include advanced classes. On top of this she examined my membership for minutes as if I'm some sort of fraud! It is unfortunate that the people running the reception are misinformed about their own pricing and policy which takes away from the wonderful classes they have. I checked the website and it does not mention anything about not including advanced class. Update your website and train your...