If you’re not familiar with Yoga to the People(YTTP), it’s a yoga studio with several New York locations. Most locations offer donation-based classes and if you’re all about getting that chi but not spending that do’, I highly recommend you check them out. Hot on Yoga is part of the YTTP community but they only offer hot yoga classes. As a college student, I’ve taken advantage of YTTP donation based classes for years but I started coming to hot yoga about 4 years and  have been on and off ever since.  I recently went back about a month ago after a long hiatus. It was a day before I competed in a big karate tournament and was afraid I wouldn’t make weight. So my thought was: ‘sweat that shit out’, right before competitor’s check-in (it worked btw). Little did I know, the front desk homie, with his bright hawaiian tee, would try to swindle me into buying 20 classes and… succeed!  Now his whole upsell approach is a tad bit aggressive with a flare of ‘new york sleaze’. I swear this guy reminds me of Tom Nook (Does anyone still play Animal Crossing?). You come in, he smells if you’re new and then is all over you. He’ll mention classes are $14 bucks but first-timers get 20% off their package rates for one day only.  If you want to think about it, he’ll offer to take your money after class and that’s where the swindle happens.  He offered me the ‘first-timers’ deal since I hadn’t been there in a minute. He told me to pay after my class and I got changed. I wasn’t a newb but damn, I felt worst than my first day. I also went on an empty stomach on the heaviest day of my period (which I DO NOT recommend). After my class was over, I left the room in a daze. “WHO AM I”. I waltzed towards the windows and the front desk homie offers me a drink from the fridge, on the house. “WHAT A NICE MANNN”. I sit by the window and tried to remember my name. When I came to be, I got up showered, changed and came back to the front desk. Homie recited his whole 20% spiel and I just nodded. I handed him my card got my receipt and left. 20 minutes later, when my head fog cleared up I was like wtf? Was I just hot yoga- roofied?

I had to dock a star this time because as others mentioned, the owner is a tad bit aggressive and  upsells you the moment you step in. It’s annoying and tensing especially when you just want go in, refuel yo’ chi and gtfo. Psst…but guess what you can you do? Tell him no. Just because someone pressures you to buy something doesn’t mean you have to.  This is New York y’all. The breeding ground of swindlers. Just say no, move on with your life and continue ignoring the crap out of everyone else. Is it annoying? Hell yea but I still think this is honestly one of the best Hot Yoga studios in NYC. So it’s as tolerable as a semi-crowded but operating and air conditioned subway ride. The space is clean, the instructors are great and if you’re in love with the classes, the memberships are a great deal but if you’re not into it or you can’t commit, just hand the dude a 20 and tell him you don’t have a cc to front the money. Simple as that.

Classes are 14 bucks a pop. Mat and towel rentals are 2 bucks each.

With that said, hot yoga is not for everyone. Yo, this studio gets hot as balllllls. Especially during evening classes, where it gets pretty crowded and funky. Your toenails will sweat.  If you’re prone to heat exhaustion or have high blood pressure, get clearance from your doctor or let one of the instructors know and take it super easy on yourself. It’s not a torture chamber. It’s a safe place to challenge your physical, mental and spiritual capacity. Forewarning peeps, I’m about to get real hippie.

Speaking from experience, the classes have really helped me with my anxiety. Because the room makes you physically uncomfortable, it sort of mimics the unpleasant  ‘holy-shit-i-need-to get-outta-here’ kind of feeling when you have anxiety. The poses will stretch you out but it will help your mind focus on being present rather than feeling pure uncomfort. Hot yoga is a 60 minute journey of exploring your body’s love and commitment for you. No matter how scared or anxious you feel in the room, your body will do everything in its power to keep you there. Being able to calm myself during these intense moments in hot yoga has enabled me to calm myself in real- life moments outside of the studio. So yea, it’s hot as f*ck in there and it will make you absolutely uncomfortable and miserable but that’s sort of the point and if you’re not about that life, hit up the sauna.

Hot on Yoga 27th Street- ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
115 W 27th St, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10001
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