26/04/2025
In a time before there were yoga clothes... We mostly wore dance tights, Capezio or Danskin and maybe even leotards or often enough tank tops out of a $2 sale bin from Canal Street. But at Jivamukti in downtown NY we were quite fond of crushed velvet leggings. Usually also on sale, but a good deal more than $2 and at least $12, from the punk boutique Trash and Vaudeville on Saint Marks Place.
This is in my first yoga shala in Los Angeles on Sunset Boulevard near Sunset Junction in Silverlake. These days some people ask me, what was your business plan? The rent was $500 a month! I didn't need a plan. We made rent every month and the rest is history.
In those early days, 1996 and 1997, people walked in and took class and signed up for a month. Maybe after a few weeks, even a year, they might ask, what kind of yoga is this? Ashtanga Yoga, I'd answer, Mysore style.
