“This is the only dedicated Baptiste Yoga studio in Manhattan,” says Bethany Lyons of Lyons Den Power Yoga, who started as yoga teacher 11 years ago, but is also known in the city’s fitness world as one of the original SoulCycle instructors, hired before the company even opened.

Baptiste is a “physical, strong” Vinyasa practiced in the heat—but only 90 degrees, compared to the Bikram method’s 105 degrees. “It’s like working out on a hot summer day,” says Lyons. “You’re going to get your sweat on.” Baptiste embraces three goals: meditation, asana (the physical poses), and inquiry. “It’s about taking the mat as a microcosm of the way you roll in the rest of your life—about becoming more aware. If something gets challenging, am I going to push back?” As for the physical part, Lyons says Baptiste is relatively simple: “It’s not about not crazy sequencing—’right foot over the left ear,’ or whatever. We’re more interested in empowering than fancy poses. And it’s very adaptable. We can have an 18 year-old and an 80 year-old in the same class.”

There are five classes on the schedule: Power Basics (ideal for beginners); Power Beats (to music); Power Ease (on Sunday nights); and Power Journey and Power Flow (the latter is less regimented than the former). Classes can handle as many as 38 students, and they’re all open to all levels of expertise.

The flag planted in the map on the wall may soon have company. “We’re looking at this as the first studio,” says Lyons, “the prototype to take all over the island.”

Two more items of note: Neighborhood juicer Luli Tonix‘s bottled juices are available at Lyons Den, and be sure to look down when you approach the front desk—you wouldn’t want to miss Lyons’s dachshund-Chihuahua mix, Josephine, peeking her snout out of the tiny custom-built doorway. We’ll get to know her better in a Shopdogs post once she’s settled in.

Lyons Den Power Yoga is on the third floor of 279 Church (between White and Franklin), 646-490-8888; lyonsdenpoweryoga.com.

Recent New Kid on the Block/First Impressions articles:
• Bisutoro
• Tablao
• The Little Gym
• Postmasters
• Barbalu
• Stillfried Wien
• Church Publick
• American Cut
• Front Art Space
• Terra
• Stitched Tribeca

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