Lucky Lotus Yoga

by Whitney Barrat

WHILE ENJOYING A SLOW, PURPOSEFUL WALK up Dekalb Avenue one recent night, a half-smile of contentment on my face and a green rolled mat tucked under my arm like a spare limb, thoughts of YouTube and the magic of in-flight Internet capability swirled through my mind. Perhaps not altogether surprisingly, I had just emerged from a yoga class at Lucky Lotus.

Upon moving to Clermont Avenue a year and a half ago, I immediately located the necessities: a farmer's market, laundromat, and coffee shop. But another basic need was satisfied when I discovered a yoga studio just around the corner. Founder and teacher Ava Gerber attributed her decision to open Lucky Lotus to this same sentiment. "Through yoga I got turned on to Dharma and loved that it wanted to uplift all and help everyone to achieve their highest and happiest potential. I have lived here for many years and there was no yoga center in the neighborhood, so I decided to become a yoga teacher and open," Gerber said.

Open since September 11, 2005, the studio is located on the second floor of 184 Dekalb Avenue. The space is soothingly aromatic and conveys a minimalist yet cozy elegance. Shiny wooden floors stretch between windowed walls, while the welcoming space and lovely exposed brick inspire that New York-ish tendency to mentally arrange your own furniture, were you to‚ you know‚ move in. And after you visit the efficient office (packed with the requisite desk, foam blocks, mats, and blankets), once you find your space and settle, you more fully aspire to move in; to be here, completely, now. Sans furniture, of course.

Yoga dates back 5,000 years to approximately 3300 BCE1. And in 2009 AD, as we are guided to bring our focus to the lights shining at the centers of our hearts, we are undertaking the ancient endeavor of slowing down, focusing on our breath, and turning our usual frenzied thoughts inward. As we worked on headstands in class, Gerber took some time to describe the miracle of finding a Dharma teacher lecturing on YouTube, and marveled at the persistence of discontent, despite such other unmistakable wonders as the ability to use the Internet to connect to earth from an airplane. Thus, in the spirit of oneness(also recently exemplified through Lucky Lotus‚ Facebook and Twitter pages), we were asked to relinquish the progress our upside-down selves were making, and to offer the benefits of our practice to someone we loved. We brought our minds to the lights at our centers, and gladly endeavored to shine brightly from Dekalb Avenue.

It is clear that each of Lucky Lotus's certified and devoted teachers, together with students, contribute much to this well-loved space. As Gerber explained, "We create places of well-being and self-improvement, from which Tibetan values of compassion, patience and generosity can strengthen and spread. If everyone who comes to yoga gets inspired, the world is greatly impacted. I know that the people who come here are happier. I see them smiling, and that so rocks."

--Whitney Barrat lives on Clermont Avenue across from Parham Playground in Fort Greene, and is an ardent fan of both the neighborhood and her neighbors. She is a lifelong student of yoga, and a three-year student of Shaolin Kung Fu.

Footnotes: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_yoga