Urban Asanas

Urban Asanas is the best! Jyll is very connected and the energy and generosity she brings to her classes is special. You feel the supportive intention of the space and the community, all while getting a really really good yoga workout.

urban asanas is the best yoga studio ever. no other place i’ve been to is as welcoming or as beautifully put together. jyll is warm and hilarious and her urban unwind class is a lifesaver when you’re stressed out or sore from her harder classes. she gets to know each student and pays really good attention to alignment. erika’s ashtanga classes also have a cult following. go to here!!!

Urban Asanas is the yoga studio I’ve long been searching for but had never found. It’s welcoming, beautiful, comfortable and intimate. The mats and towels are free and so is the filtered water. There are intensive/​athletic (read «empowering») classes and restorative classes, early morning and evening ones, popular ones (buzzing with a shared energy) and smaller more personal ones. There is also my favorite class: Friday night’s «Urban Beats» with a live DJ.
The most important factor though is Jyll’s incredible energy. Jyll did more for me than teach me yoga: she really made yoga a part of my life (I can’t even imagine a future without it anymore). I found a grace and a joy inside me, that I didn’t think was there. No two classes are the same: Jyll is always bringing something new and challenging to the practice, and it’s also about the unique flow of energy in the room. Some things don’t change: each class is paced perfectly so that you have enough time to build up to that apex moment and wind down at the end. Every person in the classroom gets the attention they need and at the end there is a real feeling of having achieved something together, of having experienced something rare and valuable.
The power classes: You don’t need hot yoga to feel the heat! These won’t just make you sweat, they will make you feel strong and supple in your mind and in your body. After these classes I feel empowered to take on any challenge and flexible and adaptable enough to deal with any change in circumstance.
The restorative classes: Find your own untapped reserves of calm and focus: the restorative classes will loosen knots deep inside and help you become your happier self. I’ve found that a regular practice of restorative yoga has improved my mental agility and ability to cope with stressful situations.
If you are searching for a place to continue your yoga practice, or take it in new and challenging directions, or if you want someone to guide you through the process of making a permanent positive change in your life, come to Urban Asanas, pick between power or restorative, and enjoy 60 or 90 minutes of pure joy, energy, connection, love and surrender.

Hands down the best studio I’ve ever been to. I’ve taken almost every class and haven’t had a teacher I didn’t like. Really warm environment to walk into.

Jyll is amazing! I have been to her power yoga and restorative yoga classes and both were fantastic. Jyll takes the time to focus on your alignment and make sure that you are doing the poses properly. She is highly entertaining and full of energy which is contagious and seem to truly care about her students. Her classes feel like a community.
Like the owner, the studio itself is clean has a tons of character and a funky vibe. The use of mats and towels is free! Highly recommend.

Okay I must give an update based on current events. Calling cyclists, runners, spinners and skaters!!!
After you do one or all of the above run don’t walk to restorative yoga! Those tight muscles will love you for it. Keep that balance and your activities will benefit from yoga at Urban Asana! I rode twenty five miles today and was kick ass tight! After the 10am class I felt oh so good. Jyll went in and it was great! Much love!

I used to go all over New York City to attend yoga classes. When I found this gem of a place on Nostrand Avenue (a 10 min walk from my house) I was cautiously happy. When I visited and attended a few classes, I was ecstatic. The studio is a lovely space with friendly and supportive teachers. I love the music and the vibe of this space. I often leave classes feeling energized, stronger and part of warm and diverse community. If you live in the area, give it a try. If you don’t, make the trip in and give it a try. It might make you want to move into the area!

I didn’t know how great I could feel after a yoga class until my friend brought me to Urban Asanas. I always laugh. I always sweat. I always hold the pose a little bit longer than I think I can. Jyll makes you feel right at home the second you step into the studio. She’s honestly everything I’ve been looking for in a teacher; direct, encouraging, hilarious, and warm. Urban Asanas has become a home for me. If you’re looking for good vibes and great yoga this is the place for you. There is nowhere else quite like it.

I was a student of Jyll’s when she was at Shambhala Yoga. She was my first regular yoga teacher and helped me break down my internal barriers to being a plus size person pursuing a yoga practice. She was so encouraging, pushing me to my own limits, and reminding the class all the time that yoga is not a team sport – it’s an individual endeavor. She taught me so many modifications to help me reach my own personal limit, even when the pose the class was doing was a little too challenging for my level of flexibility and/​or body size. She’s great at accommodating injuries for folks recovering.
Jyll has an amazing personality – she’s lively and engaged, an expert about yoga and also extremely demanding of her students in a gentle way. Kind of like a strict mom you want to please. She will be real with you. She will make sure you’re at your limit but not push you too hard. She is spiritual in a really deep and meaningful way and I never felt put-​off by it before I myself got spiritual and now that I am spiritual I really appreciate it on a deeper level.
I like when she reminds us to allow her to do the thinking for us for 90 minutes, it’s an amazing way to check out of the busy Brooklyn lifestyle.
Going to yoga and studying with Jyll for three years helped me break my barriers to going to the gym, and I decided to join the Bed Stuy YMCA. I ran out of cash in my exercise budget and stopped going to see Jyll, which kind of sucked and I missed her. In those non-​Jyll years she opened her own studio in Crown Heights (Urban Asanas), really close to where I live.
A friend brought me back to Urban Asanas and to Jyll. I am so impressed with the studio! It’s such a warm space, with lots of burnt orange and yellows and reds (sunset colors), a sweeping altar space in the front of the room, free mat rentals, blocks and straps. As long as I just show up in my yoga clothes, the rest is covered by Urban Asanas. I’m so glad to be back in a yoga practice and so happy to have the dose of Jyll every week. It’s definitely more than an exercise experience, it helps me be a more relaxed, open and aware human.
I haven’t tried the other instructors at the studio but Jyll is the owner and she doesn’t put up with any BS so I trust her instincts for who she has working for her. If you are curious about yoga as a non-​practitioner, go to the studio! If you’re looking for a great, racially and culturally diverse studio with folks in lots of body types and lots of backgrounds, go to the studio! If you’re looking for a good Crown Heights location to get your $ 15 yoga on, go to the studio!

Every time I make a list of pros and cons for staying/​leaving NYC (an exercise I do at least twice a year. I highly recommend it:) Urban Asanas is always one of the first things that shows up in the pro-​stay list.
As an African American woman who is pretty chill about most things, a lot of the studios I’d visited in NYC never really felt comfortable for me. I rarely saw other people in the class who looked like me — both in terms of skin color and body type — or people who shared my attitude about yoga — that it should be challenging but without judgement.
At Urban Asanas, the classes have a good mix of people of different races and body types and people at all levels of practice are challenged and supported. The space and the community that Jyll (the owner and one of the instructors) has created at Urban Asanas is all of these things because Jyll herself is all of these things. This studio has become one of the the things that makes Brooklyn feel like home to me.

Jyll. Is. Awesome. It’s athletic yoga, no joke. You sweat, you hold, you try to survive this bootcamp, and you totally dig it when 90 minutes are over. Never felt better after a yoga class.

I’ve attended three classes so far and this is my kind of place! I like it for the following reasons:
–Free mats and towels to use during the class (great for those who aren’t ready to commit to purchasing yoga accessories)
–Not crowded by boutique yoga goers so you don’t feel like you have to perform each pose or show off your sexy yoga pants.
–The community classes ACCEPT ONLY DONATIONS, which I think is great considering the dwindling sense of community Crown Heights’ gentrification has caused. In fact, I have coffee plans with one of my classmates (mommy, I made a friend today!). Not gonna lie, the coffee plan is what made me write this Unilocal review: P
–The instructors take their time with each person. You’re not lagging behind in poses and rushing to play catch up. They’re also really chill and personable, which sadly isn’t a given with yoga instructors.
Just try it once, it’s by far the best bang for your buck in Brooklyn and you leave feeling closer to the ultimate you!

I have just moved to NYC, and I have found my yoga studio! Urban Asanas is a small yoga studio in Crown Heights that is community focused. Classes are small, and range from soothing and restorative to intense, loud, and sweat-​filled. They offer a range of styles, and have community classes that are donation based. You can go to these to get a feel for the studio, especially if you are shopping around. They also have DJs on Friday nights, which shakes up the normal view of a yoga class! Very cool and it seems the studio has a very strong group of supporters. Take a look at the «reviews not currently recommended» at the bottom of this page to get a better insight — the current review doesn’t do this place justice!

Just took Soul Sunday from Jyll. Restorative yoga set to soul music – it was a delight. Jyll is simultaneously tough and uplifting. You can sense that she sees the best in every student.
This class is different from the restorative classes I’m used to. Come ready to work. But you’ll feel amazing afterward.

I can’t say more good things about this place. It’s by far my favorite of all the yoga studios I’ve been to… it’s challenging enough to be a real work out but so fun I never have to bully myself into going. Jyll treats us all like family, ever since my first class. Much love.

I love Urban Asanas. When I’m out of town and should just grab a class at a YMCA or run through some poses on my own, I never really do because it always pales next to a class with Jyll.
I’ve been taking classes with Jyll (at UA and other studios) for about 9 years, and it has changed my life. On Mondays there is a restorative class that is all about deep twists and working out of you whatever problematic goop has settled down into your muscles over the course of a week. Other times of the week she teaches some hardcore classes that will, well, kick your ass. She’ll work you and you’ll sweat hard but after one or two of them you’ll feel like a new person. If you’re not up to whatever degree she’s taking the class in a given move, you can tell her and she’ll suggest adjustments that will help you pull off a trimmed-​down version. Jyll takes the time to know you as a person, cares about your well being over the long haul, and seems to keep taking classes and trainings herself because new poses and progressions have continually shown up over the years. At least that’s my experience. She’s spiritually and mentally engaged with yoga as well. Urban A is just a good, loving place to be involved in and regular practice there is a tremendous help to my life. UA is one of my favorite things in NYC.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like joining the military in basic training?
Grow up in a Laissez-​Faire household and subconsciously desire a woman screaming at you for an hour and a half?
Enjoy listening to the same old yoga music (read: bjork, portishead) at a volume just less than audible on what sounded like the instructors cell phone speaker?
Would you like to be charged $ 15 for your first class when you’re shopping for a home studio in your neighborhood and explain this while filling out your waiver?
Do you want to do wall-​sits and hold poses so long that you lose all circulation and begin to shake uncontrollably?
If these sound like you — sign up for the urban grind.
Gets two instead of one star because she brought me a towel and the class did get me sweating.