You’ve got your Flywheel and Soulcycle for spin, your Corepower and Yogaworks for yoga, your Purebarre and barre3 for barre. All with their online booking and sleek, polished studios designed to get you in the mood for whatever class you’re about to enjoy (hopefully enjoy rather than suffer through!). Boutique fitness is nothing new. Meditation? Also not new. Sleek, modern meditation studios? New. A few are starting to pop up, such as MNDFL and unplug in NYC and LA (both I'm dying to try and would love to hear from anyone who has gone!). And in the same way that I think someone who enjoys the details of the sleek designs in Soulcycle, with the scent of grapefruit in the air and complimentary ponytail holders is more likely to be enticed to take a spin class who wouldn’t necessarily want to, the luxury element appeals to me. Kind of like the principle of buying fancy new yoga pants to encourage yourself to work out, the whole ambiance of a zen-luxe meditation studio makes it way more appealing than sitting on my bedroom floor for my solo morning meditation. So, when I found out about inscape, I was really intrigued. I suspected that if I enjoyed the atmosphere and looked forward to the instant feeling of calm I felt walking into the studio lobby, with its fruit-infused water and comfy seating and fancy wellness staples like Moondust and chocolate bars containing more superfoods than you have in your whole pantry, I could get hooked. I’m a sucker for pampering. (The luxe feel is what you might expect, given that it was created by the founder of INTERMIX! It’s very Alexander Wang does the Jivamukti yoga scene, if you know what I mean [ie, urban luxe + still true to the spirit of the practice])
My dad, a veteran of corporate America, discovered meditation a couple of years ago and has been encouraging me to start meditating ever since. It took me a while to actually do it, (helloooo type A personality!), but now I do, even though it’s usually for less than 10 minutes a day. So, for his birthday, we happened to be in NYC and, wouldn’t you know, inscape is mere blocks away from where we were staying. I took it as a sign that I should take him for his birthday. Ever since I was a little kid, whenever we asked my dad what he wanted for his birthday or Father’s Day, he would say, “Peace and quiet” (which my little brother always heard as “a piece of quiet” and would earnestly tell people that’s what my dad had asked for--hey, that actually sounds more logical and tangible to a kid than “peace and quiet”! You can give pieces of things, peace… not as easy to wrap up in paper and a bow if you know what I mean). My dad and I went for a mantra 33 session in “the dome”, one of 2 meditation spaces at inscape. It reminded me of being at the planetarium as a kid--domed, darkly-lit. I don’t want to give away too much of the experience because I think there’s something to be said for not having expectations going in, but essentially, a guide gathers everyone outside the space and goes over what to expect, including the options you have for seating. You can wear anything you want (I suggest layers, as if you’ve ever had a long savasana at the end of a yoga class, you’ll know that once you stop moving, your body temperature will probably drop, but they also had blankets there for us). And I was happy to obey the no cell phone rule--they have lockers with combination codes you choose so you don’t need to bring your own lock. It was one of the hardest classes I’ve ever taken, up there with a restorative yoga class I tried at exhale years ago. Tell me to do sprints from one end of the room to the other? Done. Tell me to slow down and sit still? Well, as Nelson Mandela would say, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” (Hence why I need to be lured to meditation studios with promises of pampering, infused water, and instagrammable spaces!) The class felt like more than a half hour to me, while my Dad bounced out of there with a big grin on his face saying, “Oh man, that only felt like five minutes!” But, as hard as it was, like going back to a challenging yoga class and being able to setting in deeper to the poses over time, I’m glad I went. Meditating is something I want to become more and more comfortable with, a muscle I need to work on! Like Soulcycle, it’s not cheap. I would love to go back weekly, but A. I don’t live in NY, and B. I’m trying to save money. However, I think that if you even just go for one time it can improve your meditation practice by giving you ideas of mantras or types of meditation to try, and helping you figure out how to sit in the most comfortable way, and zone in, even with others in the room with you. If you’re in NYC, I definitely recommend you try it out! It would be a great addition to a staycation or a way to reset your mind after a tough week. Not in NYC? They have an app you can try as well! Comments are closed.
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