On a recent Friday night, while the hip and trendy set flooded the Mission’s streets for a night of bar hopping and late-night burritos, a group of 15, including this reporter, opted for one-legged tree and downward-facing dog poses. That is, midnight yoga at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center.
“Welcome to midnight yoga,” Kate Duyn, the instructor, said in a surprisingly deep timbre. “Keep in mind that it’s late—just be understanding of your body. If you need to take it easy, do that.”
A few minutes before class, Duyn used holiday lights to bathe the room in a relaxing amber glow. Back bends can have the effect of a strong cup of coffee for some people, she explained, warning her students to be careful.
Accompanying Duyn at the front was a live musical duo. Joss Jaffe and Kevin Cole eased their harmonium keyboard and two-string Indian dotar into a meditative wave of traditional Indian music and improvisations. Every Friday class includes live DJs or musicians Duyn chooses.
“I used to book bands,” she said, “so this way I’m still plugged into the nightlife scene but it’s much healthier.”
Duyn started teaching midnight yoga at the New York City location of Laughing Lotus. The owners eventually approached her with plans to open a San Francisco branch.
“They said, ‘Do you want to be the midnight yoga chick in San Francisco?’ I said, ‘Totals,”’ Duyn recalled.
In the warm room, we sat down on our mats, legs crossed in lotus position.
“Close your eyes and settle in,” Duyn said before reciting a poem. The yoga center chooses a theme each month which teachers weave into their classes. This month, the theme is Bhatki yoga, the yoga of love and devotion.
“It’s a great way to end the week,” Alexa Adams, a regular, said. “I made a few friends so sometimes we go have a beer afterwards.”
Dressed in a wraparound sweater and short pants, Duyn looked more like a modern dance teacher than a yoga instructor. Dance is actually what brought her to yoga. While studying dance at Mills College, she started practicing yoga to balance out her body.
“When you dance, you work one side of your body over and over again,” Duyn explained. “Yoga balances all that.”
Before the midnight class, she usually practices yoga poses for three hours.
“That’s a pretty rocking Friday night,” Duyn laughed. “I’m at home doing yoga and then I come here.”
Although the two-hour class usually brings out advanced yoga enthusiasts—let’s face it, you have to be hardcore to come do yoga this late—beginners won’t feel left out because Duyn always gives everyone the chance to sit out a pose or do an easier version of it.
Duyn finished the poem and talked about love, looking at flash cards she had made. “Why not write a poem or a love note or a text to God, you know what I mean?” she suggested to the class.
At a time when I’m usually settled in on the couch watching a movie or out having a drink with friends, Duyn started chanting. Students and musicians joined in. The harmony filled the room as it would a Buddhist temple.
“The live music is an added experience,” Adams said. “It’s more calming.”
“All together one last time,” Duyn said to the class. The chants got louder and one of the musicians walked around the room playing the dotar.
Feet swooshed from side to side on mats and people exhaled loudly to do what Duyn calls the lion’s breath. The temperature rose. I was starting to forget how late it was.
Liv Jenvey teaches yoga in another Mission center. She came for the New Year’s Eve midnight yoga class and decided to come back. “It’s fluid and relaxing and I like her sequences,” she said.
Grabbing my right leg with my left hand, my head came down. Duyn asked us to see if our head could go behind our calf.
She laughed. “It’s almost as ridiculous as sending a text message to God, why not?”
In warrior pose, I twisted my arms to the right, putting my hands together in prayer. I placed my left arm on my right thigh. Duyn walked by and adjusted my pose. “Open up the heart space,” she told me. “That’s right babes.” All the bending and twisting was making me feel very awake.
She asked us to move our mats along the walls. “Now we’re going to go upside down,” Duyn told the class. “If you don’t feel like it, that’s ok. Tap out when you need to.”
Heads down, legs went up in a head stand. Others put their legs up along the wall. Duyn walked over to them, putting a little pressure on their feet to add to the stretch.
She lowered the lights and asked the class to lie down. She walked to each person, applied a dab of chai rose balm on their forehead and stretched out their arms, neck and head.
Lights dimmed again and the music got quiet.
After what seemed like a good length of time for a nap, Duyn started talking quietly to the class. A man let out a loud snore and the class laughed.
“Truth and light and love,” Duyn said. “Let’s om.”
Chants and music mixed again, bringing the relaxing yet energizing class to an end.
“This is something I look forward to all week,” Alexis Craig, a fitness teacher, said after class. “It takes everything that’s been building up during the week and I start fresh on weekends,” she added.
As I walked out, girls in high heels passed me, laughing loudly and reminding me of the time. It was after midnight and I felt the energy morning joggers feel after an early run.
Midnight yoga classes are offered every Fri., 10 pm-midnight. The drop-in fee is $15.
Kate Rocks!!!