Social Workout

Yoga Culture

The Greenwich-Hamptons-Manhattan Yoga Circuit

Gina Norman and Stan Woodman taught yoga in Manhattan for a decade, spent a few years teaching both in-season and off-season in the Hamptons, then transitioned to Greenwich where they founded Kaia Yoga. "When we were transitioning," Stan says, "There were some days when I would teach privates in each place." In part, because some of their clients had houses in the Hamptons, apartments in the city, and houses in Greenwich. So, we wondered, is there some sort of ritzy yoga triangle with ritzy yoga culture we need to know about?

New York

Awkward

Defection Rocks Hamptons Spin Scene

While we're dishing on the beach scene, it's high time we noted the Big Hamptons Spin Scandal. Brief history: Until now, the Hamptons spin battlelines were drawn between SoulCycle, which started in the city, and Ride the Zone (formerly ZoneHampton), which was founded by hyper-energetic local girl, Marion Roaman. R.T.Z. loyalists suggest that the SoulCycle crowd is a bit more Ladies Who Lunch. At $30-plus for a 45 minute drop-in class, safe to say, neither studio is cheap. (For many riders, no doubt, preference was a function of location -- Bridgehampton vs. Southampton and Easthampton.) This comfortable Coke-Pepsi grudge match was disrupted this spring, however, when one of Marion's regular teachers, Romaine Gordon, defected to open a new studio on Main Street in Amagansett -- which she chose to call (B)East. ("Perfect name for it, muttered one Marion devotee.)  According to rumor, the problem wasn't the new studio itself, but the fact that Romaine opened it without telling Marion, and with the latest and greatest RealRyder pivoting bikes -- heretofore a Ride the Zone exclusive in the Hamptons. ("Bad karma," says our source.) Traitorous or not, the (B)East studio seems to have hit the ground running, with a full schedule of classes (a relative bargain at $25 per). Among the two dozen or so teachers listed on the (B)East site are many popular teachers from the Equinox stable, includnig Lacey Stone, Nadia Zaki and Will Ashley. Buyer beware, however: A closer look at the class schedule reveals that the big names show up rarely, while the bulk of the teaching load is carried by non-celebs and Romaine herself.

Long Island Expressway

In Amagansett with Gwyneth and Tracy

First Friday in August, and the moon is full. New York preparing to empty to the beaches. For those going to the Hamptons, we have exclusive intel on the Tracy-Gwyneth axis. According to reliable sources, Tracy is camping out chez Gwyneth in Amagansett and offering privates to the Seinfelds, Robert Downey Jr., and Eddie Falco, among others. (Madonna can't be that far away.) No fear of annoying gawkers, of course, as G. has purchased all of the homes surrounding her "cottage." Word is a Tracy private is "intense" and involves "lot's of bands," but is less body transforming than it is about providing a bit of "extra polish."