Down Under named in “greatest yoga destinations around the world”

ABRAMS BOOKS | January 17, 2022

Down Under makes the list of "greatest yoga destinations around the world" in 50 Places to Practice Yoga before you Die (Abrams Books)  2022

Boston, the spiritual capital of New England is a city with symbolic significance for the development of the American consciousness. It saw the foments of the American Revolution and holds relics of some of the earliest forms of American culture. Although the age of colonial revolution was centuries ago, Boston remains a hub of some of the most dynamic educational, cultural, medical and scientific activities in the United States. In sum, what happens in Boston tends to influence the rest of the country in powerful ways. This includes yoga. Down Under is a collection of America's most renowned teachers who came together to form a yoga home, a place of teaching and learning. "You can find yoga almost anywhere in this country" reflected Director Justine Wiltshire Cohen. "But Boston is the intellectual yoga capital of America, boasting a cluster of illustrious lineage-based teachers, as well as an equally impressive band of renegade modernists who critically examine tradition. We founded Down Under to bring them together under one roof". 

The Iyengar School, offering precision and alignment, is directed by America's most senior Iyengar teacher, Patricia Walden. The Ashtanga School, with its druid-like yogis emerging out of the dawn mists to practice silently with the rising sun is lead by the burning zeal and intelligence of Sam Glannon and the mothering wisdom of orthopedic surgeon Didi von Deck, two distinguished authorized teachers in a lineage where certification can only come from India and is a rarity in the US. The Flow school marries Natasha Rizopoulos, a national vinyasa treasure, with the dynamic and joyful free-form of Jojo Reger. Boston is also considered the birthplace of Power Yoga - Gregor Singleton and his wife Claire Este McDonald helped pioneer the aerobic style under Baron Baptiste some twenty years ago (Claire also heads up the nearby Boston Ayurveda School). This extraordinary cast of characters and sixty other teachers make up what is one of America's most esteemed faculties. "Each tradition whispers its own secrets. Each teacher works on a different aspect of the practice. The vision behind our school is allowing students access to all those traditions under one roof" reflected Justine.

From its humble beginnings in a church basement to its position of prominence in the yoga scene today, Down Under seeks not just to hold space for most major yoga lineages but to create conversations between lineages, as well as co-working opportunities to solve problems in the yoga community. "We don't blend methodologies - each tradition stands in its integrity - but there is vibrant dialogue and conversation around those methodologies and the role of yoga in this current cultural context," Justine continued. "Those beautiful moments of discourse and collaboration and sometimes respectful disagreement are the reason the school is so exciting. For example, the issues around touch, physical adjustments, and consent inspired us to hold a public forum on power dynamics with leads of all lineages discussing yoga's "dirty little secrets' and sex scandals. We created new studio protocols so students now proactively indicate their willingness to receive assists and can review a photographic manual of acceptable standard adjustments so they can understand exactly what they are consenting to."

Similarly, the studio was responsive to calls for racial justice in America by rolling out a task force to address the lack of black teachers in the yoga industry, doubling its training scholarships for black, indigenous people of color, inviting critique around making the studio more welcoming, and immediately appointing teachers of color to positions of leadership internally. When the COVID-19 virus decimated cities across America and yoga studios folded by the thousands, Down Under remained one of the only independent schools that did not fire or furlough a single teacher or manager. It rode out the crisis with Directors suspending their pay rather than cutting the pay of their managers. Down Under seeks to recast what a yoga school can do - not only in its class and conversation offerings but also in its company structure, including company governance and treatment of its employees. "Another dirty little secret of yoga is that very few teachers in America can make a sustainable income," said Justine. "Making our teachers employees with access to sick days, healthcare, matching retirement, and even managerial salaries was a big step. I have empathy for small business ones just staring out because opening a yoga studio is hard. You try to do the right thing but you don't always have the money. After seventeen years, we are so pleased to be able to bring these yogic concepts of sustainability off the mat and behind the scenes". 

Down Under School of Yoga has three different studio locations across Boston including Newton, Brookline and Cambridge. and soon to be downtown. It keeps its building design simple and clean with walls of windows to let the world inside the room. "If you peek in, it can look very different here depending on the time of day," Justine described. "You might see Iyengar practitioners delighting in the precision and alignment of one pose at a time, using props or rope walls or the six-foot' horse'. Perhaps later, you'll see bodies flowing from pose to pose in lyrical, rhythmic vinyasa sun salutations. Then our power yogis look like Olympian gods, glowing with the sweat of the vigorous, raw, emotional work. Or if it's Slow Flow, you'll witness the depth of practitioners moving so mindfully and deeply that the focus shifts to giving in and listening. In a day, you'll find the world of yoga at your feet, as if the yoga poses themselves are asking you to explore your relationship to intensity and softness."

If you head to Boston to experience Down Under, be sure to check out some of the city's other sites. History buffs will enjoy the Old South Meeting House, the largest building in colonial Boston, where citizens gathered to challenge British rule. Nature -lovers will appreciate the emerald necklace, a 1,100-acre string of grassy parks linked by sidewalks and waterways. "Crystal Lake is one of my favorite" reflected Justine. "It's in Newton and would have you thinking you're in the backcountry rather than just outside an international city. Boston is full of these quiet spaces to duck into. And then of course there are lovely beaches up to Rockport, down near Quincy and on Cape Cod, where the Kennedys camped out. You often see beautiful outdoor beachfront yoga happening there."

Lineage is of tremendous value in that we all stand on the shoulders of giants, but it's equally important to look at how we pass on these traditions, integrating the best of our humanity and society as we do so. This ancient tradition passed from teacher to students for ages also implies a responsibility that our choices and actions shape where yoga is headed. In the age of corporate chains and gym yoga, it can sometimes appear as if dumbed-down, dressed-up fitness classes are now confused for yoga. It's all in the marketing, right? We beg to differ. When Down Under is dubbed 'la resistance' to those big models of shareholder-driven marketing, we bear that moniker with pride."

Justine Wiltshire Cohen was born in Australia and introduced to yoga and the cultures of the East by her journalist parents, who taught English to Tibetan monks in the Dalai Lama's community. After attending law school, Justine worked in international human rights, spending "crazy long hours doing good' while neglecting her own body. She decided to experiment with "cleaning house" and thus began a journey of study with many remarkable teachers of meditation, psychology, and yoga. She, like many of Down Under's other teachers, has studied with leading instructors including Dr. Sandra Parker in Vancouver, John Schumacher in Washington DC, and Patricia Walden in Boston. Following a stint as a yoga teacher at the US Supreme Court, Justine married a Boston boy in 2003 and established Down Under in Newton Highlands the following year.

50 Places to Practice Yoga before you Die (Abrams Books) also includes a chapter on Mysore, India featuring Down Under's Ashtanga Director Dr. Didi von Deck describing the home of her lineage and practice.