PRESS
(For Alison's own writings and blogs, visit the blog page)
“Forget everything you’ve ever seen or experienced at any other studio.
Yoga Union stands above all the rest and is the most incredible studio in NYC.”
Read more about YOGA UNION on Yelp.
YOGA UNION IN THE NEWS
Alison was recently featured in Yoga Journal's Yogapedia, Philosophy, & LiveBeYoga columns and was invited by Yoga Journal to create a six-part Yoga for Back Health online series launching June 25.
Alison was featured in YOGA The Secret Of Life. Click here to view.
"Alternative therapies are better for chronic pain than medication or surgery." - NBC (Click here for video), 2017
Vinyasa Week 2012, July 16-20, in Well+Good. “Alison West is bringing “Vinyasa Week” back to Yoga Union, with another impressive roster of star teachers: Learn from Elena Brower, Cyndi Lee, David Regelin, Dana Flynn, and Marco Rojas, among others.”
Again, Well+Good singles Yoga Union out! “Alison West’s beautiful new studio has two enormous practice rooms, and a third for teacher training, with glittery gold accents throughout the space. West is a teacher’s teacher and is incredibly well-regarded for her anatomical-alignment based method showcased at her Center for Backcare and Scoliosis.Yoga Union, which has the city’s largest number of rope wall stations, brings her method to the everyday yoga practitioner.
Metro Navi article on Rope Yoga (Japanese)
BACKCARE & SCOLIOSIS
"How She Got Rid of Her Hunchback" by Christian Gollayan, New York Post, August 8, 2016. Rachel Jesien's work with Anna Pesce, an 85 year old woman who suffered from severe debilitating scoliosis. Private specialized yoga sessions helped her heal her back & stand up tall, all greatly improving her quality of life.
“Sayonara Back Pain,” by Joyce Englander, Breathe Repeat, August 25, 2012. Reports on effectiveness of Yoga for back pain in conjunction with a new article in Spine Journal, and interviews Alison West on the subject.
"How to Improve Posture", Alison in Marie Claire, February 15,2009, on a tall woman’s quest to heal back pain.
BUSINESS OF YOGA
“Government Agencies Targeting Yoga Studios, Some Owners Say,” by Sara Beck, NYT, August 12, 2012. Yoga studios do not have to charge tax.
"New York State decides yoga classes are not subject to city sales tax", Well + Good, July 26, 2012
“Alison West says that the decision is especially important because this is the first time the State has truly acknowledged yoga. “I am deeply pleased that the State was willing to enter into a meaningful, productive dialogue about the issues of yoga studio class-taxation. And yoga students, many of whom are in college, or are waiters, actors, dancers, and so on, will be happy not to have to pay more for class.”
“After months of, uncertainty, tax collectors nosing around, and lobbying by Yoga for NY, the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance Tuesday released a bulletin clarifying their decision to stop most yoga studios from collecting sales tax for yoga classes.” “Executive Director of YFNY, Alison West told YogaCity NYC of Tuesday’s announcement, “I received the word just as I was beginning my vacation and I am thrilled. All my experiences with the Department of Taxation and Finance were very positive and I’m both surprised and pleased to have official word so soon. The State appears to understand that we give a great deal back in the form of free or community classes and a terrific amount of not-for-profit work that supports veterans, prisoners, kids in school, battered women, and so on. The back taxes would have bankrupted yoga studios, and the class taxes would have put a burden on students and caused a drop in attendance for studios. Now we can focus more clearly on the other two issues on the table.”
Alison West, “Yoga Faces Regulation, and Firmly Pushes Back,” front page of NYTimes. July 10, 2009. With the enormous help of Eric Schneiderman, Yoga for NY, which Alison helped to found, got the bill passed to exempt Yoga Teacher Trainings from licensing the following March, 2010. Follow up article announcing imminent victory: “Yoga Licensing Rebellion May Soon Claim Victory,” NYTimes, March 14, 2010.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS WITH ALISON WEST
Alison West on Travelling Yoga Mats in Arch Scopes
“A Studio That Stretches to Fit", NYTimes, July 9, 2010
NY Magazine, June 15, when Alison was teaching at Pure East 2008
“In Strangers, Centenarian Finds Literary Lifeline,” NYTimes, August 1, 2008, about Alison’s late and dear friend, Elizabeth Goodyear, around whom she organized a circle of friendship until her death on September 23, 2010, followed by the story of how she died:” As 103-Year Old Dies, Her Reading Circle Mourns,” NYTimes, October 5, 2010
Life as an Art Historian: Alison West, From Pigalle to Preault: Neoclassicism and the Sublime in French Sculpture, 1760-1840, Cambridge University Press, 1998 James Fenton Review, NYRB, 1999