The men in the room vary in size, level of hairiness and state of undress. A station includes a yoga mat, two blankets, two yoga blocks and a firm pillow called a bolster. Once inside the studio, yogi Matt Johnson holds a tiny notepad and takes attendance while each bear sits at his station. They are large and male and some cannot touch their toes they trade Joan Crawford impressions while waiting for the yoga studio.
The hallway crowd challenges stereotypical notions of the slender female yoga student. As about a dozen thin, young women with yoga mats under their arms and their hair pulled back in buns filter out of the Loom Yoga Studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a very different crowd waits outside the door.
