As my friend Loren was stretching on the grass at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens recently, she peered through her Down-Dog legs and saw a field of people behind her doing the same. So of course I had to go the next week for some scenic, organized yoga.

The funky, hand-hewn park—celebrating its 20th birthday this year—rests on a green lot next to the East River (the picture at right was taken earlier this summer). Saturday morning was windy, cool-ish, with a Simpsons-blue sky. Dogs frolicked, sculptural metal windchimes rang, and the river looked rough, steel-gray, open. What was most wonderful, though, was the yoga.

There were about 40 of us—a much more diverse crowd than I usually see in classes. As the teacher—young, cool, in white sunglasses—guided us through deceptively simple poses like triangle, half-moon, and Warrior 1, her tiny adjustments were specific and helpful. She had us pull us from our crowns, raise our hearts, align our hips, and be gentle with injuries. By the time she got to my all-time favorite pose, Garudasana, or Eagle, I was like, aha! She’s Kripalu-trained. (It's where I started my yoga practice 15 years ago; they have a unique way of adjusting and moving through poses.) She told us to imagine we were eagles perched high, swaying in the wind.

And for a refreshing New York change, it was not a Vinyasa class! The poses flowed into each other, but without feeling elaborate, strained, or over-conducted.

She let us have the full sivasana too, laying on our mats in the bumpy grass. By the final om and namastes, we all seemed light enough to bob on the river surface. My boyfriend, still a yoga virgin, was watching nearby. “If I had known it would be that easy to follow,” he said. “I would have joined in.”

And I felt ready to follow the teacher, Monique Schubert, anywhere. Socrates will host two more classes this summer in what remains of August—Saturday the 24 and the 31st at 11 am (Monique plans to teach the latter). Directions are here. And Monique, it turns out, is indeed Kripalu-trained (she handed out catalogs after), and teaches at a small studio near my house in Brooklyn.

Been to any great outdoor yoga classes the summer? Share below.

(An unrelated P.S.: The NYT just did a story about how Union Square is so full of yogic and healthy options these days—Whole Foods, the Green Market, Jivamukti, Om, etc.—it’s now being called the “Wheatpacking District.” Ah, and I remember the pre-smoothie days when it was known as Needle Park, for all its resident junkies.)