Aerial Yoga by Union Square: Om Factory Hammock Classes

Om Factory teaches aerial yoga on the second floor of 873 Broadway at 18th Street, a block north of Union Square, and almost every day of the week has at least one 75-minute hammock class. New students get four classes for $100, valid for a month. If you searched aerial yoga near me in Manhattan, this is one of the city's oldest dedicated aerial studios: it opened in 2006 in a windowless Garment District factory and moved fully to Union Square in 2019.

The studio's own history is a short, honest read. Om Factory was born in 2006 out of the dust and debris of a windowless factory in the Garment District, then expanded to Union Square and later to sister studios in Asia, starting with Korea, then Hanoi in 2016 for its 10th anniversary, Taipei, and Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur in 2018. In 2019 the two New York studios merged under one roof at the current Broadway space.

The founder, Faramarz, died in the summer of 2023, and the About page now carries a note from Bassam Kubba, who signs as the studio's guardian and owner and describes the team as reinventing itself while keeping the same core values. That continuity shows in the program. Om Factory still runs its own 50-hour aerial yoga teacher training, a 16-hour advanced aerial course and a 16-hour Mellow Flow training, so many instructors trained in this same room.

Start with Aerial Yoga Open Level. The class page calls it the place to begin whatever your background in yoga, dance or gymnastics, with no prerequisites. You learn how to position the hammock on your body for support, and every class includes supported inversions to decompress the spine. Aerial Morning Bliss and Aerial Strength and Stretch are also open to beginners: Morning Bliss uses a double-point hammock at about hip height, and Strength and Stretch spends its second half on mobility and deep stretching.

Our honest take: skip Aerial Yoga Core on your first visit, even if you are strong. The studio requires at least one Open Level class first and expects you to invert with the hammock at your sacrum with minimal instruction, and it is not recommended after recent spine, wrist or shoulder injuries. Aerial Yoga 2, with its spinning single-point hammock, is listed as not currently offered, so the menu for most people is Open Level, Morning Bliss, Strength and Stretch, and Mellow Flow.

Aerial Mellow Flow is the studio's restorative class, created by Kevin Bigger with Maisah Hargett. It starts with a slow flow and then moves into long holds inspired by yin and restorative yoga, often with breathing and meditation woven in, and the hammock is hung much closer to the ground than in a regular class. The Sunday 7:30 pm Mellow Flow is the class to book if you want to end the weekend lying almost horizontal in fabric.

In the week of October 19, the schedule shows Aerial Yoga at 9:15 am and 12:30 pm on Monday, 6 pm on Tuesday, Strength and Stretch on Wednesday at 10:30 am and Thursday at 9:30 am, Aerial Yoga on Friday at 12:30 pm and 7:30 pm, Morning Bliss on Saturday at 8:30 am, and Aerial Yoga again on Saturday at 1:45 pm and Sunday at 10:15 am. The Monday daytime classes are sold at the off-peak rate.

A single class or drop-in costs $40, and drop-ins are welcome, though the rates page recommends pre-registering to guarantee a spot. Off-peak classes are $29. The New Student Starter 4-Pack is $100 and the Welcome Back 4-Pack, for lapsed students, is $125; both are one-time offers valid one month from your first session. A regular ten-pack is $385, or $350 on auto-renew, and an off-peak ten-pack is $270, or $250 on auto-renew, all valid three months.

Regulars choose between the Unlimited Monthly membership at $250, which covers aerial yoga and off-peak classes, and the 12-Class Monthly at $370, which also includes circus classes. Memberships include mats and apparatus with no rental fees, 10 percent off workshops and booking up to a month ahead. If you only come once a week, the starter pack followed by an off-peak ten-pack is the cheapest way in, at $27 a class on auto-renew.

The aerial policies are specific: fitted clothing, stretchy pants or leggings that cover the backs of your knees, no shorts, and a shirt long enough to tuck in and cover your midriff. The fabric wraps around your legs and torso during inversions, and bare skin there burns. Mats are provided, filtered water is available for refilling bottles, and the changing areas are all-gender with individual curtained booths.

Plan to arrive 15 minutes before class. There is a five-minute grace period after the start, then the doors are locked and nobody is admitted. Cancel at least 24 hours ahead to get class credit. Getting into the building also takes a moment: you hold the QR code from your booking up to the directory camera, or use the visitor key code posted on the studio's website, then go up to the second floor.

Take the N, R, Q, 4, 5 or 6 train to 14 Street-Union Square, use the 17th Street exit and walk north on Broadway; the studio is between 18th and 19th Streets. On weekdays, the studio suggests parking at a local garage, and on weekends street parking is an option. Studio hours run from 7 am on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and from 10 am on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

After class, ABC Carpet and Home at 888 Broadway is across the street for a slow wander through its furniture and textile floors, and Union Square Park is a three-minute walk south. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday the Union Square Greenmarket fills the north and west sides of the park, which makes a Saturday 8:30 am Morning Bliss followed by the market an easy morning. Plan B: if a class is full, AntiGravity Lab at 265 West 37th Street runs hammock yoga classes on weekdays and Saturdays.

Address: 873 Broadway at 18th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10003. Subway: N, R, Q, 4, 5, 6 to Union Square, exit at 17th Street. Aerial classes: 75 minutes. First buy: New Student Starter 4-Pack for $100. Drop-in: $40; off-peak: $29. Wear leggings that cover your knees, no shorts, arrive 15 minutes early, and cancel 24 hours ahead.

Best for: complete beginners who want a long-established studio with plenty of class times, yoga students who want to add inversions, and people who like a restorative class at the end of the week. Less suited to: experienced aerialists looking for spinning single-point work right now, since Aerial Yoga 2 is not currently offered. Ask the Karpo APP for brunch near Union Square after a Saturday class.