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CO LU MN: URBAN ACCESS TEXT: ALEX DeMARCO SAN FRANCISCO India has met America head-on in San Francisco, and the result is a thriving yoga community. West Coast yoga has evolved from a 1960s whacked-out, esoteric, flower-powered, peace-and-love drug trip to a mainstream phenome non. CEOs, lawyers, doctors, webheads, grunge rockers and yuppies shed it all at the door and exhale together in one long OM. Do you want to learn to channel your breath so that your Kundalini energy will radiate up your spine and blow out the top of your head like a Roman candle? Or maybe you want to sweat like a beast and do so many yoga forms your body will shake like a jackhammer and thank you for it in the end. San Francisco's got it all. The city pulses with top notch instructors who have traveled the world and dedicated the better part of their lives to the practice of yoga. Between hip cafes and homeless shelters, above auto repair shops and behind seedy bus stations, the ancient knowl edge and wisdom of yoga lives and breathes in San Francisco. ONE HOUR RADIUS GLOBAL YOGA Type of yoga: Bikram This school is going to rock your karma. Located in a flat in the Marina District, yoga is practiced here in a super-heated and humidified room. Excellent full-time instructors will guide you through each of the Bikram classes. The studio offers a full schedule of courses seven days a week. You can rent a yoga mat for a dollar and towels are free. If you forget to bring along a bottle of water, follow the blasting sounds of funk music next door to the local market. The back of the Global Yoga card sums it up: lose your "pudge." This is not a meditative class. The room is heated. Be prepared to work out hard. All ages, all levels welcome. No whining or complaining. Class Cost: $10 for the first ciass. The second is free. Drop-ins are $12 after that. Class Length: 90 minutes / Contact: 415-346-9493 YOGA SHALA Type of yoga: Led-and Mysore-style Ashtanga, Iyengar This yoga palace is located in its own building off Castro Street. Just stepping in the door can lower your stress meter ten degrees; you will be greeted by helpful staff and hear gentle Sanskrit chanting and eastern music. The practice room has a large wooden floor, high ceilings, mirrors, all the yoga props imaginable and a great window looking out onto the city. The studio also offers free chi ldcare. Class Cost: $12 Class Length: 90 minutes Contact: 415-970-9917, www.yogashala.com KUNDALI NI YOGA CENTER Type of yoga: Kundalini Kundalini Yoga Center is a quiet retreat located in a green-and-white Victorian house, close to the crazi ness of Haight Street. A peaceful guy named Siri Datta (Great Giver), who wears a white turban, will greet you at the door. The center doubles as an ashram for the guru Ram Das. The center focuses on pranayama and arousing the kundalini energy that sits at the base of the spine. As Yogi Bhajan says, "The body is noth ing but a timepiece with a little crystal of life energy in it, which makes it run, and kundalini is that crystal. Kundalini is the coil that keeps your timepiece going. Without kundalini, nothing can exist." The classes also include traditional yoga poses, meditation and deep relaxation. Class Cost: $12 Class Length: 60 to 90 minutes Contact: 415-863-0132, www.yogibhajan.com B.K.S. IYENGAR YOGA SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO Type of yoga: Iyengar This Iyengar center was founded in 1987 by Evlaleah Howard, who taught back-care classes endorsed by leading orthopedic physicians for over a decade. Located off a busy street near the Haight, this center resembles a ballet studio. The Iyengar style emphasizes traditional poses, proper technique, alignment and the use of straps and hanging devices. you can join at any time and classes meet every day of the week. Class Cost: $14 Class Length: 90 to 120 minutes Contact: 415-626-8441, www.yogaschool.com 8erkeley 4th Street Yoga, mainly Iyengar, 510-845-YOGA, www.4thstreetyoga.com The Castro Costro Yogo, Hotha, 415-5S2-YOGI, www.castroyoga.com The Mission Integral Yoga Institute, Integral, 41S-821-1117 South of Market Soma Yoga, Hatho ond Power, 415-543-3200, www.somayoga.com Sunset District Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, Hotha, 41S-681-2731, www.siYononda.org