Jessa Zinn, a practitioner of the Rolf method, starts sessions by assessing clients’ posture as they stand in their skivvies. Once she has them on the table, she uses her tenacious fingers to realign connective tissue, or fascia. “We’re repositioning the body,” says Zinn, 37, who first turned to Rolfing to treat her own chronic low-level pain from a childhood injury. “The result is better posture, ease of breath, ease of movement and less overall tension in the body.” Zinn’s gentle whispers of “Good, good, almost there, nice” as she works through a particularly tight area prove that Rolfing’s no-pain, no-gain reputation is outdated. “Anyone will tell you how painful Rolfing is, but with Jessa it isn’t,” says one fan. “She literally makes all my stress and anxiety melt away.”
Jessa Zinn
Brooklyn Wellness Collective, Brooklyn
718.484.7839
bklynwellness.com
If you’re just looking for a quick sweat on a Sunday morning, Manhattan’s Charu is probably not the yoga teacher for you. The Belize native schools both private clients and groups in the ancient traditions of hatha yoga, from cleansing rituals—or kriyas—to breathing techniques and meditation. “In the West, people like to move faster,” he says. “But there are other dimensions to yoga.” Before arriving in New York, Charu, 34, spent several years under the tutelage of a guru in the Himalayas, then taught in Hong Kong for five years and Sydney for three. (Down Under pupils included Jane Campion and Nicole Kidman.) Though he’s now considered a yoga master himself, Charu says that “the real meaning of guru is ‘servant.’ So when I teach, I am serving humanity.”
Yogi Charu
Pure Yoga, New York
212.360.1888
pureyoga.com, yogicharu.com
A one-man beauty band, makeup artist Lutz Karpf also styles, cuts and colors hair. Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, he studied dance and visual arts throughout his youth. “For me, makeup is a performance,” says the 25-year-old. Following beauty school he rose through the ranks at various salons and then struck out on his own last year. Clients include chefs Michelle Bernstein and Cat Cora and former Univision head Ray Rodríguez, and Karpf’s calendar is often booked with society weddings. “I’m there to edit and fine-tune the look so it’s fashionable and fresh,” he says of his prenuptial primping. “I’m not a big fan of cookie cutters.
Lutz Karpf
Miami
305.877.0837
lutzkarpf.com
