ZenTora Creates a Space for Zen
By Katie McFadden
A place to achieve Zen is now open. ZenTora, located at 114-06 Rockaway Beach Blvd., is now offering martial arts, unique yoga classes like aerial yoga, and more learning opportunities to expand the mind, body and spirit.
For more than 40 years, Sensei Bruce Hodes taught Rockaway the art of karate through World Champions Karate Center, but the time came to move on to his next chapter in South Carolina, so he passed on the belt to local resident Ekaterina Machavariani.
Machavariani just discovered karate two-and-a-half years ago, later in life, and found it to be life changing. “It changed my life. It completely transformed me physically, mentally and spiritually and opened me up to new experiences and inspired me. I felt this is my calling,” she said. So, when Sensei Bruce was thinking about moving and trying to run the school from afar, Machavariani proposed the idea of taking over to Sensei Mike, who shared the idea with Sensei Bruce. “He liked the idea and thought it would be a good idea to pass it down to someone who is local and young and will continue his legacy with karate and take care of his students,” she said. Sensei Bruce sold her the business and World Champions Karate started to transform into ZenTora (Japanese for blissful tiger) in March, as Machavariani had even bigger ideas for expansion.
That started with moving the school from a shared studio on Beach 116th Street, where the karate classes were limited due to time constraints and having to move equipment between classes, to its own location on Rockaway Beach Blvd. “It’s a bigger space, so now we have a fully set karate studio with high quality equipment in place, so we don’t need to move anything,” she said. “I wanted to make sure it was a new construction place because a lot of older buildings in Rockaway have issues.”
In early September, ZenTora’s new location opened for a soft opening, and as of two weeks ago, they are officially open with most class offerings now available. Bringing along Sensei Mike from World Champions Karate and most of the students, and with Sensei Hodes’ guidance, ZenTora is continuing to offer karate for kids as young as three, to adults, with traditional karate classes and skills classes, plus self-defense classes for adults. But with the expansion comes the ability to offer yoga as well. “I realized karate and yoga are not that different. They’re different forms but they’re different paths taking you to the same place,” Machavariani said. “It’s all a spiritual journey,”
Part of that journey means introducing a form of yoga that Rockaway has never had before and is hard to come by in general around the five boroughs—aerial yoga. “We already have a lot of yoga studios in Rockaway, and we wanted to bring something fresh,” she said. “One of our instructors teaches in other places in Rockaway and she’s so excited to start teaching aerial yoga. It requires special equipment and having to put a lot of weight on the ceiling, which most places don’t have, so we’re blessed to have a space to put hammocks up. We have handmade hammocks made specifically for our needs, made in Ukraine. One of our instructors is Ukrainian and these were specially designed for us. It’s a great way to practice yoga since it gives a very, very deep stretch due to gravity pulling stronger when hanging in the hammock. It’s beneficial and can bring variety in our practice.”
And so far, Rockaway is getting the hang of it. “We had a free trial class and could only let eight people in at a time. We had three classes full. It was really great. We got positive feedback, and some people came in the next week and signed up,” Machavariani said. ZenTora also offers yoga with fascial maneuvers and with more instructors coming, will soon offer more traditional yoga classes as well.
With studio space and a community space, ZenTora is also offering some classes for the mind. As a mathematician by profession, Machavariani is helping to develop young minds by offering math competition classes for children who love math. And in two weeks, she’ll be introducing chess classes, as well as running community events in the space.
Giving to the community is part of the mission of ZenTora. “We offer free karate trial classes and have been offering some free adult classes for yoga,” she said. In fact, this Sunday, November 10 at 12 p.m., ZenTora is offering a free self-defense for adults class. “Not everyone can afford to pay, so this will be ongoing, offering a free karate trial and once a month, a yoga class and some other experience, free of charge,” she said. Machavariani is also willing to work with folks who are struggling financially, so they can take classes, and she offers discounts for seniors and veterans. “For me, ZenTora is a way of expressing myself and it’s an opportunity to connect with the community and people. I’m a foreigner and I came here from Georgia so I’m looking for my own way of connecting with the community. I’ve lived here a long time, and my daughter was born here but this is my way of giving back by creating a space for people to come to and gain skills and tools that can help them in different ways.”
ZenTora is open six days a week, when classes are happening. It is recommended to reserve class space online at ZenTora.nyc. The studio can also be reached at 347-343-2247. For updates, follow @zentora.nyc on Instagram.
