c magazine - meaghan kennedy townsend
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KATHERINE ROSSAT HOME
PoliticalPosturingA scion of Americanroyalty opensa yoga studio in L.A.BY DEBORAH SCHOENEMAN
eaghan Kennedy Townsendlikes to kick off teaching her
yoga class by blasting somerock-and-roll.
"I'm going to play some
church music for you now," she says on a
recent Saturday morning, cranking up the
song "Faith" by George Michael.
The irony may have been lost on the
sweaty group of about 20, since they're garn-
ered for a yoga class more focused on burn-
ing calories than chanting om. Only a few
students know that Townsend was raised
Catholic—in America's most famous family.
Yes, there's a Kennedy among the
Lululemonites of Southern California.
The yoga instructor is the oldest daugh-
ter of Kathleen Kennedy—former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
and eldest of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel's 11 children.
Townsend's father is David Townsend, a professor at St. John'sCollege and the Aspen Institute's Senior Advisor on Seminars.
At 32, Townsend has come into her own as one of the city's
most successful yoga teachers with a steady base of private
clients, including Drew Barrymore, Bob Saget and screenwriter
Mike White (School of Rock). Having earned her chops teaching for
about a decade at various studios and gyms around town, Townsend
finally opened her dream studio, Up Dog Fitness, in February. The
classes are already full—if not totally packed—with passionate fol-
lowers who can't get enough of her high-intensity, flow-style yoga.
"It's about giving back in a different way," says Townsend.
Yogini MeaghanKennedy Townsend
"People say to me on a daily basis, 'You
changed my life,' and 'Look at this com-
munity you're creating.'"
Townsend, for one, certainly improved
her life with yoga. The legendary Kennedy
curse didn't exactly pass her over. In 10thgrade—after taking an educational test,
being developed by a family friend, on a
whim—Townsend found out that she wasseverely dyslexic with a kindergarten read-
ing level (though she did have math skills of
a college student). She was also diagnosed
with A.D.H.D. These discoveries helped
ease the pressure she had felt her whole
life. After all, her birth announcement in
the newspaper said she would usher in a
more peaceful time for her family as the
first of a new generation of Kennedys, go to Harvard and follow in
her clan's presidential footsteps. (She did attend the Ivy League
university, but her college experience was anything but easy.)
"I was a bit of an outcast," says Townsend, who also had
major food allergies. "I never learned a good skill-set for
having relationships. Maybe it was because I was dyslexic, or
maybe because I was a Kennedy, or maybe because I moved
around a lot as a kid, but I didn't know how to interact withpeople very well. I had a hard time."
She discovered yoga while visiting relatives in L.A. during
a college break and checked out flow-style vinyasa classes
taught by now-yogalebrities Steve Ross, Bryan Kest, Shiva
Rea and Seane Corn. When Townsend C O N T I N U E D ON PAGE 174
C108 SEPTEMBER 2011
POLITICAL POSTURINGCONTINUED FROM PAGE 78
returned to the East Coast, she went to yoga
every day with her aunt, Rory Kennedy.
Back at Harvard, she found the only yoga
studio in town.
Before long, Townsend helped create
a program at the university where stu-
dents practiced on thick wrestling mats.
She never thought she could actually be-
come an instructor. "I was going to be a
lawyer or a doctor," she says, "but I knew
I would probably fail organic chemistry."
After college, Townsend moved to LA.
and started working as a business analyst,
telling companies what they were doing
wrong. Her only happy moments were
during weekend yoga classes. Over time,
she took a teacher training workshop, stud-
ied with Erich Schiffmann and assisted on
a retreat in Tahiti. It wasn't long before she
quit her day job to teach full time.
"My parents thought I was totally cra-
zy," says Townsend. "They were like,
'When are you going to get a real job?'"
Lately, the only things slowing her
down have been injuries. Townsend un-
derwent three incredibly painful knee
surgeries last year, though the recovery
time gave her the opportunity to use her
"business brain," as she calls it, to open
Up Dog Fitness.
"I'm happier now more than ever,"
Townsend says, smiling. "There's something
stable and wholesome about connecting
with yourself in a yoga studio that helps
you get through the joys and sufferings of
life. It's definitely part of my family's legacy
to better the lives of people." 8599 Santa
Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 310-360-
7200; updogfitness.com. •
ARTFUL ABODECONTINUED FROM PAGE 148
with Gabrielle, and Ariana, 15, Govan's
daughter from his previous marriage.
Each room blends personal objects and
classic design—offset with eye-catching
artwork. Walk into the foyer and you'll spy
a Korean moon jar next to a dreamy photo-
graph by Catherine Opie, or a perky sunset
print by Andy Warhol hanging above a
white Eero Saarinen table surrounded by
office chairs in vivid, sun-burnt orange.
"The idea is that it's timeless, not
some '60s minimalism," says Govan. "If
you pare things down in a certain way,
you often see more, not less."
In particular, the public rooms feature
a compendium of such classic furnish-
ings with thoughtful color-bursts of art.
An iconic Castiglioni Arco lamp drapes
over a Charles sofa by B&B Italia in the liv-
ing room—next to a Brody Condon modi-
fied computer game of Elvis gyrating
against a hot-pink background. Another
Saarinen table rests in front of a WarholCamouflage print in the breakfast nook. In
the library, two soft-purple Arne Jacobsen
egg chairs face each other, next to another
Condon creation—this time, of Timothy
Leary's pal Baba Ram Dass.
Of all the home's art, Govan seemspartial to the digital pieces. "People don't
realize how powerful it is to live with," he
says. "It's the way of the world now. Ari-
ana makes videos with her friends for fun.
And, like David Hockney, Gabrielle is
drawing on her iPad."
The family initially vowed to hang
only one artist in each room. "It's about
being minimal and specific," says Govan.
"It's not using art as decoration—that's the
key for us. For example, I would never
put flowers in front of a work."
Citing a strong point of view, the cou-
ple doesn't use decorators, preferring in-
stead to buy multiples of their favorites.
"We like what we like," says Ross. They
estimate that they own something like 12
Saarinen tables and five Charles sofas
among their three homes. (The family has
an apartment in N.Y. that they now rent
out and a house in the Hamptons.)
Other objects Ross simply purchased
on the spot. "I saw it, and I said, Til take
it,'" she says, smiling at the "very James
Bond" Willy Rizzo coffee table she discov-
ered at Blackman Cruz. The circular disc
opens to form a bar, and a bucket-shaped
hole is filled with ice and Champagne.
Entertaining is key. At LACMA, mu-
seum directors have a long history of
wooing and socializing from Hancock
Park. Whether cocktails for 100, an artist's
lecture or a quiet dinner for 18, Govan and
Ross needed a large, open kitchen that
could accommodate caterers, plenty of
storage and a backyard that could be tent-
ed. Before he passed away, New York
event kingpin Robert Isabell even drew afloor plan for Ross to help her figure out
how many people she could actually fit in
the house for a dinner party.
The word on the street is that Govan-
Ross soirees are as unfussy as their home.
"It was artistic but low-key," recalls one
guest who attended the LACMA holiday
party. "It felt very neighborhood-y. There
were people draped over the armchairs of
the sofa—drinking, chatting. You could tell
that everyone was there because they liked
them, not just to do business."
"It's not so much about the art on the
walls," LACMA and MOCA trustee Jane
Nathanson adds. "They always have stun-
ning flowers, a fun mix of people, and a
relaxed atmosphere. They live artfully." •
MANHATTAN TRANSFERCONTINUED FROM PAGE 171
the Boom Boom Room by those in theknow—for a night of star gazing. 848
Washington St., 212-645-4646; standard
hotels.com. • Bringing British boutique-
hotel charm to a quiet cobblestone
street between Soho and Nolita, The
Crosby is every bit as charming as it is
chic. Bedecked with pleasantly mixed
printed fabrics and copious pillows,
the hotel's 86 rooms and suites over
11 floors each feel like a posh studio
apartment. 79 Crosby St., 212-226-6400;
firmdale.com. • The Cooper Square
Hotel's sleek glass tower offers a serene
Modernist oasis on the edge of Manhat-
tan's East Village. The minimally luxe
rooms provide an eagle's-eye view on
the coursing streets below. Secret treat:
the outdoor terrace adjacent to the
second floor lounge on Indian summer
evenings. 25 Cooper Square, 212-475-
5700; thecoopersquarehotel.com. • Forthose who'd like to sample life in a
rarefied slice of downtown, look no
further than the Gramercy Park Hotel.
The classic (if not always sparkling)
destination was transformed in 2006
by master hotelier Ian Schrager and
Julian Schnabel into an art-filled
aerie. Two Lexington Ave., 212-920-3300;
gramercyparkhotel.com. •
C174 SEPTEMBER 2010