NEW YORK — P.A.R.C. Initiative classes are a chance for New Yorkers to put everything into focus, to relax and rejuvenate.

P.A.R.C. stands for practice and recover. Juan Gamboa leads the “pay what you can” sessions.

"When I am teaching, I feel like I am at the epicenter of my purpose," Gamboa said.

P.A.R.C. offers the classes in public parks and donated yoga studios. It started as the city began to emerge from the lockdown in 2020. Gamboa's private yoga business had dried up.

"I felt really quite established and stable,” Gamboa said. “Yoga was my livelihood. And overnight it zeroed out."

His community yearned for a place to breathe.

"People felt lonely,” he said. “People needed routines. And I think, in this City, people loved moving."

They had to work around the limitations on large crowds as the city reopened. But they managed to meet up in Central Park.

"It was definitely very bizarre and incredibly strange,” Gamboa said. “But I also remember it being very beautiful and special."

He's been holding these “pay what you can” classes ever since.

"I also want to make sure that yoga is free, affordable, accessible."

Participants say Gamboa and the P.A.R.C. initiative have helped them get through the pandemic.

"Looking forward to those classes in Central Park was the highlight of my day sometimes,” said Rena Kestenbaum, who attended some of those early lockdown sessions. “And just you, class starts and you're transformed into the world of Juan."

Gamboa says he’s transformed too.

"The feeling of having a purpose and being able to serve gave me a big boost in my mental health," he said.

So, for giving his city a place to exhale, Juan Gamboa is our latest New Yorker of the Week.