What is rage yoga?
There are days when you just know you shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. The car isn’t working. Everyone who lives with you has left the house a catastrophic mess. You’ve been passed over for a promotion. Your old iron just left a massive burn mark on your favorite white shirt — and of course, you have an important meeting. On a scale of one to kill-me-now, this day is just off the charts. You want to scream, rant, rave, and possibly break things.
Believe it or not, we’ve found you a yoga for that. It’s called Rage Yoga and its founder, Lindsay Istace, says the aggressive-sounding style is for people who love yoga but who are either not cut out for it or need more than just a safe space to chill. “A lot of people love conventional yoga, which is great, but it doesn’t work for everybody,” Istace told Yoga Journal. “A lot of people feel awkward and intimidated, like they’ve walked into a library full of gymnasts. Some people need a different route in order to get that same centered place.”
The Rage Yoga approach
There probably isn’t any room for Om Shanti in this practice, as Rage Yoga’s website helpfully provides some insight on what to expect with a definition: “[reyj yoh-guh] noun: a practice involving stretching, positional exercises and bad humor, with the goal of attaining good health and to become zen as f***.” Students are encouraged to take a cleansing breath, and then exhale with an f-bomb, or simply scream whatever thought or feeling they might be holding back. Istace has heard it all, including, “I asked you to wash the dishes yesterday!” And while the flows and poses are based on traditional vinyasa, the tunes that come with the practice are not —think pounding heavy metal, blues, and rock music (via Yoga Journal).
But don’t diss negative thoughts, says Ashley Duzich, who teaches Rage Yoga in Houston, Texas, because yoga isn’t just about practicing in peace and quiet to sounds of birds tweeting and ocean waves crashing in the background. “Yoga itself actually means union… so union with yourself. And that’s not always just super-calm, breathing, practicing, quiet time, like a lot of yoga places are,” she said (via CBS).
While Rage Yoga may get rave reviews, it’s a practice that comes with an “R” rating for the cursing, swearing — and did we mention the beer breaks? This is one class where it may be best to keep your children at home.
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