OFFBEAT & COOL YOGA FORMS

Yoga is a language of the body, each movement an alphabet, each pose a word, and each sequence a poem of its own. The poem could be fast or flow, difficult or easy.

It could be a song for marathon runners or a lullaby for recent mommies, which makes this notion of Yoga is not for me as the biggest misconception ever. Yoga has a reputation in India, and it's not good. The words generally associated with yoga are boring, easy, just for flexibility, spiritual, not a workout, and most commonly not for me. It has typically been an outcome of media attention and discussion led by a few religious men and massive yoga shivirs allocating yoga for women and elderly, like the crypts in the Battle of Winterfell. I started my yoga journey in 2013 with basic Hatha Vinyasa flow at Seema Sondhi Yoga Studio in South Delhi. As the years went by, my yoga journey took me to Ashtanga classes in Mysore, Lotus flow in New York, Friday night glow yoga parties in Minneapolis and AcroYoga in Los Angeles. Yoga stopped to be just a form of exercise or fitness regime for me but was now an integral part of my lifestyle. Like we listen to different genres of music or indulge in different types of cuisine, I did different forms of Yoga. On this International Yoga Day, June 21, I wanted to set yoga free from its poor and limiting stereotyping, and share a glimpse of amazing new and cool types of yoga, I found around the world.

Glow Yoga

Glow Yoga is nothing but regular yoga with maybe fluorescent pants, stickers, glow stick wristbands, maybe slightly louder or faster music, a tad bit faster flow. It is a combination of workout and partying and a good one at that. Just like Zumba perfectly combined dance and partying to deliver a perfect workout form, Glow Yoga hits the nail perfectly on the physical workout, mental zen, and social fun. If anyone ever tells you that Yoga is boring, tell them about Glow Yoga which is even more fun than the club party you'd ever attend.