'Rage Yoga' Will Help You Get Zen As F*@k
‘Rage Yoga’ practice brings cuss words and beer to working out
The yoga studio is probably the last place you’d expect someone to drop an F-bomb, and that’s why one Canadian woman decided to give her yoga practice a personal twist. She invented Rage Yoga — a form of yoga that incorporates cuss words and booze, and is practiced in an actual bar.
Rage Yoga founder Lindsay Istace describes her special brand of yoga on her website as, “A practice involving stretching, positional exercises and bad humor, with the goal of attaining good health and to become zen as f*ck.” The classes are held inside a basement pub with a curtain separating yogis from the rest of the bar. Attendees perform a “bastardization” of Vinyasa Yoga, done at a “slower pace and with more F-bombs.”
Image via RageYoga.com
Istace says her classes are “beginner to intermediate friendly” and filled with “foul language, laughter, and shenanigans.” The classes are held twice a week at the Dickens Pub in Calgary, and the $12 drop-in course fee includes two drink tickets — each good for a pint of beer. She’s also offering Rage Yoga classes online beginning in April, so fans from far away can get in the action too.
Istace says she started Rage Yoga because she always felt out of place at traditional studios. “Before I found my practice… my mind was constantly running a mile a minute and I couldn’t slow down,” she writes on her website. “I had zero confidence, rage issues and, on top of it all, the muscle mass of a kitchen sponge.”
Now, thanks to her practice, she’s learned how to “slow my mind, feel good in my body and I built some decent pipes while I was at it.” She says Rage Yoga is more than just an exercise; it’s about feeling “centered, confident, and giving zero fucks.” I think those are benefits we can all get behind.
If you doubt the healing powers of damn, shit, and fuck, you need only to look at the many studies that show swearing releases stress and can even increase your tolerance for pain. It’s an effective tool for releasing the emotions of the day, and it’s better to let your F-bomb flag fly in the safety of your pub yoga class than lashing out at the idiot who can’t figure out the school carpool line, am I right?
Istace’s practice might not be everyone’s thing, but neither is paying hundreds of dollars a month to work out in an elite yoga studio while wearing nine million dollar Lululemon pants. We’ve all got our preferences, and if you can create a workout that makes people feel comfortable, excited, challenged, entertained, and keeps them giggling all the way through? Well, sign us the fuck up.
