Have Niche Yoga Styles Taken It Too Far?

What does yoga look like when no one is looking?

The answer to the question depends on who we are watching. What yoga looks like can vary widely, especially because there are 4 main kinds of yoga: The yoga of intelligence (jnana), the yoga of devotion (bhakti), the yoga of service (karma), and hatha yoga which is the one we think of when we see people doing downward dog. Yoga for one person may look like studying scripture and attending dharma talks. While for someone else, it’s doing service to their community without expectation of getting anything in return.

For another individual, yoga is chanting and repeating the same kriya for an hour every single day. Someone doing an hour-long physical yoga class, breathing, resting at the end, and saying “OM” might be more of what we’ve come to recognize yoga as today. So whether sitting silently on a cushion for hours or doing plank while drinking a microbrew, we can technically call it yoga.

If you ask someone in the East, someone in the West, someone today, and someone from the past, their answers can vary as widely as the styles of yoga offered. So is any of the yoga we see taking it too far?

Is ‘fun and done’ yoga still yoga?

People have short attention spans. Multi-tasking is the norm. We are accustomed to 15-second commercials, next day delivery, 18-minute educational Ted Talks, and seven-minute workouts. We want things quickly and we want results now. Oh, dopamine! We want to click on one tab to bring us to another and then we get lost down a rabbit hole on the internet, rather than complete one task, we get lost in the shuffle. This spastic and brain-draining way of using our attention lacks depth, true focus, and the willingness to delay gratification. Delaying gratification comes with a number of benefits. That is why a lifelong practice of yoga can be ultimately gratifying with dedication over a lifespan. So is there value in the ‘fun and done’ niche yoga world?

The short attention span culture we live in craves a constant stream of entertainment and novelty. We want things catered to our exact interests and we want it now. More than 36 million Americans are practicing yoga (source: Harvard Health Publishing). Because we are used to being consumers in this strange new world, we can expect there to be yoga to meet our exact demands. Therefore, it makes sense that we provide many kinds of yoga that feel fun, trendy, and Insta-worthy. But if we cannot take these experiences for fun and then integrate them into a regular yoga practice, then perhaps we are taking it too far. On the other hand, if we can draw new people into yoga, bring joy and provide much needed in-person socialization, culture, and entertainment, we are providing a tremendous value that people are willing to show up for it.

I have to admit I have scoffed at goat yoga and rolled my eyes at beer yoga. These new trends in yoga popped up after others that have been around and once seemed unconventional.

SUP yoga is yoga on paddleboards, yoga-pilates fusion combines two forms of exercise and is less meditative and more exercise-focused, and chair yoga allows people to do poses while supported by chairs. These different offerings became the norm to give athletes, the elderly, and everyone in between an entry point into yoga. They have become fixtures in our modern yoga world. And now, niche classes such as yoga at art museums and breweries get people’s attention and match their interests. These special event yoga classes are the SUP and vinyasa yoga of today, drawing huge crowds, big money, and hopefully helping people.

Individuals that may otherwise skip yoga are drawn to these classes. Some of the attendees may be newcomers to yoga. These trending classes may also attract regular yogis that typically go to the same classes with the same instructors, reinvigorating their enthusiasm for yoga and connecting them to others. Perhaps the novelty keeps it feeling fresh and new while giving practitioners a way to socialize face-to-face.

The end result of all these offerings is people experiencing yoga. And if it brings them into themselves, facilitating a march down a healing path, even if it isn’t traditional, then there is a benefit. The caveat being that the new yogi also goes beyond the fun to truly experience yoga as it is designed. If people are only coming to yoga for the fun, then it is being stripped down to an unrecognizable form. After all, the poses being taught at these events are only one of 8 limbs of the yoga path, and hatha yoga is only one of the 4 pillars of yoga. There is more to experience and more to study.

How to Stay True to Yoga at a Specialty Class:

1. Connect to your needs and meet them on the mat.

2. Remember to breathe.

3. Pause to experience gratitude.

4. Feel your body.

5. Notice your surroundings.

6. Relish in a quiet moment of prayerful meditation.

7. Thank your teacher.

Everyone Has a Specialty

As more and more people become certified to teach yoga, the business model of teaching studio classes can not pay the bills for everyone. For economic reasons newcomers and veterans teachers alike have been forced to think outside the box. They want to cater to people’s lifestyles and interests. Therefore yoga at museums, on hotel poolsides, and on surfboards makes financial sense.

There is a desire to tailor yoga to instructor expertise. As a result of more people attending yoga trainings, different specialities are popping up based on the professional and academic backgrounds of graduates that seem to create something entirely new. Therefore, with a combination of a wide variety of practitioner interest and ability, an economic need for novel class offerings, and the diverse expertise of instructors, we can continue to expect new yoga fusion cocktails to be mixed up. And should we drink them up?

It is a personal decision for each yogi to make regarding the style, frequency, and commitment we make to yoga. Power to the people that enjoy teaching or attending large public classes on a farm or in a microbrewery. Still, the shift we seek from yoga will only happen from regular, dedicated practice of integrity. Yoga can look like a lot of things. We can choose from such a wide variety of yoga. So then the question must shift from, ‘has yoga gone too far? to ‘how do we want to feel as a result of our practice?’It is then we can make an informed decision. It is then we can be empowered by choice.