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It’s a chilly, breezy, post-rain Saturday morning. Foamy breakers beat a meditative rhythm along San Francisco’s Baker Beach as a flock of seagulls vie for sand space with a dozen people in puffy jackets, yoga pants and – curiously – headphones.
They reach their fingertips to the sky – the people, not the seagulls – slowly, silently, moving their bodies in sun-salutation unison, except for the guy in the back who has his eyes closed and might very well be asleep. All a passerby can hear are the waves. How can these people move as one?
Because this is silent-disco yoga on the beach, of course.
“Try to sync your breath to the waves,” murmurs instructor Sarah Allison of Outdoor Yoga SF, her soothing voice gliding through the headphones, accompanied by groovy, New-Age-y music.
“Tap into that part of you that is more than anything else —water — that water element that is you,” she says as she’s splashed by that very element and forced to move the group a few feet closer to the parking lot.
If you think silent-disco beach yoga is an unusual twist on the ancient Indian practice – or even on the classic studio version — how about aquarium yoga at the California Academy of Sciences? Or planetarium yoga? Maybe you’d prefer goat yoga, beer yoga, laughter yoga, Yoda yoga (atop a “Star Wars” themed mat, yet), cannabis yoga, paddleboard yoga, guys-only broyoga or even toga yoga. (Sadly, the latter does not call for wearing togas a la “Animal House.” It’s exercises for your toes.)
Yes, yoga has gone wild. It’s pushing the downward-dog envelope, adapting asanas to the current American appetite and tailoring the practice to the individual — like you do your news feed.
“The way we’ve packaged yoga in our country, it often doesn’t have much to do with what yoga was originally all about, connecting the mind-body, the spiritual aspect, not just the postures,” says laughter-yoga instructor Teresa Corrigan, a UCSF nurse who specializes in biofeedback. “But I haven’t tried beer yoga, so I shouldn’t judge. Maybe it’s amazing!”
Even those who don’t know their vinyasas from their chakras will find there’s a yoga for everyone. And while some iterations – rave yoga? karaoke yoga? — may sound gimmicky, most of these creative versions actually have some method to the madness.
Take Corrigan’s laughter yoga classes at UCSF, for example. First designed by Indian doctor Madan Kataria in 1995, laughter yoga is now taught worldwide: Turns out the act of laughing while stretching promotes deep, extended-exhale breathing, endorphin release and just general happiness.
OK, so laughter makes some scientific sense. But paddleboard yoga?
It’s all about balance, says Leigh Claxton of Sausalito-based OnBoardSUP Yoga. She’s been teaching floating yoga classes since 2009 on Richardson Bay with pelicans and terns looking on. As an exercise physiologist, she began using boards to train two head-injury patients, both athletes – one a sailor, one a surfer — who’d had bicycle accidents, and found the practice vital for those with balance issues.
“What you’re coming to yoga to do is center yourself,” Claxton says. “You can come into an indoor studio and sit on the floor, and I can’t see if you’re balanced or sitting to one side. But on a board on the water, I can instantly see it and you can instantly feel it.”
The constant micro shifts in position make practitioners use their core muscles to hold themselves up, especially in balance poses like the backbend and crow.
Crow meets goats in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Lucy Vogel opened the decidedly creative Original Goat Yoga last year, inspired by a friend in Oregon who started the yoga-goat craze — yoga performed in the company of, well, little goats.
“If you look at the history of yoga, it’s something that arose creatively. We’ve been building on that for thousands of years,” she says. “These new ideas are just adding to that history. Yoga is a practice of helping people get in tune with their bodies, and when you connect with animals, you’re connecting with nature. Plus, goats are fun!”
And out on the beach, where crow meets gull … Rebecca Harwood, visiting the Bay Area from Nashville, found the Baker Beach silent-disco beach yoga class offered on her Airbnb package.
“It’s such a really cool setting,” she says after class, the Golden Gate Bridge gleaming in the background. “And the headphones, it’s a really cool thing that you’re doing this with other people, but you don’t get involved with other people. Like, sometimes in yoga classes, you’re always watching what people are doing, comparing yourself.
“Out here, the seagulls aren’t gonna judge,” she says. “And the headphones keep your ears warm.”
Launched three years ago, Outdoor Yoga SF has taken off. It’s one of several yoga studios that provides sessions at the California Academy of Sciences’ Brain & Body NightLife series of events focused on human health and wellness. Last month, visitors could get their Zen on by the Philippine Coral Reef exhibit, or “vinyasa in the Savannah” alongside zebras and antelopes in the museum’s African Hall. More events are planned for that venue in early 2019.
And on New Year’s Day, you can join them on the beach once more at a disco-beach yoga class at 3 p.m. on Baker Beach.
Unless, of course, you prefer your yoga with suds. The scientific benefits of beer yoga may be a little tipsy, but hey, whatever works, right? Downward Drinking Dog group hosts yoga and beer-tasting events around the bay, including a recent “Ugly Sweater Yoga and Drinks” at the Pruneyard in Campbell.
And Alameda’s Almanac Beer Co. holds a monthly beer yoga class in the cellar, surrounded by beer barrels. After class, participants can choose any brew on tap.
“Why beer yoga? For the ultimate relaxation of course!” says Almanac’s Annalena Barrett. “Also because we strive to be a community gathering space. To our knowledge, drinking beer doesn’t make you better at yoga. But we do know a cold brew tastes better after a little workout.”
