Yoga With A Beat
Rock Vinyasa at Organic Yoga
Muddy Waters laid down a heavy blues beat and belted out: “Everything, everything, everything gonna be alright this morning.”
It was Wednesday evening and yoga instructor Keegan White had chosen Water’s “Mannish Boy” as the opening song for her Rock Vinyasa class. Four women warmed up on their yoga mats while White called out instructions.
Vinyasa yoga, also known as Vinyasa flow, is a fast-paced, physically challenging style of yoga. Instructors lead students through a flow of poses, or asanas, at a pace that builds heat in the body and gives students a workout. Rock Vinyasa is just like it sounds—Vinyasa flow to a playlist of rock music, or in this case, blues, chosen by the instructor.
“It’s a balance between yoga and dance,” White said of the Rock Vinyasa style. “Anything goes.”
White’s Rock Vinyasa class is held every Wednesday from 6:00 to 7:15pm at Organic Yoga, a yoga community that’s sprung up under the leadership of instructor Lorrie Wagner. Organic Yoga offers a diversity of styles and classes in a beautiful wood-floored space in a 1903 building on the corner of North Front Street and Chestnut Street in downtown. The space was once a bank, as evidenced by a vault that stands empty behind the stairwell.
The heat rose in White’s class as students moved through more challenging poses— deep forward folds, balances and back bends. The music stayed bluesy and grounding, with a few wild cards like “She Talks to Angels” by The Black Crowes and Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games.”
After class, each student looked de-stressed and satisfied, with a little post-yoga shine in their eyes.
“I think the music adds another element. Yoga is already emotional, and sometimes the music makes it even more emotional,” said Tara Dougan-Price, decorative painter with Of the Essence Designs. “That Black Crowes song sent me over the edge.”
