Punk rock yoga? It's a real stretch

Monday, September 19, 2005

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

Yoga has become so widespread that it has morphed into alterna-yoga versions, such as a Seattle class called "Punk Rock Yoga."

You may be picturing people in combat boots, doing hard-core yoga while The Clash blares from megaspeakers.

But, the reality is that it's like many other yoga classes. "Yoga is a path to becoming happier and more peaceful," says the instructor, Kimberlee Jensen Stedl.

The difference is that you're doing it on a black, scruffy floor, where club-loving teens and young adults go to listen to bands jam, at The Vera Project. Fortunately, you can rent a mat for $1, so you don't have to get close and personal with the floor.

Only two of 15 people in a recent class had any sort of punk-esque look, with brightly dyed hair and piercings.

They also turn off the lights, so it's pretty dark, except for some colored spotlights beaming down. It's interestingly atmospheric, but not always easy to see what Stedl, is doing, or hear what she's saying.

She writes that the goal of the class is to create "tranquillity smack-dab in the middle of urban chaos."

And the music isn't really punk; mostly it's musician Christopher Hydinger playing mellow, background-ish music on a very low-amped electric guitar.

Class members set their yoga mats in a big circle, rather than in straight rows facing the instructor. Every week there's a different theme -- it could be exploring your spirituality or letting go of something -- and Stedl reads poetry or passages to match and asks participants to share their thoughts.

But the class has to be one of the best yoga bargains in town. While many run $12 to $15 or more each, punk rock yoga is a suggested donation of $5 for a full hour and a half of mostly flow-style Vinyasa yoga.

WHERE,

WHEN

Punk rock yoga is held on Tuesday 6:30-8 p.m. at The Vera Project, 1916 Fourth Ave., and on Sunday, beginning Oct. 2, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Northwest Actors Studio, 1100 E. Pike St. $5 donation suggested.

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